NEN Gallery

Designed in the neo-classical style and built in 1828, the Bishop’s Stortford Corn Exchange is the oldest in Hertfordshire.
Four giant Ionic columns and pediments support the portico facing North Street, with two similar columns in place on the eastern side above the building’s Market Square entrance. Above the original entrance to the trading floor stood a statue of Ceres the Greek goddess of the earth and, especially, grain. She, along with the building’s turrets and other embellishments was later removed and replaced by a large circular glass roof, giving the 65 dealers who worked here added light by which to judge the quality of grain being purchased and sold. Although called a Corn Exchange, the word ‘corn’ is a generic term for all cereal grain.