
Buildings
1 Cattle Market, Hexham.
1 Cattle Market is a mid-nineteenth century building in Hexham, Northumberland. The building had previously been used as saddler’s, plumbing, and gas-fitting workshops. For over a century, however, it was home to the Pattinson family chemists.
2021 – Today
Our work
As the building is currently unlisted, it would not normally be a project taken on by the Trust but, given its long history, we could tell it needed some care. The Trust were made aware of 1 Cattle Market being in need of restoration when it appeared in promotional material for Hexham High Street’s Heritage Action Zone, and through it being in a Conservation Area at Risk.
In 2021, T+WBPT secured over £20,000 from the Architectural Heritage Fund to conduct viability studies and fund project development costs. This funding then enabled us to apply for, and be awarded, Heritage Action Zone funding to move forward with the conservation work.
In 2022, repair and restoration works were undertaken on the front façade and roof of the building. Thanks to Nancy Wells, the Trust were alerted to the surviving gold leaf shop signage from 1919 beneath Boots’ branding and made sure it was protected.

In 2023, historic windows were reopened, and utilities connected.
2024 saw more work being done to the building, including the installation of a new staircase for access to the flat above. This allowed for the flat to be occupied and The Little Spectacle Shop, a local family business to move in on the ground floor.




It will be fantastic to see it brought back to its former glory and that it will be used once again by the residents of the town
Councillor Wojciech Ploszaj, cabinet member for Supporting Business and Opportunities
1830 – 2021
History
The arrival of the railway in the 1830s brought wealth and prosperity to Hexham and with it, population growth. The centre of Hexham saw much change in the Victorian and Edwardian eras and, with it, new buildings of high architectural quality. Along Cattle Market are a mix of building types from the row of bank buildings on the North side to the solid two and three storey buildings on the south side c. late 18th/early 19th C.
Lewy Pattinson, a Hexham native, emigrated from England to Australia in 1881 and found success financing building projects. Lewy later established the first Pattinsons Pharmacy just outside Sydney in 1886. The shop brought Lewy further success and later became H Soul Pattinson & Co., one of Australia’s most profitable companies. After joining Lewy in his business, his brother William returned to England. William’s son John then set up the family business in 1 Cattle Market, Hexham in 1898.
1 Cattle Market had previously been a saddler’s shop so William set about converting the premises for use as a veterinary and dispensing chemist.

Outside of work, William Pattinson was know as the ‘Iron Man of Tynedale’ because of his athletic talents. He was a founding member of the Hexham Bowling Club and, in 1887, helped to win the Rugby Northumberland Cup.
The pharmacy would later come to change hands in 1937. Sidney Wells, who had been working for William Pattinson throughout the 1930s, took on the pharmacy upon William’s death. John Wells, Sidney’s son then took over the business upon his own father’s death in 1978.
John and his wife Nancy, also a qualified pharmacist, worked here with her husband until he retired in 1999 and the pharmacy was taken on by Boots, the national chain of chemists.


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