The Beast Market in Wrexham Regis, Wrexham, Denbighshire, existed from the 15th century, and was the site for regular cattle markets and the March Fair. It later became known as St George’s Crescent.
Wrexham’s March Fair at the Beast Market was the climax of the business year. Eventually some traders built their own market halls in the town. Manchester traders sold textiles in Manchester Square and Birmingham traders sold hardware in Birmingham Square, both off Henblas Street, while the Yorkshire dealers operated from a square near Tuttle Street.
The Beast Market had been the venue for the sale of farm animals since medieval times. As part of the Borough Council’s improvements to the town in 1875 they purchased a field to the south-east and in 1877 opened the Smithfield market.
The original Smithfield cattle market in London dates from the 12th century and it gained notoriety as the place of execution of William Wallace in 1305 and the killing of Wat Tyler, the leader of the Great Uprising (the Peasants’ Revolt) in 1381. With an established reputation, it gave its name to other cattle markets (including presumably Smithfield Green in the borough of Holt).
The Market Hall Company initially ran the market. They had leased the market rights from the Yorke family in 1848 for 99 years and in 1886 purchased them outright. In 1898 the Borough Corporation bought out the Market Hall Company. I have come across references to an ancient market charter in the minutes of the Borough Council, but the long-winded debate over how to look after the manuscript ended inconclusively. I have never encountered such a document in the museum archives. May be it exists somewhere unrecognized.
The cattle market must have attracted large numbers of people from across rural north Wales and surrounds into Wrexham: a weekly reminder of the town’s historic role and origins as a market town. Sadly the market closed in the 1990s, when there was a rationalization of such markets across the UK. This bustling centre for the regional economy has been replaced by Mecca Bingo; the speed of the auctioneer being well-matched by those calling out the numbers.
The northern side of Beast Market Street was still farmland when Norden made his survey in 1620. The town developed this way in the 17th and 18th centuries. The thatched building, with the dormer windows, was the Hat Inn, a pub dating back to the early 1600s, which still survives inside the opticians today.
The Elephant & Castle, recently reopened as a bar, dates from the 18th century, which is apparent in its architecture. According to tradition, the Infanta, Eleanor of Castile, on her first visit to meet her future husband, Prince Edward (later Edward I, nemesis of Llywelyn the Last, prince of Wales), set up camp to the south of London. A garbled pronunciation of her name attached that part of the English capital for ever more and from there spread across the country.
