OUR BUILDING

THE MARKET CROSS

The gallery is housed in a 17th C timber framed market building, which is graded 2* on the statutory list of buildings of special architectural or historic interest. It is an important feature in the Debenham townscape: sited towards the top of the hill on the edge of the village green, the orginal area of the weekly market. 

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In the 17th C this was the junction of Cheese Hill and Trewdealingstreete, it is now the junction of the High Street and Gracechurch Street. 

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The first-floor room was used for setting prices, fines and settling disputes reached by a ladder, the ground floor was open and part of the market, probably containing stalls selling dairy produce on which the wealth of the area was based. 

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In 1668 the building was converted for use as the local boys' school with the introduction of new staircases, a brick fireplace and a fine decorative plaster ceiling. 

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