The Victorian Society has named its list of the Top Ten Endangered Buildings for 2026, reports Herald Wales. Perhaps the most striking structure included is the Tees Transporter Bridge, Middlesbrough, but my eye was also struck by the presence of Bridgnorth's New Market Hall.
The revised Shropshire Pevsner is honest about it:
Of 1855-6, the magnum opus of a local man, Robert Griffiths of Quatford. In the grossest Italianate with an angle tower with typical Victorian-Italian roof. The material is yellow brick, blue brick and red brick. For Pevsner the whole seemed artless and tasteless, though not over decorated. Yet for all its bombast it fits well into the varied fabric of the town, and the tower tells in the town silhouette as a minor accent midway between the major ones of the two churches. (In practical terms the Market Hall was a failure. When it opened traders refused to move in, and still today the Saturday market takes place in the High Street.
Ludlow had a similarly uncompromising Victorian market hall - it was demolished in 1986, shortly after scenes from the BBC's adaptation of Tom Sharpe's Blott on the Landscape were filmed there. Its loss opened up a welcome space in front of the castle entrance, now used as a market space, but I wonder if the town would be quite so gung-ho about razing it now.
Anyway, Griff Rhys Jones in in no doubt the we should prevent the loss of Bridgnorth's hall:
"No, no, no. Come on. They are building huge enclosed shopping centres which threaten the high street, and here is a purpose made building on the high street standing by and perfect for small shops, cafes and a new life.
"This is the centre of town. This is the centre of urban life. Stand by and make something of it."
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