Hungerford Market was a London produce market occupying the later site of Charing Cross station, first built in 1682 and its successor in 1832.
Hungerford Market occupied land previously holding Hungerford House, the family’s town residence adjacent to Durham Yard, which Samuel Pepys recorded as destroyed by fire in 1669.
The land’s history traces to 1425, when Sir Walter Hungerford, Speaker of the Commons and Steward to Henry V, acquired it from Sir Robert Chalons and his wife Blanche. Known as ’Hungerford Inn’ by 1444, the estate saw dramatic events through generations of ownership. During the Wars of the Roses, two Hungerfords lost the property through attainder for supporting Lancaster, though Henry VII later restored it to the family.
The site witnessed several notorious episodes: Agnes Hungerford faced execution at Tyburn in 1523 for murdering her first husband, whilst another Walter Hungerford met his end alongside Thomas Cromwell in 1540, charged with treason. The property ultimately passed to Sir Edward Hungerford, who received his knighthood in the Order of the Bath during Charles II’s coronation.
After gaining permission to establish a thrice-weekly market, Sir Edward Hungerford converted the fire-damaged Hungerford Inn into shops with a piazza. The venture struggled, leading Hungerford to sell portions to politician Sir Stephen Fox between 1681 and 1684, with Sir Christopher Wren acquiring a quarter share of both property and rents.
Despite Fox and Wren securing a grain-selling licence in 1685 and constructing a central market house—possibly of Wren’s design—trade remained poor. Hungerford’s financial mismanagement led to his impoverished death as a Knight of Windsor in 1711.
The market subsequently passed to royal gardener Henry Wise in 1718, remaining with his family until its 1830 purchase by the newly established Hungerford Market Company.
Charles Fowler designed the second market in Italianate style, opening in 1833. This venture proved unsuccessful and suffered damage when neighbouring Hungerford Hall burnt down in 1854. The South Eastern Railway purchased the site in 1862, establishing Charing Cross station there by 1864.
The original Hungerford Bridge was a suspension Bridge built by Brunel in the 1840s to link the market with the Lambeth side of the River, but was removed when the railway bridge, which incorporated walkways, was constructed to Charing Cross station in 1864. The chains from this bridge still exist, later being used by Brunel in his Clifton Suspension Bridge across the Avon gorge in Bristol. The original buttresses are also still in use, being incorporated in the railway’s Hungerford Bridge.
Hungerford Market was demolished to make way for Charing Cross station.
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Hungerford Market was a London produce market occupying the later site of Charing Cross station, first built in 1682 and its successor in 1832. 
