A history of Market Drayton

It all starts with trade.  In the 12^th Century there were some 250 parishioners, and they brought their eggs, cheese, vegetables, chickens  to the Churchyard on a Sunday to do some bartering.  It was the one time in the week when they all came together.  However, the Pope put a stop to all that in 1201.  At about this time, though, the Abbey of Combermere became the Lords of the Manor, and, being commercially minded landlords, in 1245 negotiated the rights to a Market Charter with Henry III.

The Market at that time was a large open space in front of the Church stretching from the present High Street, and including Cheshire Street and Queen Street (the houses in between were only added in the mid 1500s).  It included grain, cattle, dairy and general produce – it was both wholesale and retail.

Over the next 300 years the business acumen of the Abbey declined. Henry VIII, with divorce problems, dissolved the monasteries, and in 1545 Sir Roland Hill took on the Manor and its debts, and organised things more successfully.  He was a Shrewsbury businessman, who became the first protestant Lord Mayor of London.  He died childless, and so the Manor passed to his niece who married into the Corbett family.  She was tough enough to outlive both her husband and her children, and the family remained in control of the Street Market until the 1920s.  The Corbett name and crest appear throughout the town.

In 1651 the Great Fire of Drayton destroyed much of the town and its thatched buildings.  For some reason Charles II ordered a collection among the northern counties to assist the town’s recovery.  Perhaps his father, Charles I, really did stay at the Crown while he was on the run!

The 1700s saw the life of Clive of India (born and buried near the town) and the growth of the Industrial Revolution, not to mention the beginning of the town’s gingerbread industry.  The town was also known for its clothing and glove making.  The Market was at its height, with each street having its own particular trade or animal.  However, the Canal opened at nearby Stone.  This drew the grain trade away from the town’s market, and probably much else besides.  Things were never quite the same again.  Market Drayton’s own canal came much later.

The town prospered during the 19^th century with tanneries, paper making, rope making, horse-hair weaving, two iron foundries (specialising in agricultural implements), and three major breweries.  When the Market was there on Wednesdays it must have been unbelievably smelly, with the basic drainage and horse pollution as well.  The damson market (for dye making) disappeared with the discovery of the new synthetic dyes.  On Sunday, 30^th March 1851 the Census recorded that the population of the town was 4947.  Of these 4026 were in church or chapel that day!

The change to the modern town began with the arrival of the railway, followed in 1871 by the Cattle Market being moved from the streets to a purpose-built Smithfield next to it.  Over the course of the 20^th Century the increasingly mechanised and automated farming industry resulted in agricultural services vanishing from the town.  The railway also disappeared.  Finally, in 1993, a brand-new state-of-the-art Smithfield opened for business on the far side of the bypass – the agricultural industry had finally left town.  On its former site a new Supermarket was unveiled.

The food industry is still here, but is now a fast-food industry, with the giant pie-making and yoghurt factories.  There are also the cattle and street markets and nearly 200 retail outlets, which include takeaways, restaurants, tearooms, a deli, a chocolatier and 18 pubs.  These serve a population of 10,000 (and a hinterland of 15,000).  Gingerbread is still baked here, of course!