Market Hill

The Period up to 1560

In 1193 a small Augustinian Priory was founded in Woodbridge and it was endowed with a large amount of land in the area. Thirty one years later the Priory was granted the right to run a weekly market. Soon after the town began to flourish as a port which exported the produce grown in the surrounding countryside to the towns and cities around the Thames estuary.

Increased maritime trade made some Woodbridge Merchants very wealthy and they funded the building of the new Parish Church of St Mary’s in fine perpendicular style. Work on the church started in 1417 and finished in 1465. The original Anglo-Saxon church remained for the sole use of the priory and the two churches stood side by side.

The Anglo-Saxon church in Woodbridge stood near to the site of the present parish church of St Mary’s. Both of these buildings were confined to the area which is now Market Hill. On three sides the ground drops away quite steeply and the area could have been defended by a wooden barricade.

In 1536 the Priory was one of the first of the smaller monasteries to be closed. It's buildings, lands and the market rights were all incorporated into the manor of Woodbridge late Priory. This manor was one of several leased by the King to Sir John Wingfield. He derived income from the manor but never lived in it.

From a document called an Extenta, which was produced in 1560, it is clear that the layout of the streets in the centre of the town was as it is today. The whole of what is now Market Hill was then open. It was called The Market, but later documents refer to it as the Market Place. Around it were eighteen houses, a shop and a cottage. These buildings would all have been timber framed. A few remain unchanged but others are now hidden behind brick facades or have been partly demolished to make way for later additions. A cobble stone passage way, linking the southern side of the Market Place to the churchyard, still remains.

The market was being held each Wednesday and the lord of the manor was charging traders for use of the market stalls and animal pens he provided. A tax was also collected on the goods sold. The buying or selling of goods in all other places in the manor was banned on market day and this eventually caused conflict when the number of shops increased.

The Building of the Shire Hall in 1575

Thomas Seckford purchased the manor of Woodbridge late Priory in 1564 and he soon had an impressive town house, which he called The Abbey, built on the site of the former priory.

Thomas Seckford was a prominent legal figure, who accompanied Elizabeth I on her progresses around the country. It is thus not surprising that he was made Steward of the Liberty of St Etheldreda.

Liberties were created by Anglo-Saxon kings as a means of providing an income for favoured ecclesiastic foundations. These foundations dispensed the king’s justice within the boundary of the Liberty and, in return, they received all the fines levied and the goods of those who were executed. The legal system within each Liberty was run by a Steward and a Bailiff and each Liberty had its own gaol and coroner. In effect the legal system in each Liberty was run as if the area were a mini Shire. The Liberty of St Etheldreda was granted to the Abbey in Ely, which was founded by St Etheldreda in 673. The Liberty comprised some 94 parishes in south-east Suffolk.

When Ely Abbey was dissolved in 1539 the legal system of its Liberty was incorporated into the national one but it continued to have its own quarter sessions, coroner and gaol. The quarter sessions had been held at a number of places but when Thomas Seckford was appointed Steward he decided they should always be held at Woodbridge. To this end, in 1575, he arranged for the erection of the building variously known as the Sessions House, Shire Hall or Town Hall, in the Market Place. The upper floor was used for Quarter Sessions of the Liberty of St Etheldreda while the lower part, which then had open arches rather than windows, was used as a covered market. Other market stalls and animal pens continued to be laid out around the rest of the Market Place. The Liberty's gaol remained in Melton.

The Shire Hall circa 1910.

In 1756 the then lord of the manor of Woodbridge late Priory requested legal advice on what to do about those butchers who, on market day, refused to take a stall at the market and instead sold meat in their shops. He was also concerned about the ‘shopkeepers who were buying butter, cheese and other such commodities coming into this town before they were taken to the market'. It is estimated, based on an Excise Returns from 1759, that there were 60 shops in town so it is not surprising that the lord of the Woodbridge Market was complaining about the loss of trade to shops. Many of these shops were likely to have been petty shops, small shops which typically sold candles, bread, small beer and a diverse range of small articles to artisans and labourers. There would also have been bigger shops selling meat, groceries, clothing, draperies and household goods to the more affluent.

