Corn Exchange, Sudbury
Corn Exchange, Sudbury
LocationMarket Hill, Sudbury
Coordinates52°02′17″N 0°43′48″E / 52.0381°N 0.7301°E / 52.0381; 0.7301
Built1842
ArchitectHenry Edward Kendall
Architectural style(s)Baroque Revival style
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameCorn Exchange Public Library
Designated26 October 1971
Reference no.1037457
Corn Exchange, Sudbury is located in Suffolk
Corn Exchange, Sudbury
Shown in Suffolk

The Corn Exchange is a commercial building on Market Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk, England. The structure, which is used as a public library, is a Grade II* listed building.[1]

History

A view of the sculpture

In the late 1830s, a group of local businessmen decided to form a private company, known as the "Sudbury Market House Company", to finance and commission a purpose-built corn exchange for the town. The site selected, at the bottom of Market Hill, had been occupied by several properties including a chemist and druggist.[2][3]

The building was designed by Henry Edward Kendall in the Baroque Revival style, built by Stephen Webb of Long Melford in brick with a stucco finish at a cost of £1,620, and was completed in October 1842.[4] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Market Hill. The central bay featured a tall round headed opening, containing a doorway, a six-part window and a fanlight, with an architrave and a keystone. The outer bays were fenestrated by tall round headed windows with architraves and keystones. The bays were flanked by full-height Tuscan order columns supporting an entablature and surmounted by carvings of wheat sheaves. At roof level, there was a central panel inscribed with the words "Corn Exchange", which was surmounted by a pedestal supporting a sculpture carved in coade stone depicting a group of agricultural labourers, with sickles and wheat sheaves.[5] There was a balustraded parapet above the outer bays.[6] The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, was impressed with the design, which he said "deserves a glance, if only to meditate on the early Victorian sense of security, superiority, and prosperity".[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 was used for concerts and public meetings: a rendition of The Messiah by George Frideric Handel was performed in the main hall in February 1886.[9] The building acted as an air raid shelter during the Second World War.[10]

However, by the early 1960s, the building had become dilapidated, and the owners were initially minded to sell it to Tesco to facilitate the construction of a modern supermarket on the site. Following a successful campaign by the members of the specially formed Corn Exchange Preservation Association, led by a local solicitor, Andrew Phillips, to save the building from demolition, it was sold to West Suffolk County Council instead.[10] After the completion of an extensive programme of works, undertaken by George Grimwood & Sons to a design by the county architect, Jack Digby, it re-opened as a public library on 24 September 1968.[11][12] The exterior of the building was restored in 1993,[13] and again in 2010.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Historic England. "Corn Exchange Public Library (1037457)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  2. ↑ "Deeds of the Corn Exchange Site". National Archives. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  3. ↑ "Sudbury Freemen surnames beginning with G (Gunton)". Sudbury Freemen. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  4. ↑ White, William (1844). History, Gazetteer and Directory of Suffolk, and the Towns Near Its Borders. p. 573.
  5. ↑ "Resting Reapers". public monuments and sculpture in Norfolk and Suffolk. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  6. ↑ Grimwood, Charles George; Kay, S. A. (1952). History of Sudbury. Sudbury. p. 87.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ↑ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Radcliffe, Enid (1974). Suffolk (Buildings of England Series). Yale University Press. p. 454. ISBN 978-0300096484.
  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. ↑ The Printers' International Specimen Exchange. Vol. 7. Officer of the Paper and Printing Trades Journal. 1886.
  10. 1 2 3 Grimshaw, Anne (23 September 2021). "How Sudbury came close to losing one of its finest buildings". Sudbury Society. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  11. ↑ Cantacuzino, Sherban (1975). New Uses for Old Buildings. Architectural Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0851394992.
  12. ↑ "Corn Exchange, Now Sudbury Public Library". Royal Institute of British Architects. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  13. ↑ "1841 – Corn Exchange". Local History. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
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