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TJic Country Gentleman's Magazine 



THE NEW MEAT MARKET AT SMITHFIELD. 



THE Times, describing this work, says : — The 

 new meat market at Smithfield, whatever may- 

 be its success or vahie, cannot fail to be one of the 

 handsomest modem buildings of the kind in the 

 metropolis. Its exterior decoration makes it most 

 pleasing — its size and general elevation most imposing. 

 It is built in what is termed the Roman Doric style— 

 a huge parallelogram nearly 700 ft. long by 250 ft. 

 ■\\-ide, and at the comers are towers 25 ft. square at 

 the bases, but which, at about 50 ft. above the 

 ground, are surmounted with open octagon campaniles 

 covered with very handsome pointed domes, sheathed 

 with copper. It occupies a space of nearly three acres, 

 and the whole of this great area may be said to hang 

 or rest upon girders over an equal space excavated 

 underneath it. The Metropolitan Railway passes below 

 it in every part, and as at this point there are junctions 

 with the Great Western, Great Northem, Midland, 

 and soon will be with the London, Chatham, and Dover 

 Railway, a large space was required, especially for 

 the great extent of sidings which will be requisite 

 for the meat trucks coming from all parts of England. 

 This great underground junction is, therefore, of pre- 

 cisely the same extent as the market above it. It is 

 a little more than 25 feet high, and the whole of the 

 superincumbent mass is carried on a series of square 

 cast-iron columns, or rather pillars, with wrought-iron 

 girders between, the spaces between these again being 

 filled up with brick arches of about 6 feet span, built 

 of great strength and laid in cement. The under- 

 ground junction is a most wonderful piece of engineer- 

 ing skill, and adds another to the long list of engineer- 

 ing works which, whatever may be its deficiencies in 

 other respects, places London a-head of any other city 

 in the world. The market itself is in the inside a 

 handsome lofty stracture, well lighted and amply venti- 

 lated. It is crossed from north to south by six avenues 

 or footways 18 feet wide, by one main road running east 

 and west, 25 feet wide, and by one gi-eat roadway which 



will be used as the thoroughfare for the principal 

 cart traffic, 57 feet wide. Between these paths and 

 roads the blocks of stalls are fixed. There are no less 

 than 162 of these, each 36 feet by 15 feet. These are 

 to be let at the rate of about a penny per foot per 

 week, with an almost nominal toll of 4d. on every 21 

 lb. of meal sold, or a fraction less than a farthing a 

 pound. At the western end, one bay is reserved for 

 dealers in poultry and game, but no fish or vegetables 

 will be sold in the market. The backs of the stalls 

 are closed in, but the sides they are only screened by 

 a light ironwork, so as to ensure the most perfect 

 ventilation through all of them, and through the mar- 

 ket from end to end. The market is built in two 

 storeys ; the lower, or basement, is after the Ciystal 

 Palace style, with cast-iron columns and cross braces. 

 There are upwards of a thousand of these columns, of 

 9, 6, and4j^ inches diameter. Thesehavetobesomewhat 

 irregularly placed, from the necessity of fixing them 

 exactly over the spots where the girders carrying the 

 floor of the market and the roof of the subterranean 

 junction pass beneath. Yet this slight deviation can 

 only be detected by measurement, for to the eye of 

 a casual spectator they seem wonderfully correct. 

 All the floor of the market is to be paved with wood, 

 to lighten the strain on the roof of the junction be- 

 low it. Twelve hydrants, always kept at high pres- 

 sure, supply ample means of washing out the market 

 avenues or stalls, and will be a guarantee against ac- 

 cidents from fire, of which, however, from the pecu- 

 liar construction of the building and the trade to be 

 carried on in it, there seems to be not much risk. 

 The upper portion of the market consists entirely of 

 rooms built over the stalls. These are never to be 

 used as sale-rooms, but are meant for the use of each 

 stall-keeper, where his clerk may keep his books, and 

 where he himself may have a place to retire to his 

 meals, or to wash and dress, or transact wholesale 

 bargains with his customers. 



WHITFIELD FARM. 



THE folloAving particulars relative to the system 

 pursued on the late Lord Ducie's farm at 

 Whitfield, Gloucestershire, may be interesting to our 

 readers :— The farni consisted of 240 acres of land, 

 which, under the old system, had produced a rental of 

 about ;^200 per annum. The fences had been levelled 

 with all the timber ; the land thoroughly drained, and 

 a wide watercourse cut through the farm, into which 



drainage water was conveyed. Instead of the old- 

 fashioned barns, which were more calculated and do 

 generally prove, better preserves for rats and mice 

 than for corn, a large and exi^ensive thrashing-machine 

 had been erected, driven by steam, and the ricks being 

 placed close to the building, and on each side of a rail 

 which led into the thrashing-floor, the process of taking 

 in and thrashing-out the corn proceeded simultaneously 



