If a competition were to be held to determine the ugliest building in Frome, then the present yellow brick box occupying the corner of Church Street and Eagle Lane would surely be a contender, but it wasn’t always this way.
In 1770 the corner was the site of the Eagle Inn owned and run by the Hiscock Family, sadly there are no descriptions of its appearance. The pub continued with the family until around 1830 when it was purchased by Joseph Oxley, a cooper and maltster who turned it from an inn to the premises for his wine business. This was the same Joseph Oxley who fought the notorious George Howarth – carving knife against sword – when the latter was found burgling his premised in 1827.
Oxley was a special constable during the Frome election riots of 1832 and gave evidence at the trial of the rioters – he dropped dead at the Bell Inn, Buckland Dinham in 1849 and the premises was sold by the family in 1856 when it became the site of Frome’s first police station.
The police were only there for a couple of years while their new station was being built in Christchurch Street and the building was sold once more, this time to the Mechanics Hall & Institute who demolished the old inn and built their own premises, which opened in 1858.
This was a great success and hosted many important lectures, exhibitions and theatrical events, as well containing a billiard room library and storage vaults. They had moved on by 1909 when applications were made to turn the premises into a theatre, which opened a few years later as the Palace Theatre and this in turn became Frome’s first cinema The Bijou.
By 1949 it was time for another change and the premises was conveyed to the Ellenbray Press which continued until 1961, when the entire building was gutted by fire and the whole building was rebuilt in its present incongruous style, with its inappropriate yellow brick blighting medieval Frome’s conservation area. It reopened in 1962 as ‘Churchway Markets’ followed by Brady’s Plywood Store and applications to turn it into a nightclub or a wine bar, both applications were refused and it is now occupied by Studio Prints. (The drawing of the Mechanics Institute in 1858 is taken from The Frome Society’s Yearbook for 2012)
Mick Davis &
David Lassman
