Halstead High Street

A fine view of Halstead's High Street in late Victorian times, around 1880. Note how the road widens out to form what was for many centuries the Market Square where the weekly livestock sales were held. On market days this area would be crowded with sheep, cattle and pigs accompanied by raucous shouts of sellers and buyers. By the end of the nineteenth century concern with public health meant that the herding of large numbers of animals on The public highway was no longer tolerable and the weekly market was therefore moved to an enclosed site in Parsonage Street.