Market Hall (Siola)

Cadw's description

Location

Prominently sited on the N side of Market Square, set back from the road and raised above street level.

History

Tremadog was a town created by William Madocks (1773-1828) in the first decade of the C19 on reclaimed land known as Traeth Mawr, the estuary of Afon Glaslyn. It was originally intended to be a post town on a direct road between London and Dublin, via Porthdinllaen on the Lleyn peninsula, a project that in due course lost out to the Holyhead Road. Tremadog was laid out around a market square, with market hall, coaching inn, houses and shops, with a church and chapel just outside the centre. Building of this small planned development, as well as a separate woollen manufactory, began c1805 and was largely completed by the time Richard Colt Hoare described it in 1810.

The Market Hall was an integral component of the original planned town and was begun in 1807. It was originally open-fronted in the lower storey, and incorporated a dance hall and theatre in the upper storey. Arches in the lower storey were infilled with ironwork by Clough Williams-Ellis in the C20 but it was replaced by the present glazing in the 1970s.

Exterior

Market hall in classical style. 2-storeys 5-bays, of roughly dressed blocks of quarried stone laid in regular courses, a hipped slate roof, which is on projecting bracketed eaves to the front, and stone end stacks. In the arcaded lower storey are tall round-headed arches, originally open. The end bays are part infilled with rubble stone and 3-light wood-framed windows. The central bays are infilled with glazing and with central doors. Arches have an impost band, keystones of reconstituted stone painted white with a variety of moulded heads. In the spandrels are fluted medallions painted white with foliage bosses, probably of cast iron. The spandrel of the L end bay has a small 4-pane window. A freestone plat band is painted white. In the upper storey are tall 24-pane horned sash windows renewed in original openings under deep bracketed hoods.

The ground level is higher at the rear, which has stone steps to a rear porch at upper-storey level, and to its L a stone porch at intermediate level.

Interior

On the L side of the lower storey is a blocked round-headed arch, originally opening to the rear behind the Royal Madoc Arms Hotel. The upper storey windows have panelled shutters.

Reason for designation

Listed grade II* as a fine early C19 public building deriving strong architectural character from its combination of classical detail with the use of local materials. The building is a crucial component of William Madocks' new town, and contributes strongly to the historical integrity of Tremadog.