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You can discover more information, images and discussion about the Tudor Leet (court) House and Marketplace here. This building and its surroundings became the hub of Barking after the dissolution of Barking Abbey - which was demolished by 1541.
Gifted by the royal Lord of the Manor, Queen Elizabeth I, it was built 1567-8, perhaps as an apology for her father's demolition of the abbey, or an attempt to replace what had been lost as a result. The abbey, with the abbess as Lord of the Manor of Barking, had not only been a place of worship and learning but a centre for governance, including trade, judgements, care for the sick and other charity in earlier centuries. Maybe it was built in response to complaints from the locals who had lost the beating heart of their town, and a ruling abbess on site, who had been replaced by a distant monarch who now reaped the benefits of the manorial lands instead. The new Leet House was not only a court house for hearing cases and crimes but a place for trading and selling goods - the official weights or standard bushel were stored there for that purpose, whilst people could also be publicly punished in the market place, in the pillory for example...
The Leet House and market stalls formed a town square for celebrations as well as public punishments and in later years the upper room of the Leet House converted from a 'justice chamber' to a more general town hall for Vestry meetings, attended by those who were governing the town. When an Urban District Council was formed in Barking, local government meetings moved to the new public offices on East Street, which later became Barking Magistrate's Court, another role reversal. The current town hall was built after World War Two, and stands proudly in the square not too far from its predecessors. The market place has also remained on or close to the Broadway for most of its existence. It is now on East Street Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays just a few steps away from the original market site on Abbey Green.
You can discover more information, images and discussion about the Tudor Leet (court) House and Marketplace here. This building and its surroundings became the hub of Barking after the dissolution of Barking Abbey - which was demolished by 1541.
Gifted by the royal Lord of the Manor, Queen Elizabeth I, it was built 1567-8, perhaps as an apology for her father's demolition of the abbey, or an attempt to replace what had been lost as a result. The abbey, with the abbess as Lord of the Manor of Barking, had not only been a place of worship and learning but a centre for governance, including trade, judgements, care for the sick and other charity in earlier centuries. Maybe it was built in response to complaints from the locals who had lost the beating heart of their town, and a ruling abbess on site, who had been replaced by a distant monarch who now reaped the benefits of the manorial lands instead. The new Leet House was not only a court house for hearing cases and crimes but a place for trading and selling goods - the official weights or standard bushel were stored there for that purpose, whilst people could also be publicly punished in the market place, in the pillory for example...
The Leet House and market stalls formed a town square for celebrations as well as public punishments and in later years the upper room of the Leet House converted from a 'justice chamber' to a more general town hall for Vestry meetings, attended by those who were governing the town. When an Urban District Council was formed in Barking, local government meetings moved to the new public offices on East Street, which later became Barking Magistrate's Court, another role reversal. The current town hall was built after World War Two, and stands proudly in the square not too far from its predecessors. The market place has also remained on or close to the Broadway for most of its existence. It is now on East Street Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays just a few steps away from the original market site on Abbey Green.
