This photograph puts the focus on number 7 Friar Street. That’s the house between Greyfriars House and what was for many years Wall’s bakery. At the time of writing it is a hair salon. The double fronted property is unmissable as it has Thompson Trust emblazoned above one of its oriel windows. NB an oriel window is one that “sticks out” a bit!
The Thompson in question is one Major W J Thompson. He acquired the house in 1943 before passing it on to the care of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society. Ultimately the Mately Moore’s, who were mentioned in a previous blog post, took on the responsibility of its repair and up keep.
And it was just as well he did for in 1936 number 7 was under threat of demolition. It was ironically saved from destruction by the outbreak of war. The property had been in a bad way for many years. A gentleman named Mr F.T. Spackman described its terrible condition as far back as 1913. Mr Spackman will feature in a future item as he is associated with Tudor House having worked here for some years during the 1920s.
There are also reports of part of the frontage collapsing into the street! Here is what Spackman said about the house in 1913 in the book Ancient Buildings of Worcester:
…the roof is in a terrible state of dilapidation. It sags in places, and the rain comes in a soaks through to the rooms below
So our main photograph shows number 7 nestled between the bakery and a green-grocer’s shop. Clearly it was taken before restoration and that collapse – so perhaps 1920s? The sign from the enigmatic Canadian Store is still seen, but appears to have been overpainted. On the other side advertising for a certain type of bread can be seen above the bakery.
It looks like number 7 itself is closed, the sign might read Waldron. Certainly a man named Henry Waldron, china and glass riveter was in adjacent to Wall around 1910. However the 1911 census suggests he lived on the other side of Hales the green-grocer.
Renovation in Progress
Whilst looking into the story of number 7 we came across this second image in the Worcester Life Stories collection within the Changing Face of Worcester site. We don’t know for sure but feel it must come from the time when it was being rebuilt – notice the now straight front beam and the distinct lack of frontage to the left of the doorway!
Rather confusingly there is a cast-iron sign above the gap that says “No.6 Court”. Confusing as OS maps show that number 6 court refers to George’s Yard which you will recall was the area immediately behind Greyfriars itself and not here.
Back In the Yard
Whilst on the subject of George’s Yard, and in acknowledgment to their NT Greyfriars House webpage from whence some of this information was gleaned, there are some very interesting pictures there of George’s yard that are well worth taking a look at. Also, there is also a superb quality image of the shops we’ve discussed previously. Unfortunately, copyright issues prevent us including their content directly.
References
Images taken from the Changing Face of Worcester website.