The
Shambles, Bradford on Avon
The
Shambles in 1905
1837
Map of Town
1864
Map of Town
The meetings of Court Leet were ordinarily held in olden times in the Town Hall, or Market House. As early as 1715 however we find a Court held at' the sign of the Swan' (apud signum Cygni). The old Town-Hall was a plain and unpretending building that stood in the centre of the Town,-(the surrounding site is still called the ' Old Market Place ')-and joined the block of houses which constitute the ' Shambles.' The mark of the gable-line is still perceptible on the blank wall against which it formerly stood. It was oblong in shape, about 25 feet long and 15 feet broad, and was supported on two sides by a row of stone pillars, all the space below being open, and appropriated principally to butchers' stalls. Between pillar and pillar was inserted some wooden palisading. Above, on the first floor, there was a room in which the Courts were held and the business of the Manor transacted. Hard by, were the pillory and the stocks, the upright post of the former probably serving as a whipping pillar to which young culprits were bound. The stocks were afterwards removed to the foot of the Bridge, on the south side, whence they have now disappeared altogether. Not a few are there