Henry Tudor was here

 
In Shrewsbury, one of the most ornate tracery carvings (in a town where there are plenty anyway!) is part of a first-floor window, in an ancient  building which lies on a stretch known as Wyle Cop – the street which leads to the ‘English’ Bridge. 

The building is named Henry Tudor House, because, reportedly, Henry of Richmond stayed the night here, on his way to the battle that was to see him become Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England.

The house has been recently lovingly restored by its latest owners, and is now a rather special bar & restaurant.  We were fortunate to gain access to the exclusive dining room, where we saw these splendid casement windows featuring heraldic designs, including a loggerheads.

No one quite knows when the loggerheads window was put in.  In fact the whole window row seems to have been unremarked until it was accidentally discovered during the last century, having been hidden under plaster!
The archaeological description says the house can be dated to the 1420s, but the window itself is extremely unlikely to go back that far...

+
To comment on this post, just use the Comments field down this page or email us direct.

To get an email alert into your inbox every time we make a new post (about once a week), just click 'Subscribe & Follow' (at the top of the column to the right on this page) and just fill in the form

Taxing at St Nicholas

These loggerheads appear over the doorway into the Saint Nicholas Cafe Bar in the Castle Gates area of Shrewsbury town.

When I first noticed them some years ago, they were in a small window in the staircase up one of the turrets (the building being a converted church). At that time, the owner said he thought that the building had been a tax office (or something like that) some decades ago for the local authority - thus we have the town council logo, the loggerheads.  Does anyone know any different theory?

The building is the Victorian neo-Norman church of St Nicholas which I find rather ugly, but, nevertheless, it is Grade II listed. 
It's not clear when it was converted to secular use.

+
To comment on this post, just use the Comments field down this page or email us direct.

To get an email alert into your inbox every time we make a new post (about once a week), just click 'Subscribe & Follow' (at the top of the column to the right on this page) and just fill in the form