Castles
and ruins can provide the perfect inspiration for historical novels and I love
reading the posts on this blog about various lovely buildings visited. But what about lesser houses, those belonging
to ordinary people? Sometimes they can
be just as interesting and spark ideas for stories too.
One
such is The Old House in Hereford, a beautiful timber-framed building which
stands right in the middle of what is now a pedestrian area in the centre of
town. It looks oddly out of place
because it is the last remaining house from an old street called Butcher’s Row
which no longer exists. It’s as if
someone lifted it up and put it down where it doesn’t belong. Being so different to its neighbours,
however, makes it stand out and every time I pass, I have the urge to go
inside. Often, I do.
The
building dates from 1621 and no one knows who the architect was. It seems to have been built for (or first occupied
by) a butcher, as the arms of the Butcher’s Guild are carved on a shield over
one of the doors, but other tradesmen have also lived there and it’s been used
as a shop of different kinds. It is now
a museum and there are lots of black and white photos depicting the house
throughout the 19th century and later which are fascinating to see.
You
enter through a lovely porch with carvings all around it and immediately you
feel as though you’ve stepped back in time.
You forget about the modern streets around it and the noise and bustle
outside fades into the background. The
ground floor of the building consists of two rooms, one very spacious which
must have been used as the shop, and another which may or may not have been the kitchen. (The signs said the kitchen could have been
in an outhouse instead). Both these
rooms have wonderfully smooth flag stone floors and large fireplaces. These now display cooking pots and spits for
roasting to show visitors how cooking was done in the 17th century,
and there was an enormous “bread ark” (a large wooden chest) where dough was
kept while rising.
A
staircase leads to the first floor, which has two rooms with shiny oak floor
boards and a wealth of leaded windows. The
largest was the parlour. Whoever owned
this house must have been fairly well off as they don’t seem to have stinted
either on windows or fireplaces (there are another two on this floor, one with
a very ornately carved surround). The
ceiling is also beautifully decorated with what looks like plaster
fleur-de-lis. And there are wall
paintings, painted straight onto the plaster walls, with all kinds of motifs –
some biblical, some classical. I had no
trouble at all picturing one of my heroines sitting in the parlour in front of
a roaring fire, with her needlework on her lap and perhaps a small dog by her
feet. Could she be an heiress, the rich
daughter of a tradesman, her wealth needed by some impoverished local lord? I could just see him come here to court her, probably reluctantly, but maybe he would feel differently once he set eyes on her?
Another
staircase leads from the smaller room to the second floor, which contains the
bedrooms. I loved seeing the tiny tester
(four-poster) bed, which would have been cozy to say the least! (Anyone larger than me – I’m five foot three –
would have struggled to fit into it, but the hangings must have provided some
much needed privacy. And there is
another bed which shows how they were constructed, with a wooden frame strung
with rope on which the lumpy mattress rested.
I couldn’t help but wonder how uncomfortable this must have been,
especially when shared with several other people!
If any
of you find yourselves in or near Hereford, I can definitely recommend a
visit. Whether you’re in need of
inspiration for a story or just want to see a wonderful old building, The Old
House is great!
Christina x
www.christinacourtenay.com
