Pannier Market, Bideford

The Pannier Market from Honestone Street

An Entrance to Butcher's Row in Bideford Pannier Market.

Inside the Market Hall in 1907

Bideford's market traces its origins to 1204 when Sir Richard Grenville, Lord of the Manor of Bideford, refers to it in a Charter setting out the rights of local people. These rights were confirmed in a Charter of 1272 granted by Henry III at which time the Medieval market was located at the bottom of the present High Street, by the river. These rights were renewed when Bideford received its Charter of Incorporation in 1573 which also established a town council and a Mayor of Bideford.[1]

In 1675 the council moved the market from the High Street to its present site, it then being a collection of stalls with a 'shambles' or butcher's market in one section with the town stocks also bring present.[4]

In 1750 the Manor of Bideford including the market rights passed to the hands of the Cleveland Family of nearby Tapeley Park in Instow. A glimpse of the market at that time is presented by Bideford's first historian, John Watkins, who wrote "It is very well supplied with all kinds of provisions, and at a moderate rate." By the 19th-century market traders were demanding better conditions and in 1825 the market was roofed over for the first time. In 1861 a tourist wrote "The whole building buzzed with a healthy, bustling good humoured crowd of women, and outside were the men, looking after the horse and pony market". Sheep were confined in pens below Victoria Terrace with larger animals tied to hooks once to be found in the wall below the houses.[4]

In 1881 Bideford Town Council purchased the manorial rights for the market from the Cleveland Family[5] who had refused to pay for further repairs and improvements, and between 1883 and 1884 the Council demolished the old structure and built a new market to a design by Newton Abbot-based architect J. Chudley. Built of roughly-coursed stone rubble with dressings of red and cream brick, red terracotta and limestone,[3] the Pannier Market in Bideford opened on 15 April 1884 having been built at a cost of £4,200.[5] In use also as a corn exchange, market days were Tuesdays and Saturdays and were visited by local people and traders from the rural villages around Bideford. Like its sister market at nearby Barnstaple, the building has a glass and timber roof on iron columns.[4]

During the opening celebrations the area around the Pannier Market was decorated with floral garlands while there was a peal of church bells from nearby St Mary's church, a gun salute and a procession with the Mayor of Bideford. A celebratory concert was held as well as a formal dinner for 200 local dignitaries, according to a report in the North Devon Gazette. Later in the week a tea party for 2,000 local children was held.[1]

In 1919 900 recently demobilised servicemen sat down to a celebration dinner in the Market Hall while in 1929 a speech delivered by David Lloyd George in Devonport was relayed to an audience of 4,000 people in the hall. During times of hardship a soup kitchen operated in the hall and in 1942 a British Restaurant offering cheap meals to war workers was opened in the South West corner.[4]

The market passed out of the hands of Bideford Town Council in 1974 when Torridge District Council took over all that body's assets. Moves to privatise the market in the 1980s were defeated and in 1991 Bideford Town Council regained control when it leased the market back and completely refurbished it - an event celebrated each December with a special ceremony.[4]