Central Market

Summary

Market hall, constructed in 1938 to designs by Robert Atkinson, incorporating the frontage of the former Butter Market built in 1737.

History

Lincoln High Street is part of the major Roman road, Ermine Street, linking London to York. It has served as the principal route into the city from the south since the first century, when a legionary fortress was established on what is now ‘Uphill’ Lincoln (the vicinity of the cathedral and castle). The fortress was later transformed into a civilian settlement, taking the name Colonia Lindum, from which its modern name is derived. The Roman town gradually expanded south along Ermine Street beyond the River Witham. This development pattern was largely re-established after the Vikings resettled the city during the C9. By the time of the Norman Conquest, both sides of Ermine Street appear to have been developed for some distance south of the river, but as late as the C18, development to the east and west of the High Street was mostly limited to the areas of the castle and cathedral in ‘Uphill’ Lincoln and along the riverfront in ‘Downhill’ Lincoln.

The land south of the River Witham witnessed considerable industrial and commercial growth during the late-C18 and C19. The land to the east and west of the High Street was transformed into a network of workshops, factories and yards, a trend reinforced by the arrival of the Midland Railway in 1846, followed by the Great Northern Railway in 1848, which transformed a large swathe of the area into a complex of railway buildings, storehouses and sidings. The High Street witnessed gradual redevelopment throughout this period, creating the largely C19 streetscape seen today, although a significant number of pre-industrial buildings have survived, often hidden behind later facades.

The Central Market was opened on 18 May 1938 by the Mayor of Lincoln, Alderman William Sindell JP, as an addition to the complex of covered markets that had grown up in the area of the open Cornhill Market during the late-C19 and C20. It was designed by the architect Robert Atkinson (1883-1952), whose design incorporated the façade of the Butter Market of 1737 which had formerly stood on the High Street to the north of the Guildhall and was demolished in the mid-1930s during a street-widening programme. Atkinson’s design for the Central Market took the Neoclassical design of the re-used façade as his cue, most obviously in the blind arcading and rustication of the masonry façades of the new market hall. Internally, Atkinson provided enough space for both the market traders relocated from Cornhill as well as the butter and poultry vendors who had previously held a market at the Butter Market prior to its demolition.

The exterior of the building retains much of its original appearance, although the west elevation has been altered through the replacement of its stone parapet with brickwork, and the bricking up of four openings. This followed the demolition during the early 1970s of a building which formerly abutted the market’s west elevation. In addition, a public convenience was added to the south elevation of the market between the 1930s and 1960s. The interior of the market was refurbished during the late-C20.

Details

Market hall, constructed in 1938 to designs by Robert Atkinson, incorporating the frontage of the former Butter Market built in 1737.

MATERIALS: The building has a structural steel frame faced in brick and ashlar limestone, with a roof covering of pantiles and glazing.

PLAN: the building is rectangular in plan, with entrances in its north and eastern elevations.

EXTERIOR: the building is a single-storey market hall on a rectangular plan fronting onto City Square to the north, under a hipped, half-glazed roof. Its north, east and west elevation area designed in a neo-classical style to match that of the C18 façade of the former Butter Market incorporated into its north elevation. This comprises a moulded stone plinth, a rusticated limestone ashlar main section with blind arcading and round-arched openings, and an ashlar parapet with alternating balustraded and solid sections and large urns on the building’s four corners.

The principal, north elevation is symmetrically arranged across 12 bays, with the four central and two outermost bays projecting forward slightly. In the centre of the elevation is the re-used two-storey façade of the Butter Market. The ground floor is of rusticated ashlar with two round-arched entrances with wrought iron overthrows, above which is a wide, stone plat band bearing a central datestone with the inscription: JOHN LOBSEY MAYOR 1737. Above, the first floor is of C20 brown brick with rusticated ashlar quoins and containing an ashlar Venetian window. Above again is a stone pediment containing a carved cartouche with swags. The bays immediately east and west of the re-used façade and at the eastern and western end of the elevation have blind, flat-arched openings with iron-grated windows above. The four intermediate bays to either side contain blind, round arches.

The east and west elevations are symmetrically arranged over five bays and of largely matching design. The three central bays contain round-arched openings, while the two outer bays project forward and contain a smaller, flat-arched opening beneath an iron-grated window. The central arch of either elevation is open, with a double doorway beneath a glazed upper section, while the four other openings are blind; those on the east elevation are infilled with smooth-finished ashlar while those on the west elevation have been infilled with brick. A large section of the west elevation’s parapet has also been replaced in brick.

Attached to the rear (south) of the market hall is a lower element constructed of brick with a flat roof, containing ancillary spaces to the market hall and a public convenience. It is of a plainer, brick finish but with some concessions to the style of the Central Market including a moulded stone plinth, flat-arched ashlar doorway and stone parapet. The rear, south elevation of this building is concealed within the surrounding dense urban plan.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

486286

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Harris, J, Antram, N, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, (1989), 523

Other
OS 1:500 Town Plan of Lincoln (surveyed 1888, accessed 22 January 2021 at [https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/497563/371042/13/100257]
OS 25” Lincolnshire LXX.7 (Canwick; Lincoln) (revised 1904-05, published 1907), accessed 22 January 2021 at [https://maps.nls.uk/view/114649050]
OS 25” Lincolnshire LXX.7 (Canwick; Lincoln) (revised 1930, published 1932), accessed 22 January 2021 at [https://maps.nls.uk/view/114649053]
OS 1:1250 Map of Lincoln (surveyed 1967), accessed 22 January 2021 at [https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/497563/371042/13/101329]

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.