History
History
The buildings, colloquially known as “The Corn Exchange”, are centrally situated in the Market Place, the main shopping area. They carry a Grade I statutory listing and are located at the heart of a conservation area described as “the most complete and cohesive surviving example of a Georgian country town in England” in the 1970 Donald W. Insall report commissioned by the County Council to assess the area.
The facade of the Town Hall, built in 1734, is a uniquely important and pivotal feature in the centre of the Market Place in Blandford. Its size, design and use of Portland stone facade set it apart from its mostly red-brick Georgian neighbours and afford it a unique position in the 18th century townscape.
This complex of buildings comprise the “Shambles”, the Town Hall room, and Council Chamber, all housed in the original Town Hall building. They are linked by a single storey extension to the Corn Exchange, built in 1858, which has a opening cut through its northern wall to form a proscenium arch into another single storey building which forms the stage. This stage building is in turn is joined to the modern Council Offices built at the back of the complex in 1990. The entire site is wholly owned, run and maintained by Blandford Forum Town Council.
The building has been the centre of civic functions since 1734 and has periodically seen efforts to adapt it for uses contemporary to the times over its – almost – 300 year lifespan. This was finally achieved in 2025 by the Town Council and it leaves a legacy for future generations.
The Shambles
The main entry to the complex is gained via the ground floor foyer of the Town Hall through the gates of the central archway, colloquially known as the “Shambles”. The materials of construction for the Town Hall and the Shambles are bricks and stone. Within the Shambles itself, there are four stone clad columns, the ceiling is of timber with substantial front to back timber beams. The area has been enclosed by locked iron railings since at least 1814. There is a party wall between the Town Hall and the Spar newsagent on the east that can be dated at 1732 from an inscription on the wall itself.
1890 was the first time that the area was referred as “the Shambles”, the opening of the Corn Exchange on the 25th May 1859 moved the corn market from the loggia of the Town Hall and there is no indication that this space was used for any other alternative purpose until the storage of a fire engine, hoses, 100 iron buckets and a water cart (which was to always be kept full!). In 1892 it was decided to put up doors where the inner gates were.
Changes to the use of the Shambles were again considered in 1907 when the Council considered using the Market Place in front of the Town Hall, the Shambles and the entrance up to the Corn Exchange doors for the weekly sales of produce, poultry etc.
The onset of war in 1939 led to many preparations in the town and in May that year a direct telephone line from the Report Centre in the Public Assistance Institution to the Auxiliary Fire Brigade’s HQ (now in the Shambles) was installed. By 1940 instructions were issued to the townspeople that the area was in constant use by the Fire Service during an air raid and that they were not to use the area as an air raid shelter. Several times the Council offered the railings in the Shambles to be melted down to assist the war effort but the Ministry declined the offer every time on the basis of their “artistic merit”.
The ceiling was plaster-boarded due to disrepair of the existing one and the entire area was decorated as part of the renovation and spruce up of the buildings over 1956/7 and re-decoration was carried out again in 1962, which included the inner corridor.
In 2025, the utilities were overhauled and relocated or hidden as much as possible. The breeze block store rooms that flanked the entrance doors were demolished and the previously bricked-in window openings have been reinstated, restoring the historic proportions to the space. These works, along with new automated glazed doors bring much needed light into the lobby area but also both greater visibility from the street and an inviting openness to the building. The space was also redecorated.
The Lobby
This area has been altered several times over the life of the buildings and other than the fact that the walkway into the Corn Exchange flows roughly along the lines of the central archway at the front there is little to indicate how the original structure would have looked.
In 1891 substantial alterations and repairs were undertaken throughout the entire complex and it seems clear that changes were effected to this part of the buildings. The Council Chamber used to be located where the toilets are (and is now upstairs). A men’s lavatory, a cloakroom, and a very small office for the Market Clerk under the original stairs were all added in this round of alterations and the old gates that had previously separated the Town Hall and the Corn Exchange were removed and replaced with doors.
In 1904 there were indications that the downstairs Council Chamber was not very satisfactory since the Council moved back to having their meetings in the Town Hall.
In 1921 there were further changes to this inner corridor when the ladies lavatory was built and after major remodelling in 1936 the caretaker’s office was built under the stairs.
The area remained relatively unchanged until the present work commenced in 2024.
