HISTORY

History of the Piece Hall

One of the Piece Hall handprints

At some time around the turn of the century, the Piece Hall Handprints appeared. The 1976 cleaning has made them much harder to see - in fact one of them seems to have disappeared completely - but the story of the marks left by a murderer goes on.

In fact, that should probably be stories as there seem to be several versions. The most common is that a murderer was fleeing from his pursuers and he ran down Westgate, discovered the Piece Hall gates were shut and laid his hands on the wall of the Piece Hall, adjacent to the West gate.

At the time, the Piece Hall stonework was blackened by soot so the white handprints stood out, and remained clean and clear for everyone to see until the 1976 restoration.

Another, less sensational, story is that a window cleaner dipped his hands in the strong solution used to clean windows in the days before the Clean Air Act, and then placed his hands on the stonework, making the two clear handprints. I would not like to put my hands in any substance that could etch into the stonework in the way the handprint is etched, and I have to assume he wore some sort of protective gloves.

So - murderer or window cleaner? Come and have a look and make up your own mind.

 

© Stephanie Marriott,

	www.piecehall.info © Richard Porter & Stephanie Marriott The Piece Hall Shops Association 2002-2005