Bull Ring & Market Square, Boroughgate

Please click the Play button to listen to a brief audio clip about the history of the Bull Ring and Market Square of Appleby.
A Transcript is also available further down the page.

Historical Images

Audio Transcript

The bull ring was used to bait bulls with dogs prior to being slaughtered, in the belief that this tenderised the meat. In fact, no bulls could be butchered and sold unless they been baited. Bullbaiting ceased in 1812 after one ferocious bull broke free and caused chaos when it stampeded through the town. There were two small buildings on Boroughgate called the Shambles, which were the old butchers’ premises and can be seen in the picture below, but these were demolished in 1883.

The bull ring is no longer in the ground but in a display case in Appleby Tourist Information Centre. Unfortunately, in 1912 the original cobbles were removed from the Market Place. At the same time, the last thatched building in Appleby was demolished, and a building to house a new post office was built, which still houses our post office today.

High and Low Cross mark the original boundaries of the Town Market. The butcher’s market was on the other side the Moot Hall, separated from the general market on the square near Low Cross, where corn, eggs, cloth and leather were sold along with other goods. After the Cloisters was built in around 1696, it became the only place where butter was permitted to be sold, and even then, only after 10am.

The Cloisters were replaced in 1811 by the present structure, designed by Sir Robert Smirke, who was also the architect of Lowther Castle. In the late nineteenth century, there was a public bath house in the East Side. The Cloisters are now owned by Appleby Town Council, and both the East and West side are rented out to local businesses. There is still a regular market held on a Saturday, which takes place in the original Market Square.

About the Speaker: Nicola Elliot