descriptions of the eastern market from 1854 mention 'wooden buildings' erected 'for a temporary period under peculiar circumstances' and 'a gigantic wooden structure, a tunnel over the new weigh-bridge' which had 'a most frightful and enormous steep roof'. nicholas chevalier's 1862 wood engraving shows a crowd of people socialising in the market forecourt at night. while an 1864 hand colored lithograph by james buckingham philip titled 'the eastern market from the top of whittington tavern' sets the daytime scene with commercial activity around the four large markets sheds.