Tunsgate
{{Short description|Commercial building in Guildford, Surrey, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name =Tunsgate
| native_name =
| image = Tunsgate (geograph 6574283).jpg
| caption = Tunsgate
| locmapin =Surrey
| map_caption =Shown in Surrey
| coordinates = {{coord | 51.2357|N|0.5721|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| location =High Street, Guildford
| area =
| built =1818
| architect = Henry Garling
| architecture = Neoclassical style
| governing_body =
| website=
| designation1 =Grade II Listed Building
| designation1_offname = Tunsgate
| designation1_date =1 May 1853
| designation1_number = 1377878
}}
Tunsgate is a neoclassical style building in Guildford, Surrey, England. The structure, which was originally a corn exchange and now forms the entrance to a shopping centre, is a Grade II listed building.{{NHLE|desc= Tunsgate |num= 1377878 |access-date=23 June 2023}}
History
File:Twin Town Coats-of-Arms - geograph.org.uk - 330436.jpg
During the second half of the 16th century and into the 17th century, corn merchants conducted their trade on the ground floor off the Guildhall. This arrangement ceased in 1626, when trading moved to a space covered by a wooden canopy on the south side of the High Street, in front of the Three Tuns Inn.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2eJdEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT57 |last= Field |first= Marion |year= 2022 |title= The Story of Guildford |location= Andover |publisher= Phillimore |edition= 2nd |isbn= 978-0750998994|page=57 }}{{cite web|url=https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:41172 |title=View of the Old Corn Market and Tuns Inn, Guildford|publisher=Yale Center For British Art|access-date=23 June 2023}}{{cite news|url= https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/nostalgia/nostalgia-fascinating-history-guildfords-tunsgate-11021506 |title= Nostalgia: Fascinating history of Guildford's Tunsgate revealed in Surrey Advertiser archives|date=13 March 2016|newspaper=Get Surrey| access-date=23 June 2023}}
In the early 19th century, civic leaders decided to demolish the Three Tuns Inn and to commission a more substantial structure, which would accommodate the corn market and the court of assizes, on the same site. The new building was designed by Henry Garling in the neoclassical style, built in Portland stone and was completed in 1818.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hSwLAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA243 |title=The Pupil-teacher: A Monthly Journal of Practical Educational Literature |volume= 3 |year=1860|page=243|publisher=George John Stevenson|location=London}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jDdNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA383 |title=The History of Surrey Part 2 |volume=1|first= Edward Wedlake |last=Brayley |year=1841|publisher=R. B. Ede|page=383}} The design featured a large portico with four Tuscan order columns supporting an entablature and a pediment, with the borough coat of arms and some agricultural symbols in the tympanum.
By 1860, the court facilities in the building were found to be "grossly inadequate"{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tqEKAQAAIAAJ |title= Guildford: a Biography |first= Eric Russell|last= Chamberlin |year=1970|publisher=Macmillan|isbn= 978-0333019535 |page=193|quote= the Guildford Assize courts were found to be grossly inadequate}} and the assizes moved to the County Hall in North Street, which had been commissioned as a mechanics' institute in 1845.{{cite web|title= 'The borough of Guildford: Introduction and castle', in A History of the County of Surrey|volume=3|first= H. E. |last=Malden |location=London|year= 1911|pages= 547–560|publisher=British History Online|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol3/pp547-560 |access-date= 13 March 2023}} The use of the Tunsgate building as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=obn5AQAAQBAJ|first=T. W. |last=Fletcher|title= 'The Great Depression of English Agriculture 1873-1896' in British Agriculture 1875-1914 |location=London|publisher= Methuen|year= 1973|isbn=978-1136581182|page= 31}} After trading moved to Woodbridge Road, the Tunsgate corn market closed on 18 May 1901.{{cite news|url= https://guildford-dragon.com/look-out-below-at-tunsgate-arch/ |title=Look Out Below! at Tunsgate Arch|date=20 February 2019|newspaper=The Guildford Dragon| access-date=23 June 2023}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cVepDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 |title=Lost Guildford|first= David |last=Rose|year= 2019|publisher=Amberley Publishing|isbn=978-1445692951}}
Most of the building was demolished in 1937 leaving the portico to form the entrance to a new car park. The four columns, which had originally been evenly spaced, were adjusted with the two centre columns being moved further apart, to enable traffic to pass through.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a2yIAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT22 |title=Guildford Through Time |first1= Bernard|last1= Parke|first2=David|last2= Rose|year= 2009|publisher=Amberley Publishing|isbn=978-1445628486}} The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, was impressed by the retention of the portico describing it as "a successful case of sympathetic re-use instead of demolition".{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5b6dCBlfCLUC&pg=PT285 |title=Surrey (Buildings of England Series)| first1= Ian |last1=Nairn|first2=Nikolaus |last2=Pevsner|first3= Bridget |last3=Cherry |year=2002|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300096750|page=285}}
The 1930s car park was redeveloped as a shopping centre, known as "Tunsgate Square", in the 1970s and a mosaic depicting the coats of arms of Guildford and its twin town, Freiburg im Breisgau, was installed under the portico in 1992.{{cite web|url=http://openplaques.org/places/gb/areas/guildford |title=Guildford and Freiburg im Breisgau coats of arms mosaic|publisher=Open Plaques |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812183740/http://openplaques.org/places/gb/areas/guildford |archive-date=12 August 2014 |url-status=dead}} The shopping centre was re-modelled by developers, Queensberry Real Estate, as the "Tunsgate Quarter", between 2016 and 2018.{{cite news|url= https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/tunsgate-quarter-complete-history-long-14420780 |title= Tunsgate Quarter: A complete history of the long-awaited redevelopment of Guildford's newest shopping centre|date=18 March 2018|newspaper=Get Surrey| access-date=23 June 2023}}