Roof-top tours to mark 50th anniversary of Shrewsbury Market Hall
Shrewsbury town guide and local historian Stan Sedman will lead roof-top tours of the town’s Market Hall on Wednesday September 16 as part of celebrations marking the building’s 50th anniversary.
The tours, taking place at 11.30am, 12.30pm, 1.30pm and 2.30pm, will give the public a rare chance to catch sweeping panoramic views of the town.
Mr Sedman, a town guide for 10 years and co-author of “A Portrait of Shrewsbury”, which explores the historic buildings of Shrewsbury, said: “The Market Hall is a major 1960s building in the town and this is a great opportunity to view Shrewsbury from on high, seeing some of our historic buildings and townscape from a different angle.
“The Market Hall is an iconic building of its era. Its clock tower is part of the town’s skyline, standing alongside the medieval spires of St Mary’s and St Alkmund’s churches.”
People wanting to go on a roof-top tour are urged to book in advance by contacting market facilities manager Kate Gittins at Kate.Gittins@shropshire.gov.uk or on 01743 351067.
Members of the public are invited to join the market hall’s anniversary celebrations on Wednesday. The festivities will begin at 11.30am with the serving of an anniversary punch to toast five decades of the Market Hall.
VIP guests, including civic leaders, Shropshire’s Lord Lieutenant Algernon Heber-Percy, Shrewsbury Town Council Mayor Councillor Miles Kenny, business leaders and others, will be attending the event. Shropshire Council leader Keith Barrow will unveil a plaque commemorating the anniversary at noon.
The celebrations have been boosted by Shrewsbury-born England and Manchester City Star Joe Hart who has donated a signed shirt as the first prize in the Market Hall’s anniversary raffle in aid of the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund. The raffle will be drawn at the event.
The Shropshire Visual Art Network, based in the Market Hall, has organised an exhibition telling the story of the building and the people connected to it through art, history and personal stories.
Sculptors Keith Ashford and Liz Turner have created a life-size 37ft replica of the finial that crowns the Market Hall’s clock tower. This is being exhibited with other works at Participate Contemporary Artspace, in the Riverside Shopping Centre, until September 26.
Local historian David Trumper will hold a talk on the history of the Market Hall site at 8pm on Thursday September 17 at St Alkmund’s Church, in St Alkmunds Place. It will include rarely seen images of the town before over 60 dwellings, pubs and businesses were demolished in the 1860s to make way for a Victorian market hall that stood on the same site.
The Market Hall, which houses a popular market, the town’s clock tower, a shopping centre and now Shrewsbury’s first student hall of residence, was hailed “the most modern building in Shropshire” when it opened in 1965. It replaced a Victorian market hall which was described as “crumbling and no longer fit for purpose”.
