Shropshire Routes to Roots

The building towards the back of this picture is the Wynnstay Hotel. An American admirer wrote of the hotel in 1901, "As a perfectly delightful Old House to stay at I would direct you to the Wynnstay Arms Hotel. This is one of the samples that comes into my mind of the genuine old English inns now more popular than ever since coaching days". In 1901, the hotel had a ladies drawing room, billiards and a bowling green.

The hotel is now a three-star hotel, with a luxury health and beauty club and swimming pool. The bowling green is still there, although the ladies drawing room has gone.

This is New Street, at the back of Cross Market. The market hall, the back of which can be seen here, was built in 1849.

It continued being used as a market until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, when it was requisitioned as a munitions store. The building was demolished and replaced by a branch of Woolworth's in the 1960s.

However, although the market building has gone, the elegant entrance has been preserved as part of a shop front.

This was the old guildhall, before it was presented by the Earl of Powis to the Corporation in 1839 for use as a Corn Exchange. The old guildhall was knocked down, and Powis Hall was built in 1869. In 1900, it was used as the Corn Exchange and Wholesale Cheese and Butter market, with fairs held on the first Wednesday of every month.

In the 1960s the building was demolished and rebuilt along the same general lines. The bustling wednesday market still sprawls across the town, with stalls in Bailey Head, New Street and Castleview.

A new Guildhall, which replaced an existing collection of civic buildings on the same spot, was opened in November 1893. It housed the Free Public Library and Reading Rooms, as well as the council chamber and courts. The development cost the Corporation £11, 000.

The building is still used today for its civic functions. It was restored and re-opened in 2000. The pump was removed by the council in 1958 in order to provide one extra parking space.

In 1900, there was a large horsemarket held every month. In Victorian times, horses were the only means of personal transport as well as providing the heavy pulling power needed on farms.

Vans and cars now park where the 'Horses and Traps for Hire' building once stood. This area is now used for the general market, the only cattle market being held in Smithfield, in the centre.