Corn Exchange, Romsey
Corn Exchange, Romsey
LocationCorn Market, Romsey
Coordinates50°59′20″N 1°29′57″W / 50.9889°N 1.4993°W / 50.9889; -1.4993
Built1864
Architectural style(s)Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameFormer Corn Exchange
Designated28 August 1951
Reference no.1231877
Corn Exchange, Romsey is located in Hampshire
Corn Exchange, Romsey
Shown in Hampshire

The Corn Exchange is a commercial building in the Corn Market, Romsey, Hampshire, England. The structure, which has been used extensively as a bank branch, is a Grade II* listed building.[1]

History

In the early 1860s, a group of local businessmen decided to form a private company, known as the "Romsey Corn Exchange Company", to finance and commission a purpose-built corn exchange for the town.[2] The site they selected was a prominent position at the top of The Hundred in a position lying close to the main Market Place.[3]

The building was designed in the neoclassical style, built in brick with a stucco finish and was completed in 1864.[4] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto the Corn Market. The central bay originally featured a tall segmental headed doorway with an architrave and a keystone, while the outer bays were fenestrated by tall round headed windows with architraves and keystones. The bays were separated by full-height Corinthian order pilasters supporting an entablature, a cornice and a modillioned pediment containing carvings of gilded sheaves, a pitchfork and a sickle in the tympanum.[5]

The building also became the main public events venue for the town: early visitors included the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, who have a speech about education to the Romsey Labourers' Encouragement Association in January 1865.[6] His step-son, William Cowper-Temple, 1st Baron Mount Temple, whose seat was at Broadlands, paid for a drinking fountain, which was placed outside the building in 1886.[7]

The use of the building as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century.[8] Instead, it operated as the "Corn Exchange Cinema" from the early 20th century[9] until the First World War, when it became a drill hall for a detachment from C Squadron of the Hampshire Yeomanry and for C Company of the 4th Battalion the Hampshire Regiment.[10]

The building was remodelled during the 1920s to introduce an upper floor: the changes involved a squatter doorway and a new French door with a balcony above the doorway in the central bay, and new tri-partite windows on both floors in the outer bays. Tenants introduced at that time included a branch of Barclays and a grocery business, Hook Brothers.[11] The balcony above the doorway was removed from the front of the building in the 1950s.[12] Hook Brothers moved out when Barclays took over the whole building in the 1960s.[13] The building became vacant when Barclays closed the branch in December 2022.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Historic England. "Former Corn Exchange (1231877)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  2. ↑ Return by the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies. House of Commons. 20 July 1866. p. 23. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  3. ↑ Kelly's Directories, ltd (1880). Kelly's directory of Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Wiltshire (the Isle of Wight, and the Channel Islands). p. 215.
  4. ↑ "Romsey Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan" (PDF). Test Valley Council. 1 December 2020. p. 105. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  5. ↑ "Romsey, Corn Exchange". The Francis Frith Collection. 1903. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  6. ↑ Speech of Lord Palmerston at the Romsey Labourer's Encouragement Association. London: Thomas Murby. 4 January 1865.
  7. ↑ "Romsey Heritage Trail" (PDF). Visit Hampshire. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  8. ↑ Fletcher, T. W. (1973). 'The Great Depression of English Agriculture 1873-1896' in British Agriculture 1875-1914. London: Methuen. p. 31. ISBN 978-1136581182.
  9. ↑ "Corn Exchange Cinema". Cinema Treasures. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  10. ↑ "Romsey". The Drill Hall Project. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  11. ↑ "Romsey, Corn Exchange". The Francis Frith Collection. 1932. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  12. ↑ "The Old Corn Exchange". Stratland Estates. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  13. ↑ "Romsey, Corn Exchange". The Francis Frith Collection. 1955. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  14. ↑ "Barclays closing Romsey branch - but promises 'active presence' in Hampshire town moving forward". Hampshire Chronicle. 14 September 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
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