The last section of galvanised iron was bolted into place above the eastern wing of Bramblegate Market at half past three on Thursday afternoon, one day ahead of the revised schedule. By seven o’clock it was raining. By eight o’clock, the market floor was dry.

Site foreman Hendricks, who has overseen the three-phase repair since late March, climbed down from the scaffolding for the last time and pronounced the job done. “The iron’s sound, the timber’s sound, the drainage is new, and the fixings are marine-grade,” he said. “It’ll see another fifty years.”

The repair — 14,200 florins approved by the Markets Board in March — replaced the storm-damaged roof section that had been under temporary canvas since the March gales. Phase 1 stripped the old iron and revealed three rotten joists beneath tarred felt, adding 1,800 florins and three days to the schedule. Phase 2 replaced the timber. Phase 3, completed Thursday, installed the new galvanised-iron sections and rebuilt the eastern gutter system.

Market Warden Phillip Catton inspected the completed work and declared himself satisfied. “The eastern wing has a proper roof,” he said. “Canvas is not a roof. Iron is a roof.”

Raymond Keel, the fishmonger who has traded from the eastern wing for twenty-six years and who was temporarily relocated during the repair, returned to his usual stall on Friday morning. “It doesn’t drip,” he said, looking up. “I’d forgotten what that was like.”

Hendricks bought a fish on his way out. Keel insisted on wrapping it in the morning’s newspaper. The headline, visible through the brown paper, concerned the Faraday exhibition.

The scaffolding will be removed by Monday. The three stalls that were displaced during the repair have all returned.