Market Hall Museum

The Market Hall was constructed in the latter part of the 17th century, as a way to provide shelter and protection from the weather for salesmen and stallholders in the town's regular market – the precursor, Booth Hall, being declared insufficient. The building was constructed with a large, open-plan ground floor with wide open arches, to allow easy access to the stalls. The first floor also housed a number of rooms, which, after 1694, were rented out as meeting rooms. From the early 18th century to 1848, one small room in the Hall served as a "lock-up" – a small room which was used to hold prisoners before magistrate trials. From 1833 until its closure in 1848, the room was declared a…