Newcastle Town Hall

In the 1830s, a group of local businessmen decided to form a company, to be known as the "Corn Market Company", to finance and commission a purpose-built corn exchange for the town. They site they selected was on the north side of St Nicholas Square (between the Bigg Market and the Cloth Market), where corn merchants had previously carried out their trade in the open air. The foundation stone for the corn exchange was laid by the mayor, Thomas Emerson Headlam, in 1837. It was designed by John and Benjamin Green, built in ashlar stone and was officially opened on 16 November 1839. The corn exchange was 156 feet long, 45 feet wide at the north end and 82 feet wide at the south end. However,…