This photograph of Market Square in Llanfair Caereinion was problably taken around 1885.
The old Market Hall in the middle of the picture provided a covered area for market stalls selling food and other local goods. The upper floor was a single large room which had been used for different purposes over the years, including use as a schoolroom.

There was a small lock-up (cell) at one end of the ground floor. It had no windows or lighting, and it was used to hold offendors who had been arrested until they could be dealt with.
The old Market Hall was knocked down a few years after this picture was taken, and a shop and hotel was opened on the same site in 1893.
Local people who felt thirsty at the time of this picture could choose between the Red Lion Inn on the right (with the hanging sign) or the Black Lion Inn behind the Market Hall !
The building on the left was the North and South Wales Bank.

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