Corn Exchange, London

The Corn Exchange was a commercial building in Mark Lane, London, England. The original structure dated from 1747, but the exchange later amalgamated with a rival exchange and was rebuilt several times before finally closing in 1987.

Corn Exchange, London
The new Corn Exchange, completed in 1828
Location	Mark Lane, London
Coordinates	51.5103°N 0.0801°W / 51.5103; -0.0801
Built	1828
Architect	George Smith
Architectural style(s)	Greek Revival style
Shown in Central London

History

The interior of the old Corn Exchange, London, 1808.

In the mid-18th century corn mercants sought a location to trade their corn, which was brought by river into the city, and customarily landed at Bear Quay.^[1]

The first corn exchange, known simply as the Corn Exchange, was designed by George Dance the Elder in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and was completed on the east side of Mark Lane in 1747. It brought together the various agents who sold oats, beans and all kinds of grain on behalf of the farmers and was built around a courtyard which was open to the sky.^[2] The courtyard was surrounded by stalls or counters at which samples of the goods being traded were available. Either side of the corn exchange were coffee-houses, where further business was transacted.^[3]

London Corn Exchange Act 1826
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for erecting and providing a New Corn Exchange at or near Mark Lane in the City of London.
Citation	7 Geo. 4. c. lv
Dates
Royal assent	5 May 1826
Other legislation
Repealed by	Corn Exchange Act 1929
Status: Repealed

Corn Exchange Act 1872
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	35 & 36 Vict. c. xxxvi
Dates
Royal assent	27 June 1872
Other legislation
Repealed by	Corn Exchange Act 1975
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Corn Exchange Act 1914
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. x
Dates
Royal assent	8 July 1914
Other legislation
Repealed by	Corn Exchange Act 1975
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

London Corn Exchange Act 1917
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	7 & 8 Geo. 5. c. xiii
Dates
Royal assent	10 July 1917
Other legislation
Repealed by	Corn Exchange Act 1929
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Corn Exchange Act 1929
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	19 & 20 Geo. 5. c. xv
Dates
Royal assent	25 April 1929
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	London Corn Exchange Act 1826 London Corn Exchange Act 1917
Repealed by	Corn Exchange Act 1975
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Corn Exchange Act 1955
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to increase the capital and borrowing powers of the Corn Exchange Company and for other purposes.
Citation	4 & 5 Eliz. 2. c. xv
Dates
Royal assent	27 July 1955
Other legislation
Repealed by	Corn Exchange Act 1969
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Corn Exchange Act 1969
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to increase the capital and borrowing powers of the Corn Exchange Company; to convert the existing capital stock into shares; to confer further powers on the Company; and for other purposes.
Citation	1969 c. xxvi
Dates
Royal assent	25 June 1969
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	Corn Exchange Act 1955
Repealed by	Corn Exchange Act 1975
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

Corn Exchange Act 1975
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to provide for the alteration of the share capital, the extension of the objects and powers and otherwise to increase the powers of The Corn Exchange Company Limited; and for other purposes.
Citation	1975 c. xii
Dates
Royal assent	22 May 1975
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	Corn Exchange Act 1872 Corn Exchange Act 1914 Corn Exchange Act 1969
Amended by	Corn Exchange Act 1988
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted

Corn Exchange Act 1988
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to relieve The Corn Exchange Company Limited of its statutory obligations to provide a corn exchange; to alter the objects and powers of the Company; and for other purposes.
Citation	1988 c. x
Dates
Royal assent	15 March 1988
Other legislation
Amends	Corn Exchange Act 1975
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted

In 1826 a group of discontented traders sought to establish a rival corn exchange, to be known as the London Corn Exchange.^[4] Permission having been granted by Parliament in the London Corn Exchange Act 1826 (7 Geo. 4. c. lv), they established their new corn exchange, also in Mark Lane, immediately to the north of the old corn exchange. The new building was designed by George Smith in the Greek Revival style, built in ashlar stone at a cost of £90,000 and was completed in 1828.^[5] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of nine bays facing onto Mark Lane with the end bays slightly projected forward. The central section of seven bays featured a hexastyle portico formed by Doric order columns supporting an entablature, a frieze decorated by paterae, a cornice and a parapet. At the centre of the parapet there was a large commemorative stone inscribed with the words "Corn Exchange, Erected 1828, By Command of Parliament".^[4]

Corn merchants trading at the corn exchanges were required to make daily returns to the comptroller of corn returns for the purposes of paying duties.^[6] The volume of corn traded at the corn exchanges grew rapidly after the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.^[7] The old corn exchange was largely demolished and replaced by a far larger building designed by Edward I'Anson in the Italianate style and completed in 1882.^[4]

The use of the buildings as corn exchanges declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century.^[8] Both exchanges continued in operation until they were amalgamated in 1926.^[4] An "Annual Pelting Rag" during which traders pelted each other in riotous fashion was held each year until 1929, when a trader was killed at Mark Lane and the tradition was abandoned.^[9]

Smith's new corn exchange was demolished in 1931; meanwhile, I'Anson's 1882 corn exchange was destroyed in 1941 during the Blitz in the Second World War. Its replacement, designed by Terence Heysham, was funded in part by the commercial letting of an eight-storey office block built as part of the design, and was officially opened by the Minister of Food, Gwilym Lloyd George, on 27 July 1953.^[10] It too was demolished and rebuilt in 1973; but the corn exchange continued trading "cereals of every kind, pulse vegetables, flour, seeds, animal feeds and fertilisers".^[1]

After several years' decline in trading the corn exchange building on Mark Lane closed in 1987; at the same time the market, and its remaining traders, relocated to the Baltic Exchange in St Mary Axe.^[4] However, the name "Corn Exchange" was preserved in the name of the building at numbers 55–56, Mark Lane, which was redeveloped by British Land and completed in 1996.^[11][12]

See also

• Corn exchanges in England

References

1. Halliday, Stephen (2014). London's Markets: From Smithfield to Portobello Road. The History Press. ISBN 978-0752497396.
2. Bradley, Simon; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1997). The Buildings of England: London 1 - The City of London. New Haven and London: Yale. p. 554. ISBN 978-0300096248.
3. The Leisure Hour. Religious Tract Society. 1856. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
4. "Corn Exchange Company Ltd". London Metropolitan Archives. City of London. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
5. The mnemonic chronology of British history. Hamilton, Adams and Company. 1849. p. 92.
6. Burn, Richard (1836). The Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer. Vol. 1. T. Cadell.
7. Sheppard, Francis Henry Wollaston (1971). London, 1808–1870: The Infernal Wen. University of California Press. p. 188. ISBN 978-0520018471.
8. Fletcher, T. W. (1973). 'The Great Depression of English Agriculture 1873-1896' in British Agriculture 1875-1914. London: Methuen. p. 31. ISBN 978-1136581182.
9. Foster, Anthony M. "A Brief History of Hitchin Markets and Fairs" (PDF). Hitchin Historical Society. p. 13.
10. George Broomhall's Corn Trade News. Vol. 206. 1953. p. 44.
11. "The Corn Exchange, 55–56 Mark Lane". Loop.net. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
12. "Barings backs Hao Tian's 55 Mark Lane acquisition with £83m loan". Real Assets IPE. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2023.