The document summarizes the history of Sudbury's Corn Exchange building in Suffolk, England, from its construction in 1841 to its conversion to a library in the late 20th century. It was originally built as a Corn Exchange, where farmers and merchants would trade grains. Over time, the corn trade declined and the building fell into disrepair. In the 1960s, it was nearly demolished but was saved and restored, winning awards. It now houses Sudbury's public library.

1. Title slide
Sudbury’s
PhoenixFrom Corn Exchange to
Library
Sudbury’s Phoenix
From Corn Exchange to Library
Anne
Grimshaw

2. Title slide
This is the story of Sudbury’s Library on
Market Hill and how it rose, phoenix-like,
from a shabby old building that was almost
demolished in 1964 to winning awards for
restoration and conversion in 1971 and 2010.
It was built as a Corn Exchange. The words are
carved into the pediment…

3. Title slide
Inside, high above the
entrance, is a plaque which
shows the year it was built as a
Corn Exchange – 1841 – and
name of the architect – H.E.
Kendall…

4. Title slide
But what exactly were Corn Exchanges?
They were buildings where farmers and merchants traded
cereal grains. Each would have rented a desk with name
board. Such trade flourished until the early 20th century
when the trade became centralised and many such buildings
were demolished or used for other purposes.
Sudbury was in the centre of an agricultural area specialising
in cereals and hence in the mid 19th
century a Corn Exchange
was deemed necessary.
But how to go about building one?

5. Title slide
Credits: Sudbury Town Council/Suffolk Record Office
The Sudbury Market House Company was
formed. Shareholders signed to authorise
Edmund Stedman, solicitor, to purchase a
site at the bottom of Market Hill.
On 11 March 1841 they bought shares at
£25 per share to enable him to do this.

6. Title slide
Bottom of Market Hill (Friars Street to left and what was then known as
Sepulchre Street to right, now Gainsborough Street) with the Moot Hall in
centre before redevelopment in late 1820s/ early 1830s.
Swan Inn
Coffee House Inn,
site of Corn Exchange
So the money had
been obtained and
the Coffee House
Inn on Market Hill
was purchased and
demolished.
Thus began the
process of tendering
for building the
Corn Exchange.

7. Title slide
Credits: Sudbury Town Council /
Suffolk Record Office
Amongst the responses to the tender was one
(left) from Thomas Ginn, builder of Town Hall
which opened in 1828, giving a costing of
£2,050/15/- itemised to show the cost of each
trade but this time he was not successful.
Another tender
(right) was from
Thomas Mills
quoting £2,341/9/-

8. LIST OF SHAREHOLDERS AND SIGNATURES –
Title slide
Credits: Sudbury Town Council/Suffolk Record Office
Eventually, the building contract
was awarded to Stephen Webb of
Long Melford and his costing of
£1,620.

9. Title slide
The highly respected architect, Henry Edward Kendall,
was commissioned to design Sudbury’s Corn Exchange
which compares very favourably with other examples of
his work…
.

10. Watergate on the Grand Union Canal
(never built)
Kendall’s Hall (formerly workhouse),
New End Hospital, Hampstead (now flats)
Church of St George the
Martyr, Ramsgate, Kent
Anglican chapel, Kensal Green Cemetery (never built)
Henry Edward Kendall
1776-1875
Architect
Court House, Spilsby, Lincs.
(now theatre)
Church of St Brendan
the Navigator, Bantry,
Co. Cork, Ireland
Melksham, Wilts. workhouse
Stables and Orangery at
Wimpole Hall, Cambs

11. www.motco.com
A drawing
of 1853
shows how
the Corn
Exchange
looked
twelve years
after its
completion.

12. Look at the detail of the
lions’ heads on the window
surrounds and the
dolphins over the door.

13. In St Peter’s church
Market Hall, Sudbury. Bacon-Walker c.1850. By permission of Roger Green, St Peter’s church
Apart from St Peter’s church, the Corn Exchange was and is the most
impressive building on Market Hill.

14. Photo: Roger Kistruck
The crowning
glory of the
Corn Exchange,
are on the roof:
wheat sheaves
and…

15. Photo: Roger Kistruck
… the resting reapers.

16. Photo: Roger Kistruck
The reapers are resting on a swing plough used to
prepare the land for the wheat crop. It was drawn
by two horses via traces and swingletrees..

