Llanidloes Old Market Hall, Historic Houses Llanidloes, Powys - Wales where to go, what to see and where to stay in Wales

The half-timbered Old Market Hall stands at the top of Great Oak Street, Llanidloes, Mid Wales. <br><br> There are many historic buildings in Llanidloes, many being timber framed. Moreover, although many can be seen to be timber framed some of Llanidloes' houses hide the ancient timbers behind rather more modern brick, render, and stone facades. <br><br> Probably the highlight of Llanidloes' architecture is however the Old Market Hall. This is the most distinctive building in the town and is the only surviving timber-framed market hall in Wales. The present Hall was built at some time between 1612 and 1622. However, some of the timbers used in its construction are older than the building, dating from the mid-16th century. <br><br> The rubblestone building has two storeys, with 5 bays of post and panel partitions, topped by a slate roof with octagonal glazed cupola, weathervane and overhanging eaves. The ground floor is primarily open with heavy oak arches and cobbled paving, although the eastern most bay has been enclosed.<br><br> During the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries the booming textile trade in Llanidloes made this Market Hall a bustling centre of trade, where the wool and flannel was collected for transport to Welshpool. The upper room served as a wool market, a flannel store, a law court, a Working Men’s Institute &amp; Library and as a preacher’s hall, where such esteemed men as John Wesley preached. The hall housed the town’s museum from 1930 to 1995, when it was relocated to Llanidloes Town Hall.<br><br> The Old Market Hall is now the setting for a permanent display about the history, construction, use and future of some of Britain's most distinctive and beloved buildings-those built by the ancient but still-continuing method called timber-framing or "half-timbering".