Page 25 - Oundle Life December 2021

©Drawing based on 1716 Plan was Taken from an ‘Inventory
of Archaeological Sites in North-East Northamptonshire - Royal Commission on Historical Monuments’. Note: Red area = demolished church the stone from which was used to build the Market House. Green area = Retained Chancel of Church which is still standing.
third, or even fourth life. We take for granted that the stone we see, in the buildings around us, came directly from the quarry.
And yet, if we stop to research just one or two buildings, we may discover a very different story. Take for example the old Town Hall/ Market House in Oundle’s Market
Place. Built in 1826, and funded by the Watts-Russell family of Biggin Hall
(between Oundle and Benefield), this Tudor-styled structure was originally
open on all sides of the ground floor to
shelter market traders from the harsher elements; while on the first floor a
large open room provided for town meetings. Sparsely decorated, the building is given a slight lift on its west- and south-facing elevations with oriel windows to the upper level along with a Watts-Russell coat of arms to the south gable.
As you perambulate the market place there is little to betray this building’s far older origins
– unless of course ‘you already know’. There is little to suggest that its stone first stood in another setting for more
than 500 years before being taken down and reused in Oundle.
You see, this building was constructed in 1826 using spolia from Barnwell’s All Saints Church which was pulled down in 1825 leaving only the chancel standing because it contained many Montagu family monuments. The parish
Building Stone may be reused more than once
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