great Victorian food market - Leadenhall

If locals and tourists had to select the four most famous markets of London, they would probably be Leadenhall, Billingsgate, Smithfield & Spitalfields. In particular, people know the market at Smithfield, within central London, which is still the country's largest meat market.

In the east of the City is my favourite, Leadenhall Market, a fresh food market that is fully covered. There has always been a market place on the site, but the details are sketchy. It was not until 1309 that the Manor of Leadenhall was first listed as belonging to Sir Hugh Neville. We have to assume that the name was chosen because the manor house was roofed with lead.

                                   

Leadenhall Market, interior

Photo credit: David K Hardman Photography

By 1321, the area around Leadenhall manor was a known meeting place for poulterers. They were joined in 1397 by cheese-mongers. Then for some reason the freehold was handed to the City of London in 1411. The site grew in importance as a granary, and a chapel was built to service those coming to the market. The records show that the market continued to be used for the sale of fish, meat, poultry and corn.

Leadenhall's chequered career fell in something of a heap in the later 17th century - it seems inevitable that the Great Fire of London destroyed parts of the site in 1666.

But in the end, the fire didn't ruin the market's perfect location and in recent centuries, Leadenhall St continued to be an important thoroughfare. It has been the home of Lloyd's of London, the London Metal Exchange and East India House, headquarters of the East India Company. Leadenhall Market is in Gracechurch St, just near the corner of Leadenhall St, and the Bank of England is very close.

I am not sure what the original market looked like, but in 1881 the old building was bulldozed and rebuilt by architect Sir Horace Jones (1819-87). It is not an accident that Jones had also been the architect of Smithfield Markets (in 1868) and Billingsgate (in 1877) – his reputation was rock solid.

As you'd expect from an important, late Victorian structure in a mercantile heart of London, the latest version of the building was elaborate. Its wrought-iron, repetitively arched structure had a roof of long glass skylights. But of course it would be - by then, even the magnificent ferneries and palm houses being built in mid Victorian stately homes and public gardens were confections of wrought iron and glass! Galleria Vitorio II in Milan was slightly more classical and slightly less Victorian, but the dates (1865-77) were similar.

Solo Craft Fair, in the Leadenhall Market

alongside Pizza Express 

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In Leadenhall the market was restored in 1991 - the ornate roof structure was coloured in maroon and cream, and the open spaces were given beautiful cobbled stonework. Leadenhall Market still sells its traditional fare: game, poultry, fish and meat, but now they have added cheese shops, wine shops and restaurants. 

Other bloggers have been particularly impressed with the historical tavern. The Lamb Tavern, situated at the heart of Leadenhall Market, was first built in 1309 by the same Sir Hugh Neville. The tavern's site however has much grander origins than the C14th market situated beneath it. Clearly the Lamb Tavern has been a place for slaking thirsts near the market for a very very long time. I have only been to one party in the market tavern, but it was memorable !

Lamb Tavern,

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The local authority, the City of London Corporation, owns and runs Smithfield Market and Leadenhall Market. But it is interesting, and unexpected, that the City of London Corporation also has formal responsibilities beyond the City's boundaries. It owns Old Spitalfields Market and Billingsgate Fish Market, both of which are within the neighbouring London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

For gorgeous photos of the architecture, see Instagram.