38, High Street

The first municipal building in the town was a market house in the middle of the High Street: it was located just outside the current No. 44 High Street and dated back at least to the 15th century. It was arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could be held, with an assembly room on the first floor. After it became very dilapidated and an obstruction to traffic, it was demolished in 1771. A clock tower was added to the building in 1835. In the 1870s, a group of local businessmen led by a local landowner, Colonel Robert Ingram, decided to form a company to finance and commission a new municipal building, which was initially designated the "Steyning Public Hall and Assembly Rooms". The…