page_title: Corn exchanges in England
section_title: Suffolk
hierarchical_section_title: Corn exchanges in England / Corn exchanges listed by Ceremonial Counties of England / Suffolk
caption_attribution_description: English: The Corn Exchange The Corn Exchange Bury St.Edmunds, Suffolk.
context_page_description: In England, corn exchanges are distinct buildings which were originally created as a venue for corn merchants to meet and arrange pricing with farmers for the sale of wheat, barley and other corn crops. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal grains, such as wheat and barley. With the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, a large number of corn exchanges were built, particularly in the corn-growing areas of Eastern England. However, with the fall in price of English corn as a result of cheap imports, corn exchanges virtually ceased to be built after the 1870s. Increasingly they were put to other uses, particularly as meeting and concert halls. Many found a new lease of life in the early 20th century as cinemas, Following the Second World War, many could not be maintained and they were demolished. In the 1970s their architectural importance came to be appreciated, and most of the surviving examples are listed buildings. Most of the surviving corn exchanges have now been restored, and many have become arts centres, theatres or concert halls.
context_section_description: Beccles. Exchange Square. Originally built as a theatre in 1819. Converted into a corn exchange in 1845 and into a bank c.1919. Two and a half storey. Stuccoed with arched windows to ground floor. First floor windows with cornices on consoles. Now Lloyds Bank.
  Bury St Edmunds Corn Exchange. Corn exchange, Cornhill. There are two corn exchanges in Bury St Edmunds. The earlier one, now known as known as: Units 1, 2 and 3 Cornhill, was built in the early 19th century with a fire station at the south. Later a public library and now converted into shopping units. White brick with stone dressings. The east and west fronts are single-storeyed with an eight-window range, the windows, all with 20th-century replacement glazing, set in moulded-brick architraves with triangular pediments. A tetrastyle porches to both fronts with attached columns, frieze and pediment. The whole building has a stone balustraded parapet with a moulded brick cornice and semicircular stone caps to the brick piers. This was replaced by the impressive corn exchange of 1861–1862 by Ellis and Woodard, architects of Fenchurch Street, London. The ironwork is by Ransomes and Sims. of Ipswich.Surprisingly this building is only listed Grade II. In white brick and limestone,  probably from  Ancaster in Lincolnshire, with Portland stone for the bases of the pillars. The building has a stone modillion cornice with balustrading over the north and south fronts. The south front, has a giant hexastyle  Ionic portico with a pediment decorated by figures representing Agriculture. The wings flanking the portico have blocked arched headed windows with stone architraves and pediments on consoles. It was converted to shops in 1969–70 and the central corn exchange area is now a Wetherspoons public house.
     
  Ipswich. Corn trading normally took place on Tuesdays in Ipswich and in the 18th century under a Market Cross in the Cornhill. A print shows the cross was surrounded by iron posts with a deal being struck “on the nail” – the nail being a flat-topped cast-iron post over which farmer and merchant shook hands at the agreed price. In 1793 some merchants moved into the Georgian Rotunda. As the name suggests, the Rotunda was a circular building, designed by George Gooding and modelled on the Halle au Blé in Paris (the central fruit and veg market). This was replaced by a purpose-built Corn Exchange (1812), also designed by Gooding which had a central open courtyard arrangement. The arrangement of an open court was disliked by the users, even the farmers with their reputation for working outside, so the corporation eventually (1849) conceded and refurbished the building. This 1849 refurbishment was by the architect Henry Woolnough, of Great Colman Street. Woolnough had a reputation for designing for clients with a very limited budget. The improved corn exchange lasted 30 years, accommodating an increasing number of merchants and becoming ever more crowded. The building was never ideal and the merchants continued to complain: about the unsuitability of the building, about the overcrowding and about parking. Eventually, the corporation built the present corn exchange behind the town hall in 1880.
  Haverill
  Hadleigh. Corn exchange, Market Place. An early example of 1813 and restored in 1895. A rectangular building of Suffolk brick with roof of slates on south and west sides, of glass on north and east sides, and surmounted by rectangular glass dome. East and west sides are divided into six panels, each with blocked arched recess. Tetrastyle Doric portico to the south. Presumably originally with an open rectangular interior courtyard.
  Sudbury. Corn exchange, now public library. Listed Grade II*. Baroque revival style. An elaborate Victorian stone building, 1841 by H E Kendall with a facade of four columns linked by a heavy entablature and each column surmounted by a pinnacle in form of a sheaf of corn. There is balustrade between the two outer columns. To the front is a large central arched doorway with an elaborate fanlight and ornate arched window with outer columns on each side. Th
caption: The Corn Exchange of 1861 at night
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