Corn Exchange, Dereham

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Corn Exchange, Dereham
The Orion Cinema, Market Place, Dereham (geograph 6979309) (cropped).jpg
Corn Exchange, Dereham
LocationMarket Place, Dereham
Coordinates 52°40′52″N0°56′25″E / 52.6812°N 0.9404°E / 52.6812; 0.9404
Built1857
ArchitectMathias Goggs
Architectural style(s) Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameFormer Corn Exchange
Designated20 August 1951
Reference no.1169492
Norfolk UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown in Norfolk

The Corn Exchange is a commercial building in the Market Place, Dereham, Norfolk, England. The structure, which is used as a cinema, is a Grade II listed building. [1]

Contents

History

In the early 1850s, a group of local businessmen decided to form a private company, known as the "East Dereham Corn Exchange Company", to finance and commission a purpose-built corn exchange for the town. [2] The investors included Thomas Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester, whose seat was a Holkham Hall, and who took a personal interest in the project. [3] The site selected, on the west side of the Market Place, had been occupied by The Shambles, a collection of dilapidated market stalls. [4]

The building was designed by Mathias Goggs of Swaffham in the neoclassical style, built in red brick with a stucco finish and was opened in February 1857. [5] [6] [7] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto the Market Place. The bays were separated by six full-height Corinthian order columns supporting a cornice and a parapet. The central section of three bays, which featured an elevated parapet, formed a triumphal arch. [1] A statue of Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester was installed on top of the raised parapet on 6 September 1858. [8] [9]

After a public meeting in the building, in June 1859, at which 30 men enlisted for the newly formed Dereham Volunteer Rifle Corps, [10] the building also served as the local drill hall. [11] It appears that the building did not meet with universal acclaim as, in February 1866, an application was made to the court to have it demolished. The Vice-Chancellor ruled that it should not be pulled down as it was "a great public improvement". [12] However, 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. [13] The glass roof on the building was badly damaged in a zeppelin raid in September 1915. [14]

The building was converted for use as a cinema in 1924 and re-branded as the Exchange Theatre after the Second World War. [15] The statue of the Earl of Leicester on the top of the parapet was hit by a bolt of lightning in June 1950; the head was shattered and the rest of the statue was subsequently demolished. [16] The building was remodelled to create a dance floor in the stalls area in 1961. After a change of ownership in 1975, it started operating as a bingo hall and social club, as well as a cinema. [4] The building was later remodelled again to create a three-screen cinema and re-branded as the Orion Cinema. [15]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Historic England. "Former Corn Exchange (1169492)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  2. ↑ The Joint Stock Companies' Directory. Charles Barker and Sons. 1867. p. 750.
  3. ↑ Martins, Susanna Wade (1980). A Great Estate At Work The Holkham Estate and Its Inhabitants in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge University Press. p. 62. ISBN   978-0521226967.
  4. 1 2 "Weird Norfolk: The haunting secrets of Dereham's old Corn Exchange". Eastern Daily Press. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  5. ↑ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Wilson, Bill (2002). Norfolk 2 North-west and south Part 2 (Buildings of England Series). Yale University Press. p. 288. ISBN   978-0300096576.
  6. ↑ "Cinema, Market Place (former Corn Exchange, former Exchange Theatre)". Norfolk Heritage Explorer. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  7. ↑ "Hollywood Cinema". Visitor UK. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  8. ↑ "Earl of Leicester". Art UK. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  9. ↑ Armstrong, H. B. J. (1949). A Norfolk Diary: Passages from the Diary of the Rev. Benjamin John Armstrong. G. G. Harrup. p. 62.
  10. ↑ "Norfolk Militia". Dereham Militia. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  11. ↑ Osborne, Mike (2015). Defending Norfolk: The Military Landscape from Prehistory to the Present. Fonthill Media. p. 98. ISBN   978-1781554999.
  12. ↑ Mackie, Charles (1901). Norfolk Annals: A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteenth Century. Norfolk Chronicle.
  13. ↑ Fletcher, T. W. (1973). 'The Great Depression of English Agriculture 1873-1896' in British Agriculture 1875-1914. London: Methuen. p. 31. ISBN   978-1136581182.
  14. ↑ "Zeppelin Raids: Gothas and Giants". Ian Castle. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  15. 1 2 "Orion Cinema". Cinema Treasures. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  16. ↑ "Statue of Earl of Leicester (formerly)". Recording Archive for Public Sculpture in Norfolk & Suffolk. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
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