The Market Hall stands in one corner
of the
Market Square,
on a site once occupied by the town gaol. The gaol
closed in 1834, when a new prison was built at the
Maison Dieu. The site
was auctioned in September 1837, when it was purchased
by the Corporation Market Committee for £555. It was
planed to build a new market but on further consideration
the Corporation could see no way of financing the
project.
The project was revived at the Annual Meeting of the
Borough Council in 1846. In April 1846 the designs
for the new Market Hall with Museum above were unveiled.
The estimated cost of the building was £3000 but when
the tenders came in they were all above the architect’s
estimate and the design had to be revised. The use
of Caen stone for the building and some of the ornamental
work was abandoned. This reduced the lowest tender
to £3448, and that, with the £555 paid for the site
was the cost of the building.
The Museum, which was placed in the upper part of
the new building in 1848, had been established in
the old
Guildhall
in 1836. The nucleus of the new Museum consisted of
the collection of Mr Edward Pett Thompson, a former
Mayor of Dover. The exhibits were greatly increased
and varied after the removal to the new building.
During
World
War Two the Market Hall was badly damaged. On
21 October 1940 the Market Hall and the Museum above
it were seriously damaged when a bomb hit the rear
of the building. The building was further damaged
by another bomb on 23 March 1942 and by shelling on
4 October 1943. After the war the building was restored
and the market re-opened but the Museum moved to new
premises in the basement of the
Town
Hall.
The Market Hall finally closed in November 1973, when
the stall holders moved to a temporary accommodation
in Biggin Street. It was intended to refurbish the
Market Hall as part of a new development in the
Market
Square. Unfortunately the re-development scheme
did not come to fruition, and the Market Hall remained
empty and dilapidated, a victim to the attacks of
vandals.
The Market Hall remained empty and uncared for until
the late 1980s when it was redeveloped as part of
the
White Cliffs Experience
Heritage Centre. The main part of the building
was demolished but the façade was incorporated into
the new building. The Market Hall part of the development
is now home to
Dover
Museum, which moved to its new home on its old
site in 1991.
The new museum, with galleries over three floors,
is a great improvement on the cramped quarters it
used to occupy in the basement of the
Old
Town Hall. It is now an excellent showcase for
Dover’s rich and varied history, including the
Bronze
Age Boat, which went on display in it’s own purpose
built gallery in 1999.
