Description

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8564SW CORNHILL
639-1/14/292 Corn Exchange
07/08/52

GV II

Corn Exchange. 1861-62, altered 1969-70. By Ellis and Woodard,
architects of Fenchurch Street, London. Ironwork by Ransomes
and Sims of Ipswich. Contractor, Lot Jackaman of Bury St
Edmunds. In white brick and freestone, probably Ancaster, with
Portland stone for the bases of the pillars; slate roofs.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys; on an island site. The whole building has
a stone modillion cornice with stone balustrading above the
north and south fronts and over the end bays on the east and
west. The south front, designed as a single storey, has a
giant hexastyle Ionic portico with a pediment decorated by
figures representing Agriculture.
The wings flanking the portico have blocked
semicircular-headed windows with stone architraves and
pediments on consoles, set in stone arched recesses and framed
by stone pilasters. The north front has a central pediment
with a circular stone panel bearing a coat of arms. The
2-storeyed east and west fronts were altered in 1969/70 to
make shop windows on the east side and a shopping arcade on
the west. 5 window range with the upper part of the original
stone arched semicircular headed windows. The shop fronts are
divided into bays by stone pilasters with the central and end
bays projecting slightly.
A slate-roofed colonnade on the north side, now a shop, was
originally part of the town Shambles, which occupied 3 sides
of the site on which the Corn Exchange is built. Plain Tuscan
columns with stilted segmental arches and iron scroll
ornamentation. One original free-standing Tuscan column
survives inside, raised and encased in C19 brick.
INTERIOR: originally open from floor to roof, with a 7-bay
arcade to east and west in which semicircular stone arches
were supported by cast-iron columns with wide, heavily
foliated caps. The arches are in alternating bands of light
and darker stone surmounted by a dentil cornice on the front
and back. Ornate keystones carry agricultural motifs such as
wheatsheaves and rams' heads, and the central keystone on each
side has the entwined initials VR within a roundel decorated
with roses, shamrock, daffodils and thistles. The main ribs of
the roof are supported on corbels with heavy enriched consoles
projecting from the cornice. Glazed roof with cast-iron
glazing bars and a decorated central plaster panel.

The upper floor was inserted just below the level of the
cast-iron capitals, which are now encased in wooden
shuttering. A stage has been built at the north end and 2
flights of stairs inserted within the vestibule of the
principal front.
(BOE: Pevsner N: Radcliffe E: Suffolk: London: 1974-: 146;
White W: Directory of Suffolk: Sheffield: 1874-: 580).

Listing NGR: TL8526664216

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Corn Exchange at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26342854

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)