THE MARKET PLACE.
The market in New
Salisbury was probably first held near the early
settlement by St. Thomas's church, and an open
space was no doubt left for it as the streets and
buildings of the new city were laid out. In 1269 the
Market Place was divided between the parish of St.
Thomas and the new parish of St. Edmund. This
may have been to ensure that a proportion of wealthy
inhabitants, who probably lived near the Market
Place, would support the new church. (fn. 1) The place
was probably larger than at present, for Oatmeal
Row, Ox Row, Butcher Row, and Fish Row show
every sign of being encroachments of permanent
shops built to replace the temporary stalls of earlier
times. (fn. 2) In the Middle Ages the sale of food seems
to have taken place on the west and south sides. A
corn market was held in the 14th and 15th centuries
at the north-west corner of the Market Place near
the end of Castle Street; it was called 'the place
where corn is sold'. (fn. 3) A cross which became known
as the Cheese Cross or Milk Cross was built c. 1416
on the space between the present Market House and
the corner of Minster Street, still called the Cheese
Market. Sellers of cheese, milk, and fruit were then
ordered to keep to this area. (fn. 4) Until that time the
fruit and vegetable market, as well as that for
herbage and poultry, had been held further south
in Minster Street and around the Poultry Cross. (fn. 5)
A cross existed here by 1307, and is frequently
referred to as the Poultry Cross or the High Cross. (fn. 6)
The present hexagonal cross of stone is of the 15th
century, but the top part was restored in medieval
style in 1853. It replaced a single pillar carrying a
sundial and ball which had been added when the
cross was repaired in 1711. (fn. 7)
Oatmeal Row takes its name from the market for
oats and vegetables held near the Poultry Cross.
Oatmeal Corner was mentioned in 1473–4. (fn. 8) The
two rows now called Butcher Row and Ox Row
probably represent successive encroachments upon
the Market Place. Butcher Row is mentioned in the
early 14th century. (fn. 9) In 1455 it consisted chiefly of
holdings described as shops, but contained at least
one house in which lived John Chippenham, first
warden of the Butchers' Guild. (fn. 10) Haskins's conjecture
that the city butchers occupied more permanent
structures in the Butcher Row, while out-of-town
butchers had their stalls on the site of Ox Row, is
plausible. He suggested that Ox Row did not consist
of permanent buildings before the mid-16th century,
and that the open space south of Butcher Row was
the place behind the row where in the early 15th
century the butchers were ordered to slaughter their
beasts. (fn. 11) To the east lay the 'fysschamels' where in
1314 some shops had been built and it was intended
to build others. (fn. 12) In 1427 it was ordered that
stranger fishermen should have their stalls on the
common trench behind those of the city fishermen. (fn. 13)
The buildings on the site of the shambles were
called Fish Row by 1554. (fn. 14) Near the fish shambles,
and on the site of the present Guildhall, stood the
bishop's Guildhall; it was probably the hall built by
Bishop's Simon of Ghent, who in 1314 granted a rent
from a cellar under it to the dean and chapter. (fn. 15)
Many of the houses in Oatmeal Row, Ox Row,
Butcher Row, and Fish Row date from the 16th
century, though most have been much restored and
altered. The best surviving group is the eastern part
of Fish Row, a three-storied block with projecting
upper floors, altered in the early 19th century by
the insertion of sash windows and small iron
balconies.
Commodities other than food were sold chiefly at
the eastern end of the Market Place. In 1342 hemp
and linen thread were sold opposite the corner of
Wyneman Street (the modern Winchester Street), (fn. 16)
and in 1345 property in Carter Street was described
as 'opposite the guildhall where wool is sold'. (fn. 17) In
1499 the assembly ordered that none were to tie
ropes or hang cloths on the yarn market; (fn. 18) this was
no doubt the same as the stone cross opposite the
corner house of Carter Street mentioned in 1525. (fn. 19)
In the later 16th century the tenant of the city
weighbeam, which probably stood nearby, had to
keep the walls of the yarn market in repair. (fn. 20) Also
at this side stood in 1455 'a corner tenement where
coal is sold', probably the same as 'le colecorner' in
Carter Street mentioned in 1431. (fn. 21) In 1337 straw
was sold near a house owned by Stephen Cheese
called 'Chesecornere', (fn. 22) which lay in Carter Street; (fn. 23)
nearby may have been 'a street called Chafcorner',
mentioned in 1442. (fn. 24) The modern Queen Street
still contains several medieval buildings. No. 8 is a
two-gabled timber-framed house traditionally associated with John a Port, merchant, and mayor six
times between 1446 and 1469, who lived in a house
opposite the market in 1455. It was well restored in
1930 and was in 1960 used as a china shop. (fn. 25) No. 9
is also medieval, though concealed by a later frontage.
