314 A Stroll through Bradford-on-Avon. 



columns^ one at each ang-le, between them being wooden palisading^ 

 and a central column ; to this last, the ne'er-do-wells who were sen- 

 tenced for some offence or other to have a whipping were bound, 

 when suffering the wholesome penalty for their misdeeds. The third 

 or upper storey consisted at one time of a room in which the courts 

 were held and the business of the manor transacted. But in my 

 time (1820) it was in ruin, and the staircase leading to it was gone. 

 I remember, however, that it had three quaint projecting windows 

 of a square-headed form, with thick deeply-moulded oak frames, 

 which were filled with small diamond panes of glass, and looked into 

 the Old Market Place. I remember the upper part falling down, 

 whilst the lower was still for some years afterwards used by the 

 butchers.''^ 



I may as well add a few words as to the ultimate fate of the Old 

 Market House. For some years no repairs were done to it, and it 

 gradually became more and more dilapidated. Again and again 

 presentments had been made concerning it, as a place not only 

 " unfit but unsafe to transact the Lord's business in." Once the 

 borough jury were bold enough to present the steward for not at- 

 tending to their presentments in this particular. But all was in 

 vain ; no attempt was made to sustain the tottering fabric, and one 

 night, it is alleged, the building fell. Whether its fall was the 

 result of accident or design — tales are afloat which favour the latter 

 supposition — men cared not too curiously to enquire. Till a recent 

 period, the man was living who carted away the materials of the 

 Old Town Hall, which he had previously purchased for the sum of 

 twenty shillings ! 



11. We now turn to the left and shortly find ourselves at the 

 foot of the Town Bridge, with its interesting Chapel on the eastern 

 side of it. The bridge itself, as an examination of it soon shews, 

 was at one time not only narrower in width, but shorter in length. 

 If you look underneath the arches from a lower level this fact is 

 soon apparent. In truth, the original centre of it is pretty well half 

 way between the chapel and the commencement of the bridge from 

 the Market Place. Originally it was used only for pack-horses and 

 foot-passengers, or at the most very light vehicles, the heavier 