By about 1800, and possibly earlier, the lord of the manor of Woodbridge late Priory had ceased to exercise his market rights. Although the market was still taking place weekly he was no longer erecting stalls on the Market Place and collecting a tax on the goods sold. In 1803 the open arches in the lower part of the Shire Hall were partly bricked up and windows were installed. The space created was used as a corn exchange which was run by the ‘Corn Market Committee’. By 1830 the market was described as being “an extensive one for corn and cattle”. By then the retail needs of the townspeople were clearly being met by shops rather than market stalls.

Woodbridge Market circa 1890

In April 1896 the Woodbridge Urban District Council purchased the market rights and then started to offer yearly leases to run the market. The income generated by the leases gradually diminished and, in 1936, the Council decided that there was insufficient demand for the market. In the same year the Council turned that part of the Market Hill, west of the Shire Hall, into a public parking space. The whole area remained open but the parking spaces were marked out by white lines.

The parking area on Market Hill circa 1940s.

Market trading lapsed until the Town Council was approached, in 1960, by a trader who wanted to sell fruit and vegetables every Thursday on the Market Hill. This forced the council to take stock of their position as holders of the market rights. The eventual outcome was that the applicant was allowed to trade.

During the early 1970s the pedestrian area had been enhanced by adding three raised flower beds, each having a tree in their centre, and the western edge of the area was made into a bus lane.

For many years the market was a thriving concern with standing being available for up to about 15 traders. By 2002, the number of regular traders had fallen to 5 and they successfully lobbied the Town Council to allow them to move down to the Turban Centre.

The bus lane was eventually used for parking spaces when, as part of the Town Council's renovation of the Shire Hall in 2004, pavers were laid over the whole area.

Woodbridge Market in 1985.  The bus lane

is to the left of the colourful market stalls

.

The population of England rose steadily from the sixteenth century until 1750. Thereafter the rate of growth accelerated and it was greatest in towns and cities because of increased migration from rural areas. Poor Rate records for Woodbridge show that the number of households in the town increased by 240% from 1750 to 1830. New houses would have been erected in response to this change but there would also have been increased multi occupancy of existing buildings. The number of households around the Market Place, however, only rose by 36% over the same period.  This low figure indicates that, by 1750, there was little scope for increasing the number of buildings around the Market Place.

The earliest set of documents to provide a comprehensive picture of the buildings around the Market Place are White’s 1844 trade directory and the 1840 tithe map with its accompanying apportionment. According to the tithe data there were 24 buildings abutting the Market Place, four more than described in the Extenta produced in 1560. Unfortunately there is insufficient information in the Extenta to determine whether the extra buildings were new or whether they were created by subdividing existing ones. Elsewhere in the town there had been a substantial amount of new building to accommodate a nearly fivefold increase in population since 1560.

An extract from the tithe map is shown on the right. On the northern side of the Market Place, there was an alley, named Glovers’ Yard, where glove makers worked and lived. Four of the buildings were Inns (The Bull, The Kings Head, The Swan and The White Horse). Three buildings were used for residential purposes and another one was the home and surgery of a surgeon. Of the other buildings, six were described as house and shop, five as shops and one as a bake house.  Four others were listed as an house and buildings, but White’s trade directory for 1844 lists the occupants as having a business. There was a saddler and harness maker; a painter, plumber and glazier; a tailor and draper; and a wine and spirits merchant. The trade directory has 35 entries for the Market Place and of these 12 relate to people not listed in the tithe apportionment, so clearly there was some sub-letting occurring. Only New Street and The Thoroughfare had more commercial entries than the Market Place (37 and 75 respectively).

The Market Hill as depicted on the 1840 Tithe Map. The buildings marked by red crosses were eventually demolished.

Some of the people listed in the trade directory were artisans, who made goods or provided a service, whereas others were running a shop. The distinction between artisans and shopkeepers is sometimes difficult to make so it is hard to give a precise figure for the number of shops around the Market Place. There is also the problem of how to deal with individuals who were clearly running two distinctly different retail businesses in the same premises. For this analysis each of these businesses was counted as a separate shop. On this basis there were 20 shops around the Market Place. This was more than that for all other streets except The Thoroughfare which had 54. So, by 1840, it was The Thoroughfare, rather than the Market Place, which was the commercial centre of the town.

The arrival of the railway in 1859 had a detrimental impact on maritime trade and the economy of the town. The population dropped by 13% and then remained static for 70 years because of two factors Firstly the collapse of the agricultural economy of the surrounding area during what became known as the Great Agricultural Depression. Secondly, although new employment opportunities were created in the town, they barely matched those being lost as older sources of employment disappeared.