The Town Hall
The Town Hall (1734), the first building of the then Borough Council, is not on the original site of the old Guild Hall, which stood in the centre of the Market Place. The 1732 Rebuilding Act prescribed that certain roads and passageways (including the Market Place) should be widened, in order to limit the possibility of another fire as disastrous as 1731, which destroyed all but 26 properties in the town, including the original Guild Hall. It would seem that the current building was “slotted” in next to other properties already under re-construction as the property adjoining on the eastern side bears an inscription to the “party wall” of 1732.
Nicholas Pevsner, the renowned architectural historian, describes the Town Hall as “a suitably municipal three bay façade with an overall triangular pediment, pedimented first-floor windows, and the ground floor open as an arcade on piers. So, a broad but text bookish design, executed with as much carved enrichment as the textbooks allowed.”
The building’s façade is made of Portland stone which clads a brick structure and is of classical Georgian architecture on two floors. It rises from three arches at ground floor level to a pediment over the first floor accommodation. The main entry is gained through the gates of the central archway via the ground floor foyer known as the “Shambles”. The lamps in the side arches were first hung in 1792 and payment was made from the remainder of the money gifted to the town by the wife of John Bastard senior (the initial sum being used to pay for the construction of the Town Pump as a monument of the 1731 fire). They are referred to as “additional lamps” hinting that that the original central one pre-dated them, although no records have been found to substantiate this. In 1858 these lamps were updated with “modern” replacements and again in 2017. The foyer area has been enclosed since 1814 by gates and railings.
When first constructed the Town Hall had a ‘”pitched” courtyard to the rear separating the building from the Blue Boar coaching inn and stable yard where the Corn Exchange now stands. The Dorset Archives office hold the Corporation Vouchers (receipts) for payments relating to repairs to a “door behind the Town Hall” and a “new lock and key for the Door next to the Blue Boar House” in 1809.
The building was used as a court room as well as for meetings of the Borough Council and the Council kept its documents locked in a wooden (made by Bastard & Co) Corporation Chest to keep them safe. The County Court sat here until 1968. The room was clearly built with this dual purpose in mind as there are corporation vouchers for payments to attend the Assizes and light the candles as early as 1737. It was not always an easy relationship between the dual uses. There is evidence that the magistrates often complained about the accommodation and required alterations such as in 1927 when the stage was extended by 1′ 3″ and a temporary extension was made in the centre to suit the layout of the court.
In 1797 the first flag staff was erected on the roof and four candle chandeliers were fitted to the ceiling. In 1898 the centre ceiling rose and ventilator was fitted.
The staircases leading to the Court Room have been placed in different positions over the years and it is thought that the first staircase might have led visitors into the room via the central archway. It is clear that this centre arch was blocked up by 1893 when the Council decided to mount to the current ‘bas-relief’ of Alfred Stevens on the new wall. In July 1893 the painting of the Royal Arms still hanging on the eastern wall of the Hall was presented to the Council by a Mr Frank Blanchard.
In the 1960’s dry rot was discovered and the windows and floor had to be replaced. In 2011 these windows had deteriorated beyond repair and were replaced with oak ones that replicate the dimensions of the originals. The previous colour scheme dated from 1975 but Council minutes show that shades of green were used at various times, which is what we have returned to in 2025. In 1792, for example, two large case lamps with green heads were ordered for the room.
The Council Chamber
The Council Chamber (1936) is on the first floor of the Town Hall building and sits behind the Court Room. The room was originally designed as an ante-room for the magistrates and was much smaller, approximately half the size that it is now with a fireplace in the south-western corner of the room. The minutes of 1825 suggest that the Town Hall was extended in order to provide this room and the 2003 structural survey highlighted that “the rear brick wall and adjoining staircase wall appear to have been subject to significant alteration and repair over the centuries showing up with patching of brickwork and indeed, substantial re-building at times in not a very satisfactory manner.” The Mayor also made use of the room as a Parlour, but it was most often used in connection with the Court Room, either for witnesses or sometimes even to detain prisoners.
The dual use of the Court Room between the Council and the Magistrates had not always been convenient to the Council and a Council Chamber was originally built downstairs in the inner corridor but this room was not terribly successful. Councillors, on various occasions, requested that meetings were held in the Town Hall. Attempts were made to improve conditions by the installation of lighting, floor coverings, hanging photographs and heating but these efforts to improve the comfort of the room seemed to fail and in 1936 a major re-fit of the buildings was undertaken and the Council Chamber was relocated to the ante-room to the Town Hall and the room extended to provide space for the whole Council to sit.
