Smithfield is home to the largest wholesale meat market in the UK, with an 800 year history. Nearby religious martyrs were burned at the stake, the leader of the Peasants revolt Wat Tyler was slain by the Lord Mayor, and Barts Hospital founded. The area will change substantially over the next decade as the market moves to Barking, and the Museum of London develops a new home in West Smithfield.
Smithfield or, to give it its official name, London Central Markets, is the largest wholesale meat market in the UK and one of the largest of its kind in Europe.
Located within the Square Mile of the City of London it is housed in three listed buildings.
It is a place packed with history there has been a livestock market on the site for over 800 years and yet is as modern as tomorrow with its state of the art facilities for the receiving, storing and despatching of meat and poultry.(Website)
Clerkenwell 101
8 Smithfield Meat Market has been operating almost constantly for over 800 years. In the Middle Ages, Smithfield was a wide grassy space, with access to grazing and water from the River Fleet. Until 1855 cattle, sheep and horses were brought into Smithfield to be sold or slaughtered. In June 1855 the live market was closed due to complaints about the chaos and mess caused by driving live cattle to what was now central London. After 1886, cattle were slaughtered elsewhere and the meat brought to the newly-erected Smithfield Meat Market by train.
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