CHAPTER X. 



/I , MODERN ' TOWN. 



N important feature of the modern 

 town is the New Town Hall, a red 

 brick and stone building in Queen 

 Anne style, freely treated, built at 

 an expense of 40,000 ; which was 

 opened by H.R.H. the Prince of 

 Wales, in 1882. It is built upon the site of a former 

 one, upon the quay facing the river. The toll-house, 

 in existence in 1261, situate in Middlegate Street, is a 

 very interesting relic of early times, with a front well 

 worth seeing. It is in a very good state of preser- 

 vation considering its age. It was used in after years 

 as a gaol, and was the scene of Sarah Martin's self- 

 denying labours ; who, in spite of her own poverty, 

 found means of visiting the prisoners, helping them 

 to a more human state of mind, and mitigating the 

 cruelty of the prison treatment usual to the times. 

 A few of the old houses still remain in the town, but 

 they are mostly hidden under modernized fronts ; one, 

 facing the river, reputed to have been built in 1596, is 

 supposed to be the one in which the death of 

 Charles I. was determined. Near the Parish Church 



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