17. The following photographs were taken by Simon Girling of SEH French Ltd,
who undertook refurbishment work in 2010.
Note the name of the architect, H.E. Kendall, on the base of the plinth… …

18. Photo: SEH French Ltd.

19. Photos: SEH French Ltd.
Look at the details of
the reapers’ boots,
gaiters, buttons and
knee garters…

20. Photos: SEH French Ltd.
Photo: Roger Kistruck
Note the battered hat belonging to
the right-hand reaper and the loose
gathered sleeves of his shirt for ease
of movement.
The left-hand reaper is wearing a
scarf tied round his head. He is
using a sickle, a tool which had been
used for centuries for cutting grain
crops.

21. Credits: Sudbury Town Council/Suffolk Record Office
The Corn Exchange opened for business in October 1842.
This was an event to celebrate as the account books show: two copies of an
advertisement for a forthcoming celebratory dinner cost 3/4d – and for the town
crier to announce the event was 1/- (one shilling).

22. Credits: Sudbury Town Council/Suffolk Record Office
The advertising had to be
paid for and James Large,
printer, sent in his bill.
Look at the detail of a
printing press on the headed
paper of his invoice!

23. The building was fitted
with gas by ironmonger
William Bowen who
sent his invoice for the
job…
Credits: Sudbury Town Council/Suffolk Record Office

24. …and this is
one of the old
gas light fittings
in the ceiling.

25. And, of course, the architect,
H.E. Kendall, submitted bills
for his professional services
and his travelling expenses by
stagecoach from London,
where he was based, to
Sudbury – cost £1/6/6 each
way.
Credits: Sudbury Town Council/Suffolk Record Office

26. Sudbury.
THE NEW CORN EXCHANGE.
On Thursday about 70 gentlemen dined
together at the Rose and Crown, to celebrate
the opening of the New Corn Exchange. …
They were deeply indebted to their talented
architect [H.E. Kendall] who ... thought the
building did him great credit. (Cheers.)
The Essex Standard and General Advertiser for the Eastern
Counties 21 October 1842
Like many such buildings, the Corn Exchange
was an object of civic pride so that the
celebratory dinner was reported in a local
newspaper:

27. As well as the
architect’s designs for
the building that had
been submitted, there
were also designs for
the ‘stands’ or desks
inside the building…
Credits: Sudbury Town Council / Suffolk Record Office

28. •
…that corn merchants
hired through a formal
agreement. This one is
with Thomas Hibble, a
maltster of Sudbury.
Credits: Sudbury Town Council/Suffolk Record Office

29. Each merchant had his
name on the front of the
stand on a painted
wooden plaque. Several
of these can still be seen
in the Library’s meeting
room.
With the building
complete and the stands in
place, the interior of the
Corn Exchange was
complete…

30. Sudbury Museum Trust Photo Archive

31. Sudbury Museum Trust Photo Archive

32. The corn merchants,
millers, farmers and
others rented their
stands and buyers
came to purchase
their grain.
By 1856 rents had
increased. .By 1855
Credits: Sudbury Town Council/Suffolk

33. Credits: Sudbury Town Council/Suffolk
Two years later the
Corn Exchange
also opened its
doors to a poultry,
fruit and vegetable
market.
Note that there are
two women
amongst the
‘householders of
the Borough’.

34. As time went on,
maintenance had to be
carried out and in 1876
an estimate for painting
the outside was
obtained from local
painter and decorator
Ewin Green: total £43.
Credits: Sudbury Town Council/Suffolk Record Office

35. The Corn Exchange was also used for other purposes
such as a concert organised by the Stour Boat Club.
One reporter waxed lyrical…
STOUR BOAT CLUB.
GRAND CONCERT AT THE
SUDBURY CORN EXCHANGE
The Corn Exchange has been nicely decorated in the
interior for the occasion ... the dais was covered with
crimson baize. … The large central window was hidden
by a curtain of blue glaze alternated with white calico,
and forming a bright contrast to the crimson which
pervaded its vicinity. On either side of this window was
an illuminated shield charged with the British colours,
and the Prince of Wales’ feathers...
Bury and Norwich Post and Suffolk Herald. 22 February 1887

36. There were changes to the
adjoining building (now Barclays
Bank). An architect’s drawing
shows the proposed new shop
door and window.
There were even more changes by
the turn of the century…
Credits: Sudbury Town Council/Suffolk Record Office

37. …when that building had a different façade altogether. However, the building on
the extreme left was a shop until 1907 when the present building (now NatWest
Bank) was erected…

