About Market Place, Wantage
Market Place is the commercial hub of Wantage – the birthplace of King Alfred the Great, a historic market town, and a civil parish in the Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England.
Once a small Roman settlement, Wantage is thought to take its name from an old English phrase meaning decreasing river. King Alfred the Great was born at the Royal Palace in 849 AD.
Wantage appears in the Domesday book of 1086. Markets have been held in Wantage since 1246 and are now each Wednesday and Saturday.
The Town Council is responsible for Market Place and Victoria Cross Forecourt (in front of Victoria Cross Gallery). There is a Town Market in Wantage Market Place on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
There is a temporary closure of the western end of Market Place that is scheduled to continue until mid-January 2022. The Town Council is working to make the closure permanent.
Both the current pedestrianisation of the western end of Market Place and the proposed additional closure of the south side of Market Place are supported.
