The Market Square c.1900.
The origins of the name are quite
obvious but it is unclear quite when its use as a
market place started. The market probably owed its
origins to St Martin’s Fair, an annual event established
about 1160 in the market place. The church of St
Martin-le-Grand stood on the western side of the
Market Square.
On the northern
side of the Market Square another church once stood,
on the site now occupied by Lloyds Bank. There is
no drawing or description to indicate what St Peter’s
Church looked like but some stonework , discovered
during the building of Lloyds Bank, suggests that
it dated from the 11th Century. It was the official
church of the Mayor and Corporation, and from 1367
until 1581 members of Parliament and Mayors of Dover
were elected there. From its tower the curfew bell
was rung and many of the leading citizens of Dover
were buried in the chancel, the last recorded being
in 1572.
In 1581 St Peter’s had so fallen
into disrepair that it could no longer be used and
the Corporation moved to St
Mary’s Church. Not long after this Queen
Elizabeth I made a grant of St Peter’s to the
Corporation, to be sold to raise money for the repair
of the harbour.
Unfortunately the harbour saw none of the money as,
in 1584, Thomas Allen, the former Mayor, absconded
with the proceeds. After this the church was demolished
and shops and houses built along the northern side
of the Market Square.
In 1605 the
Corporation built itself a Guildhall in the Market
Square. This building consisted of a large room on
the upper floor supported on grotesquely carved wooden
pillars. The upper room was used for council meetings
and as a court room and under it were market stalls.
The Guildhall was used by the Council until 1836 when
they moved to the Maison
Dieu. After the departure of the Corporation a
Town Museum was started on the upper floor of the
Guildhall. The Museum remained here until 1848 when
it moved to new premises above the market
hall, which had been built on the site of the
old gaol. The Guildhall was finally demolished in
1861.
The town gaol stood on the south
side of the Market Square from 1746. In May 1820 the
old gaol was destroyed by a mob intent on liberating
some smugglers who were imprisoned there. It was rebuilt
the same year and remained in use until the new prison
was built at the Maison
Dieu in 1834.
In the north-eastern corner of the
square is the ‘Dickens Corner’ tea room. This occupies
the site of the old established bakers, Iggledsen
and Graves. The original shop is mentioned by
Charles Dickens
in his novel ‘David
Copperfield’.
