The Council House and Exchange Buildings

The Council House and Exchange Buildings. The Great Market Place. The Council House stands on a site once part of Nottingham's Great Market Place. This was called "the most fairest without exception in all England" by Henry VIII's antiquary John Leland. From medieval times right through to the 1920s a Saturday market was held here as well as the October "Goose Fair" which in the nineteenth century became a fun fair. Street names like The Poultry, Cheapside, and Beastmarket Hill recall the use of the area as a market., By the seventeenth century a group of buildings existed at the High Street end which included butchers shambles, shops, public houses and exhibition booths. Above these a room was built, the "Spice Chamber," in which groceries were sold and possibly some civic events took place. This tradition of uses became more established over the centuries and is still evident today., A new Exchange was built as a Civic Centre in 1724 and further altered in 1814. In the 1920's the Exchange was demolished to make way for the Council House of 1929. The format with its Processional Way, affectionately known as "Slab Square," caused the market to be moved to King Edward Street (later to Victoria Centre). Goose Fair is now held on The Forest., Thoroton's Map (extract) 1677 , This plan of the Market Place records a dividing wall demolished in 1713. Popularly thought to have separated the Anglo-Saxon and Norman boroughs of Nottingham, it probably kept livestock apart from other trade stalls. Three market crosses are shown: Malt Cross (38), Hen Cross (43), Butter Cross (40)., The New Exchange of 1724 , The "New Change" as it was called, included a red brick frontage supported on ten stone pillars which enclosed a small piazza below. The figure of 'Justice', above, was to be a lasting symbol on this site., The Alterations of 1814 , Alterations to the frontage included a larger 'Justice' enclosure of the lower section and its division into shops. The Council Chamber was linked by a staircase to "The Feathers," one of several inns on the site. Municipal offices took up the top storeys on Cheapside and Smithy Row, while shops, public houses and the butcher' shambles still existed to the rear at street level.