These medieval buildings and narrow streets were known as the Butchers’ Shambles and are some of the oldest in town. This is the original site of Ashford’s market, and if you look closely you’ll see hints of this period, such as the hooks on the wall where the butchers’ meat was hung.
At 1 Middle Row, you’ll find the former market house where commercial activity was controlled and tolls were collected. Beneath this building is ‘The Cage’, the town’s former gaol which imprisoned ‘Lollard’1 John Brown for insulting a priest by sitting on his robe on a barge trip.
Read more about Middle Row and its buildings
- Middle Row
- 1 Middle Row
- 2 – 3 Middle Row †
- 4 Middle Row
- 7 – 8 Middle Row †
- 10 – 13 Middle Row
- Telephone Kiosk †
1 A Lollard was a follower of a Christian reformist movement led by John Wycliffe that opposed the bureaucracy and excessive wealth of the Catholic Church.
† Comprises only an extract of the list entry for the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
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