Friar Street is graced with a number of wonderful half-timbered old buildings, Greyfriars being one of the best known – dating back to the 15th century.
Beautiful as it stands today, things were not quite so impressive at the turn of the 20th century. For a long time the mighty edifice had been divided into four tenements. This destruction is attributed to the George family, probably in the latter part of the 18th century. They also built ten cottages in what is now the garden of the property. This became to be known as George’s yard.
Then in the 1870s Henry Schaffer, the son of a German émigré, converted the street facing downstairs rooms into shopfronts. This was much to the annoyance of many of those in the city.
From then on it was all downhill for this piece of the city’s history. At one point the front part of the northern end (now known as Thompson’s Trust) collapsed into the street! Rotting vegetables from one tenant – probably a greengrocer named Price – filled his backroom.
All was made good eventually under the guidance of Mr J Mately Moore and his sister Elsie. Under them the building was restored to what we see today. Ultimately Greyfriars passed to the care of the National Trust.
This image shows those shopfronts in about 1905. You can clearly see the sign for T. Frost’s shop and you might also be able to make out Harrison’s umbrella shop sign too. Don’t worry if you can’t, this will be featured in a subsequent post. For some reason Frost had at one time “Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe” written beneath the window. A somewhat strange motif for a furniture dealer we think.
Quick Quiz
Whilst not possible to read in this photograph the large sign over the shop the other side of the entry reads “Canadian Stores”. What could you buy from a Canadian Store that you could not get from a British? More on this in a later post. If you have any thoughts or ideas please let us know by leaving your comments.
References
Image taken from the Changing Face of Worcester website. Historical facts distilled from Bill Gwilliam’s book “Old Worcester: People and Places”.
Quick Quiz
Whilst not possible to read in this photograph the large sign over the shop the other side of the entry reads “Canadian Stores”. What could you buy from a Canadian Store that you could not get from a British? More on this in a later post. If you have any thoughts or ideas please let us know by leaving your comments.