Market House

The first market house in St Austell was an ancient building commissioned by the Mays family in 1638. A second town hall was erected in 1791, but by the early 1840s, it was considered too small. One of the last meetings in the old market hall was organised by Isaac Latimer of Truro, the agent for the Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia, in August 1839, to encourage impoverished local people to emigrate to South Australia. The site that civic leaders selected for the new market hall was occupied by the King's Arms Inn. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the lord of the manor, Charles Graves-Sawle, of Penrice House, in 1842. It was designed by Christopher Eales…

The building is constructed of granite, with slate roofs. It has a large and irregular plan, but is broadly five bays wide and three bays deep. The main frontage, facing onto Market Street, is symmetrical and vermiculated on the ground floor. It features five openings, the centre of which is rounded headed and the rest are segmental headed, all with keystones and voussoirs. The first floor is fenestrated by five round headed sash windows with window sills. The quoins are also vermiculated and, at roof level, the eaves are heavily modillioned. Internally, the front section is vaulted on the ground floor, and the town hall above has a sprung wooden floor. Behind the front section, there are…