Corn Exchange, Much Wenlock

Corn Exchange, Much Wenlock
Corn Exchange, Much Wenlock
Location	High Street, Much Wenlock
Coordinates	52°35′44″N2°33′28″W / 52.5956°N 2.5579°W / 52.5956; -2.5579
Built	1852
Architect	Samuel Pountney Smith
Architectural style(s)	Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	County Library
Designated	1 February 1974
Reference no.	1189235
Shown in Shropshire

The Corn Exchange is a commercial building in the High Street in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England. The structure, which is currently used as a library, is a Grade II listed building. ^[1]

History

Plaque on the building commemorating the life of William Penny Brookes

In the mid-19th century, the educationalist, William Penny Brookes, launched an initiative to commission a combined corn exchange and agricultural library, which would be financed by public subscription and would not only protect market traders from inclement weather, but also provide a forum for the education of farmers and their labourers. ^{[2] [lower-alpha 1]}

The new building was designed by Samuel Pountney Smith in the neoclassical style, built in rubble masonry and was completed in 1852. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of four bays facing onto the High Street. On the ground floor, there was a loggia formed by four large arches, while, on the first floor, there were four sash windows with architraves. There were quoins at the corners and, at roof level, there was a cornice. A cartouche, which was inscribed with the date of construction and encircled by the words "Corn Exchange and Agricultural Library", was installed on the front of the building. Internally, the principal rooms were the trading area on the ground floor and a library, a reading room and a museum on the first floor. ^[2]

Brookes used the room on the first floor to accommodate the books of a lending library, which he had recently established and whose members, he had named as the "Wenlock Agricultural Reading Society". ^[6] Following Brookes's death in 1895, a plaque to commemorate his life was installed on the front of the building, just below the cartouche, in 1897. ^{[1] [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] The Wenlock Agricultural Reading Society also ceased operating around the turn of the century and Much Wenlock Rural Borough Council acquired all its assets including the corn exchange, the remaining library books and the sociey's archives. ^{[9] [10]}

The County Library moved into the first floor of the building in 1962, ^[2] and, following local government reorganisation in 1974, Much Wenlock Town Council established its offices there as well. ^[11]

See also

• Corn exchanges in England

Notes

1. Brookes also provided the inspiration for the Wenlock Olympian Games, a forerunner of the modern Olympic Games. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

References

1. Historic England. "County Library (1189235)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 6 August 2023.
2. Baggs, A. P.; Baugh, G. C.; Cox, D. C.; McFall, Jessie; Stamper, P. A. (1998). "'Much Wenlock', in A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume 10, Munslow Hundred (Part), the Liberty and Borough of Wenlock". London: British History Online. pp. 399–447. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
3. "Beautiful Shropshire town that was a trailblazer for the Olympics". Manchester Evening News. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
4. "William Penny Brookes". Wenlock Olympian Society. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
5. "Where England's Olympic history began". Wandering Educators. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
6. Cromarty, Helen Clare (2004). "Brookes, William Penny". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/39187.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
7. "List of monuments" (PDF). The Railway and Canal Historical Society. p. 20. Retrieved 6 August 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. "Town Archives". Much Wenlock Town Council. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
10. Hill, Christopher R. (1992). Olympic Politics. Manchester University Press. p. 28. ISBN   978-0719037924.
11. "The Corn Exchange". Much Wenlock Town Council. Retrieved 6 August 2023.