Welcome back to the Rothwell Preservation Trust’s weekly Post – keeping you up-to-date about the Trust and its buildings!

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Welcome to “From the Archives…”, celebrating the many wonderful images of our iconic Market House through the years.

Whether you’ve lived in Rothwell all your life (and seen most of the existing pictures in various places!) or just moved in to the area, we hope there will be something for everyone. 👌

14 April – This week’s image 📷🤳🖼
Today, we’re proud to present the 18th in our weekly series.
Taken from the book: ‘The World of Joseph Philemon Smith of Rothwell’ by Trevor & Diana Smith, they were a keen collector of photographs. This week’s image features the Market House from the late 19th century.
Here are the words of J P Smith (who had a Ironmongers in Rothwell High Street, now ‘Vape Central’) and was clearly a keen photographer…
“The old Pensioner from the Jesus Hospital wearing the ‘uniform’ top hat smiling benignly at the man with the camera… The shoe-worker [far left} loaded down with completed outwork returning it to whichever manufacturer he was employed by. Finally [centre] the three urchins, with nothing better to do – who would have us believe butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths.”
John Philemon Smith

And we shouldn’t forget the ‘star of the show’ standing proudly as a backdrop, as yet, still incomplete without its roof! As usual, if you have any more information about this week’s image, drop us a line – thank-you! 🤝

Trevor Smith died at the age of 85 on 5th January 2023.
Diana Smith died at the age of 79 on 3rd April 2024.
The couple were married for 57 years and they had two sons, Warren and Richard.

Update: Thursday, 17 April 2025
The Arts & Heritage Centre have three copies of the book at just £5 each.

Our thanks to Sylvia Davis from Rothwell Arts & Heritage Centre for her help
sourcing all of the above information. 👍

Missed a previous image from our series?
See all of the collection so far HERE
👍😁🤩

Can you help the Trust?
If you have any images of the Market House – especially if they’re unusual – drop us a line and we’ll cross-check it with what we have lined up and let you know. We look forward to hearing from you! Contact us at info@RothwellPreservationTrust.org or leave a message below.

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😲😲😲😲
As many of you know, the Market House needs a major makeover. The roof is leaking and must be replaced soon, so why not help us preserve Rothwell’s most recognisable building for future generations by making a donation – Thank you! – Our Fundraising Page is HERE.

We’d like to thank Northamptonshire Archive Service,
our good friends at Rothwell Arts & Heritage Centre and our many Supporters of the Trust
for their help in collating the content for this series 😁.

#TheRPT #RothwellPreservationTrust #SaveOurMarketHouse