38. The shop on the left was Bowles drapers. It was replaced in 1907 by the present building.
Sudbury Museum Trust Photo Archive

39. During the Second
World War the
basement of the
Corn Exchange was
used as a public air
raid shelter.
Wakelin and
Ramplin builders’
report of 1942 stated:
“Generally, the
building is quite
sound.”
The Corn Exchange
was then 100 years
old.
Credits: Sudbury Town Council/
Suffolk Record Office

40. Corn exchange mid 1960s. The bank building on the left has its date of 1907 in
the oval plaque above the door. Market Hill has become a car park. The need for
a Corn Exchange has dwindled. Note the poor condition of the building…

41. The last farmers and
dealers, owners of the
Corn Exchange in 1964,
decided to sell it, and
Tesco was the first in the
field as a potential buyer.
Tesco insisted on total
demolition. In March
1964 consent for
demolition was given but
subject to preservation
of the façade. The
owners appealed, hence
a Public Enquiry was
held at Sudbury Borough
Council Offices at Belle
Vue House. No one was
prepared to buy the
building and preserve
the façade which was
very dilapidated. The
owners had a strong
case.

42. The future of
the Corn
Exchange was
looking bleak.
Opinions of it
in the press
were often not
favourable… Corn Exchange doomed
In many ways it would be a shame for this [the Corn Exchange] to go
… but we must not stand in the way.
Suffolk Free Press 2 February 1964
Corn Exchange: But Cornard panel say it
should go
An ‘Any Questions?’ session was the highlight of the March meeting
of Cornard’s W.I. … The first question “should Sudbury Corn
Exchange be retained?” found the panel in agreement that it should not.
Suffolk Free Press 19 March 1964
Corn Exchange is a typical Victorian sham
Letter from ‘Architectural Student’
The Corn Exchange is a typical mid-Victorian sham. A building built of the worst
possible materials – plaster, to hide poor brickwork, ineffective paint on the plaster to
keep the wet out, and no proper weatherings to keep the worst of the weather off the
inferior materials.
Suffolk Free Press 25 March 1964

43. But others
disagreed
describing it as a
“robust, jolly
building” and
“Kendall’s
masterpiece”.
But what was to
become of it?
Would it meet the
same fate as so
many others in
Britain –
demolition? Not
if certain citizens
of Sudbury had
their way and in
1964 the Battle
for the Corn
Exchange began.

44. Andrew Phillips, now Lord
Phillips of SudburyEdith Freeman, author
and local historian
Here are some of the campaigners who founded the Corn Exchange Preservation
Association which held its inaugural meeting in September 1964 and fought to
keep the Corn Exchange at the Public Enquiry – and were successful.
The building was purchased
by West Suffolk County
Council which converted it
into the town’s Library
in 1968.
John Betjeman, poet
and lover of Victorian
architecture
Betty Bone, Sudbury’s
indefatigable campaigner

45. Harold Crissall and David Cackett painters for Bailey and Goates working
on restoration in the 1960s.

46. The conversion from
Corn Exchange to
Library was a shining
example of a fine old
building being put to
new use. It was even
used as an
illustration on the
front cover of a
government
publication …

47. It received the national architectural Civic Trust Award in 1971 and the plaque can be
seen above the entrance…

48. The conversion
imaginatively
retained the
interior with
staircases and
new galleries –
a ‘floating’
mezzanine –
carefully
inserted.

49. The work was
carried out by
George
Grimwood & Sons
of Sudbury.
The contractors
received a
Craftsmanship
Award from the
Suffolk
Association of
Architects in
recognition of
their high
standard of
workmanship in
this building.

50. Architect Peter Bryant whose two-tone
scheme was used in the 2010
refurbishment.
Photo: Judy Bryant

51. Exhibition and
presentation during
Civic Week 2011 of
the Sudbury Society’s
Alan Phillips Award
to Simon Girling of
SEH French Ltd,
Ipswich, Contractors,
for their refurbishment
work in 2010.

52. From out of all this the Sudbury Society was born.
A new system of protecting buildings of architectural or special
interest was subsequently introduced so that in 1971, most of the
town’s historic buildings were listed, the Corn Exchange being listed
Grade II.
It is clear that, had the owners of Sudbury’s Corn Exchange been
given consent in 1964 for its demolition, Market Hill would have
looked very different …

53. Market Hill as it might have been…

54. …but, thankfully, as it is.

55. The End