Next to no. 14 is a narrow courtyard surrounded by
medieval and later buildings, including one with an
external Jacobean oak staircase leading to a gallery
formerly open. Used in the early-20th century as
Turkish baths, and since converted to shops and
offices, it was formerly the inn called 'The Plume of
Feathers'. (fn. 26)
In the streets around the Market Place stood rows
of shops occupied by various trades. Ironmonger
Row is said to have been near Oatmeal Row (fn. 27) and
Cordwainer Row was opposite the Poultry Cross. (fn. 28)
Wheeler Row and Smiths' Row are also mentioned (fn. 29)
but it is not certain where they lay; the former was
perhaps part of Oatmeal Row, for as late as 1810 a
house was described as being in the Wheeler Row
otherwise Oatmeal Row. (fn. 30) Cook's Row probably lay
to the south-west of the Poultry Cross, and not in
Castle Street as Hatcher thought, for in 1469 several
houses inhabited by cooks in 'Le Cookerowe' were
described as being by the George Inn. (fn. 31) Blue Boar
Row, along the north side of the Market Place, took
its name from the inn which stood from the 15th
century, and probably earlier, on part of the site
occupied in 1960 by the shop of Messrs. Style and
Gerrish. (fn. 32) This still includes at the back a timberframed hall, to which an agreement to build a house
'within the Boor against the Market Place' in 1444
refers. (fn. 33) The Blue Boar remained in use as an inn
until the early 19th century. (fn. 34) The stocks, pillory,
and whipping post stood in the Market Place
opposite Blue Boar Row in the 18th century. (fn. 35) The
pillory post was taken down and the stocks removed
to the Wood Market in 1845. (fn. 36) In 1887 lime trees
were planted in the Market Place to commemorate
Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, (fn. 37) and a statue was
erected there to Henry Fawcett (1833–84), the blind
Postmaster-General who was born in Queen
Street. (fn. 38) Opposite the corner of Blue Boar Row and
Castle Street, near where the early corn market was
held, the Market House, now called the Corn
Exchange, was built in 1859. It was connected by
the full-gauge Salisbury Railway and Market House
Railway with the South Western Railway at Fisherton, (fn. 39) but the ¼ mile of line is now used only to
supply fuel to the adjacent electricity works. (fn. 40)
South of the Corn Exchange, between the Cheese
Market and St. Thomas's church, stood the citizens'
earliest Council House, first referred to in the early
15th century. (fn. 41) It had a great door and an upper
door, sometimes called the outer and inner doors,
whose keys were held by the mayor and other
responsible citizens. (fn. 42) Upon the walls of the
assembly room were stretched two painted linen
cloths, one of which, a yard in depth, hung behind
the bench on which the chamberlains sat. (fn. 43) The
building belonged to the city until the 18th century,
when it was sold; in 1629 two of its upper rooms
were used as a school. (fn. 44) The erection of a new
Council House 'in the best and most fitting place'
was proposed in 1565, but work was not begun until
1580, and completed four years later, on a site at
the other end of the Market Place 'where the great
elm late stood'. (fn. 45) This house, a timber-framed
gabled building of three stories with open colonnades at the sides and a central turret, stood on the
site of the present War Memorial. In 1685 the lower
part was being used as a market house. (fn. 46) It was
burnt down after the mayor's banquet in 1780; the
city then found a benefactor in its Recorder, Jacob,
Earl of Radnor (d. 1828), who offered to build a
new Council House at his own expense and to his
own design. (fn. 47) After some dispute about the site,
the bishop agreed to the demolition of his Guildhall
and prison, and the present building was erected. (fn. 48)
It is of cream brick with stone dressing and vermiculated quoins, and was designed by Sir Robert
Taylor, but 'executed with some alterations' after
his death by his pupil William Pilkington. It was
completed in 1795. (fn. 49) It formerly had a Doric colonnade recessed between the wings on the north front;
this was replaced by the present portico, probably
in 1889, when another projecting portico was
removed from the west side to make room for an
extension to provide new cells. (fn. 50) In 1896–7 further
alterations were made, including the provision of a
new court room. (fn. 51) When the present Council House
was bought in 1927, (fn. 52) the name of the building was
changed to the Town Hall, but local opposition led
to the adoption of the present name, the Guildhall. (fn. 53)
Near the first Council House, on the north side of
St. Thomas's churchyard, stood the city workhouse
in use before the establishment of the Crane Street
workhouse in 1637. (fn. 54) In 1647 it was leased out, (fn. 55)
but remained the property of the corporation until
it was sold at the same time as the old Council
House. (fn. 56)