The Square and The Old Market Hall, Shrewsbury
The Square is at the very centre of Shrewsbury, a place that everyone knows,
where people arrange to meet, and where you can enjoy markets and outdoor
entertainment throughout the year.
In the middle of The Square is the handsome and unmissable Old Market Hall. Built in 1596 for the Drapers Guild, it expressed the wealth and confidence of Tudor Shrewsbury. The Drapers were rich influential merchants trading in woollen cloth from Wales. In this period they more or less ran the town. The Old Market Hall was built as their place of business. There raised above the noise and bustle of the market place they could buy and sell.
Over the years the Old Market Hall has variously been used an auction room, a warehouse, an air-raid shelter and a courthouse. Now it houses one of the UK’s smallest and most historic cinemas and a café bar where a range of digital art is shown on screens. It's a stunning combination of old and new, and very popular with locals and visitors.
In the buildings around The Square you can see at least 5 centuries of architecture
from black & white mansions to elaborate Victorian gables.
The statue looking out onto High Street is Clive of India who was Shrewsbury’s
MP and mayor in the 1700s.
Before the 1300s The Square was nothing but an unpleasant marshy area with a pond where cheating tradesman and scolding women were punished by the ducking stool.