LEDBURY

 Ledbury in the east of the county, is one of England's text book market towns, full of prime examples of timber-framed buildings. John Masefield, who was born here, described it as 'A little town of ancient grace'.

Ledbury Market House. Several hundred years prior to the building of the Market House, Ledbury became a market town and the marketplace was established on the piece of land where the Market House now stands. The market charter was issued by King Stephen in 1138 and markets were held here for hundreds of years.

Work started on the Market House in 1617 and the available records suggest that it was to be a two storey building, raised on sixteen pillars and having a timber frame with a brick infill, with a number of small shops constructed below, in between the stilts. 

The trustees running the project  eventually completed the building in 1668, by taking a sum of £40.00 from two legacies that had been left for the provision of clothes for poor people! They got away with this misappropriation by writing into the deeds of the Market House that clothing for twelve poor people a year would be paid for from the profits of the Market House.

In the corner of the market place, behind this building, I found a lovely little cafe that did toast and Marmite!

The Market House still provides a space for twice-weekly markets on the ground floor, subject to a set of rules drawn up in the reign of Elizabeth I. 

The town centre is full of old timbered buildings.

The building above is called Ledbury Park and is a large half-timbered house in the part of Ledbury called The Southend, apparently built on the site of the former palace of the Bishops of Hereford, and set in a large park of the 17th century.

(above) No.1 The Southend

Looking down the main road towards the 16th. century Feathers Hotel. The Feathers is actually two historic buildings linked together. The oldest dates part to 1560.

Looking along Church Lane, behind the Market Hall

The Clock Tower of the Barrett Browning Institute dominates Ledbury High Street. Built by public subscription in 1895, it was originally intended to be a simple clock tower in the middle of the High Street. However, architect Brightwen Binyon from Ipswich, winner of the competition to design a memorial to the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning who lived in the town, had other ideas! The charitable trust established to look after the building insisted that it was:

“for the purpose of libraries, reading rooms, lecture rooms, classrooms, museums and any other purposes for the advancement of knowledge, literature, science and art among the people of Ledbury and the neighbourhood thereof, and the general public”.