Cross Market, Oswestry

The Cross

Building History

In the early 1840s subscriptions were invited to erect new market premises in Oswestry. Penson, who was Mayor in 1840 – 41, had been active in promoting the scheme and was employed to oversee the work. The sum raised was insufficient to complete all that was planned, but the first stage of the Cross Market was built and in use by August 1842. The Town Council later decided to apply for a private Act of Parliament to enable the full scheme to be carried out. This was granted in 1848, after which Penson advertised for tenders to complete and enlarge the Market. The Powis and Cross Markets were formally opened the following year.

The site for the new retail market hall was chosen to be as close as possible to Oswestry market’s original location, by The Cross. The contractors were Griffith and William Morris. Penson was a subscriber and agreed to remit half his fees for surveying, planning, specifications etc in lieu of his subscription.

Exterior

Penson provided an imposing façade with triple arches, originally open; a heavy pediment and cornice and emphatic volutes on either side. The material appears to have been brownish-yellow brick with terracotta for the ornamentation, almost certainly supplied by John Howell from his Trefarclawdd brick and tile works at Trefonen. The frontage was completed in 1842 and this is an early instance of the use of terracotta.

The clock was added by public subscription in 1854. The Latin inscription has been translated as:

Time and money, space and weight,

By one fixed standard calculate

The Market was greatly enlarged around 1883 with a second entrance fronting onto Willow St. This section was demolished in the 1960s and the site is occupied by the former Woolworth’s store.