Postcard view of Brigg Buttercross/Town Hall – possibly early 1960s
Parish/DistrictBrigg/North Lincs
LocationAt the centre of Brigg market place
CategoryMarket Hall (Market cross)
National Grid RefSE 99975 07205
DesignationListed II (as Town Hall)
Stone TypeBuff brick with slate roof
Refs
Visits

There are no records of a market cross at Brigg but the town has a market charter from 1203 and has been an important market centre into modern times.

The building known as Brigg Buttercross is located at the centre of Brigg market place and may have been so named because it replaced an earlier, medieval market cross. It is built in buff brick and was commissioned by Robert Elwes and Henry Nelthorpe in 1817 . . . it was opened in 1819. Its open-arcaded and stone-paved ground floor was originally used as a market for selling butter, eggs and poultry. The upper floor was an assembly room used for civic meetings and dances.

In 1870, the ground floor was closed in with round-headed windows and doors and for a while, the upper room was used as a school.

In the twentieth century, the building was home to the Brigg Urban District Council and became known as the Town Hall until c.1970 when new municipal offices were built.

The Buttercross was refurbished as part of the Brigg regeneration scheme in 1991 and reopened as the Tourist Information Centre.

Brigg Buttercross today, following its 1991 makeover – now the Tourist Information Centre (photo: David Wright)

Brigg

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