The numbers of shops, artisans and merchants all decreased during the years following the arrival of the railway. For example, between 1844 and 1874 the number of shops in the town fell by 25%. There was then a slow recovery and by 1937 the number of shops was only 14% lower than they had been in 1844. The loss of shops in some parts of the town was, however, much greater than others. There were more shops in Thoroughfare in 1937 than there had been in 1844 and, although the number of shops around the Market Place, and along Church Street and New Street decreased significantly, the change was not as great as for all other streets.

During the 1930s retailing was transformed. The number of food stuffs coming ready packed increased as did the number and range of ready-made clothes. The buying process became less time consuming for the customer and consequently fewer food and clothes shops were needed.

From the mid-1980s shops in the town faced competition from out of town retail centres but this was offset by a rising demand for service providers such as restaurants, banks, travel and estate agents and hairdressers. The total number of shops and services on The Thoroughfare today about matches the number of shops in 1937. Most other streets, with the exception of Church Street and Market Hill, have seen a dramatic reduction in the number of such outlets.

In 1840 the upper floor of the Shire Hall was still being used for the Quarter Sessions and Petty Sessions of the Woodbridge County Court. The ground floor had been occupied by a corn exchange since 1803 but this eventually closed down in 1941. After the Second World War, the ground floor of the Shire Hall was used as an auctioneers' room.

The Quarter Sessions were moved to Ipswich in 1860 but the Shire Hall continued to be used for the Petty Sessions. By 1884 it was claimed that the building was "no longer an ornament to the town" because layers of colour wash had built up over the years. Shortly after the accumulated colour wash was removed and the red bricks and stone work resurfaced. A newspaper reported that the Shire Hall was left looking “very much as if it had just left the original builder's hands” but it added "the colouring put into the bricks had made them look a bright red but whether this will last any time remains to be seen." The Suffolk magistrates gave £200 towards the work and the rest was raised by public subscription.

The Petty Sessions were moved to Ipswich in 1986 and within a year the Town Council purchased the Shire Hall and moved into the ground floor. The upper floor was leased to Suffolk Punch Heavy Horse Museum. In 2004 the Town Council spent £260,000 on extensive repairs to the roof and brickwork. 

In 1877 the Seckford Foundation erected a public pump or drinking fountain, or both, for the use and convenience of the poor inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood". The fountain had "a trough filled with water, for the comfort and convenience of dogs, horses and cattle passing through the town".

Glovers Yard circa 1950.  The entrance from

Market Hill is in the centre of the photograph.

The shops in the north-eastern corner of Market Hill circa 1911.

J Terry, Saddler, on the north-western corner of

Market Hill circa 1900

Two buildings were demolished after 1840. One occupied the site which is now the memorial garden. The house was purchased, and demolished, in 1884 by the US Naval Captain William Mann of Philadelphia. He gave the land to the town, plus £50 to turn it into a public garden, in memory of his father who had lived here. In 1885 plans were made "to rail it off and plant evergreens within the enclosure".

Two years later a statue of Queen Victoria was placed in the garden to celebrate her Golden Jubilee. After the First World War the small garden around the statue was seen as the obvious place to erect a memorial in memory of those men who made the supreme sacrifice for King and country. The statue of Queen Victoria was relocated to the lower corner of the garden to make way for the Memorial which was dedicated on 11th November 1920.

Dedication of the War Memorial.

The other building to have been demolished was near the entrance to Seckford Street. When the photograph on the right was taken in about 1900 only the outer walls of the building remained standing. The windows and doorways had been bricked up, presumably to create an enclosed courtyard. It is not known when this courtyard was eventually demolished. The site is now occupied by two garages associated with the house on the far right.

The top of the Market Hill circa 1900.

The partly demolished building is to

the right of house in centre.

The north-eastern corner of the Market Hill was changed in the 1970s to widen the access into New Street. The widening was accomplished by recessing part of the front of the building abutting Chapel Street. This house named ‘The Old Court House’ had for a time been used for the officers of the court held in the Shire Hall. The last officer to use part of the building was the Coroner of Liberty of St Etheldreda. He had an office there until 1933.

The entrance to New Street was widened by removing the corner of the house on the left of this photograph.  The vertical line of three widows, which is now missing, matched those on the other side of the building.

Last Edited 2 Sep 23