In 1938, after the refurbishment, the panelling had to be treated in situ for furniture beetle. In 1939 despite this treatment the problem re-occurred. The Borough Surveyor removed a piece of the panelling and sent it to the architect in order that he could seek specialist advice on its treatment. In 1940 letters were received from both the architect and the experts on how to treat the problem and estimating the costs but in February 1940 the Council decided to take no further action. The issue has not been mentioned again in the minutes.
In 1951 the ceiling showed signs of damp, a recurring problem, and was in dire need of decoration and it was decided that after the decoration had been carried out, that the ceiling be treated with “Wallcharm” in order to keep out the damp. The ceiling was singled out again in 1963 as being in a particularly poor state which could even become dangerous if repairs were not carried out.
The roof over this part of the building is lower than that covering the Town Hall and comprises of three ridges with a lean-to roof to the central section running down on the rear wall. Little has since been done to the room except the addition of gas fires and the installation of extractor fans.
The difficult access to the first floor, its insufficient size, the poor lighting, temperature control and atmosphere of this room resulted in a gradual decline in its use and it was rarely used both by the members of the public and the Council prior to the refurbishment and had not been used for Council meetings since 2001.
The Corn Exchange
The Corn Exchange is the third building to have stood behind the Town Hall. Its predecessor, the Market House, finally built in 1848, was conceived in 1840 when the Blue Boar Inn and its adjoining premises were put up for auction and the Council saw the opportunity to free up space in the Market Place.
However, in April 1858 the farmers applied to the Council to come up with a more satisfactory space for holding the corn markets other than under the Town Hall since it was open to the elements and necessitated erecting makeshift screens to shelter their wares. By June 1858 the Council had procured two plans for making alterations to the Town Hall and the existing Market House and they appointed a committee to assess the plans. In September the committee reported back that “they recommend that the alteration in the Town Hall and the making of a Corn Exchange … be carried out at the cost of £530.00.” The plans were agreed and the contract was put out to tender. In April 1859 the Council resolved to open the Corn Exchange on the 25th May with a cold buffet at 3 pm and a public ball in the evening.
It was clear that the building was used for purposes other than just markets when in 1877 Lady Rivers, wife of General Pitt-Rivers of the Tollard Royal estate and Mrs Clay Ker Seymer of Hanford House, Child Okeford, offered to pay for a new floor “for the purpose of making the room more convenient as a Ball room.” The Council accepted the offer. This widening of uses continued and in 1880 alterations at the north end of the building were ordered. The Blandford Handbook of 1882 printed by JH Barlett, the appointed Central News Telegraphic Agent for the Blandford District, printed the following extract indicating what those alterations entailed: “In the right-hand corner, also, has lately been placed a doorway leading to a very comfortable room of retreat, so long needed on occasions of concerts and other entertainments. The Exchange, as well as the Town Hall, is frequently engaged for public meetings, &c.”
In 1890 the Council began investigating repair work and alterations to the Municipal Buildings. By October 1891 the stage building was built adjoining the north end of the Corn Exchange and a large area of the north end of the wall was removed in order to “cut through” to the stage. Agreement was also reached at this meeting to install the tiled dado, which was hidden by 1970’s additions and reinstated in 2025. In December 1891 the Council agreed a scale of charges for the newly re-vamped Municipal Buildings and revised the bye-laws and rules for the markets. To launch the buildings the Council held a public lunch and a ball in the evening on Monday 11th January 1892.
1920 saw redecoration and cleaning throughout the buildings and the Council deliberated over potential solutions to cure the draught problems. Eventually they settled for a sliding baize screen and curtains to the entrance and by the end of 1922, heated steam radiators had been installed. The stage had received its own lighting in 1927. Electric lights for the hall completed the modernisation in 1929. Heating continued to be a problem and in 1929 fire grates were installed. Even during the major revamp of the buildings in 1936 changes were made to the heating arrangements to incorporate an open fire and two gas fires.
The onset of the war resulted in the roof being painted in order to black it out, and in September 1940, the Town Clerk had to report that the military had commandeered the Corn Exchange, the buildings at the rear and half of the Library. The military remained in occupation until 15thJune 1945. Over several years the Council considered ideas to renovate the buildings but lack of finance prevented work being carried out. In 1971 the council’s architect presented plans for modernisation which included the wall cladding that currently remains in place. The rear buildings were also rationalised into one structure and in 1973 a bar counter was installed between the stage and old boiler room to provide refreshments. From 1970’s onwards a lack of finance ruled out any major renovations or improvements and a variety of schemes were considered by the Council. In 2005 a decorative makeover was carried out to harmonise the 1970’s colour scheme and fabric panels were installed to try to improve the acoustic problems.
