About Us

Welcome to Tudor House, a small but perfectly formed independent museum, set in a fine example of a close-studded timber framed building with the only remaining original embossed ceiling in Worcester.

Originally the Museum of Local Life (as well as many other things over the centuries), the building became Tudor House Museum in 2004 when the Worcester Heritage and Amenity Trust’s small band of volunteer took on the heroic task of running it themselves with no local or national government funding, and precious little else other than a kettle and hope!

Since those early days. they have grown the museum to become a professionally Accredited museum, a shortlistee for the national Family Friendly Museum, with an award-winning volunteer team and big plans for the future.

Origins

The timber building was erected around 1520, although foundation stones in the cellar date from the early Medieval period. Originally 3 separate dwellings, each owned or rented and used by different tradespeople. 17^th century inventories show that some of these people were well-off, but that was by no means always the case.

Tudor House has been a home and a workshop for weaver clothiers, carpenters, a baker and a 17^th century solicitor’s widow, to name just a few. Some of the weaver clothiers who lived there brewed ale as a side-line in the late 1500s, and for about five hundred years part of the building was used for brewing. It was known as The Cross Keys tavern from at least the 1700s. Later uses of the house included a hairdresser’s and a chipshop.

History

Tudor House’s appearance today is the result of sensitive restoration and amalgamation of three main properties by Richard Cadbury in the early 1900s. The front of the house has a jettied timber frame on the left (“jetty” describing the overhanging first floor which “juts” out from the face of the building), and a three storey brick building on the right. In addition, the timber framed building itself it was divided into three dwellings when Cadbury bought it; two were to the left of the present entrance and one to the right. Cadbury was a son of the founder of the chocolate firm. With a tea room and restaurant upstairs, the “Tudor Coffee House” supplied food at a reasonable price to the poor people of this area.

In 1921 it was purchased by the Worcester Corporation and started it’s life as a public building as a school clinic and dentist’s. During the Second World War, the building was used as an Air Raid Warden’s Post and Billeting Office. During the 1970s, it became the Museum of Local Life until it’s closure in 2003. It remained closed until May 2004, when a group known as Worcester Heritage & Amenity Trust took on the lease.

The Future

In 2008 Worcester Municipal Charities took up the lease for the building from Worcester City Council on behalf of Worcester Heritage & Amenity Trust (WHAT) allowing Tudor House a secure foundation on which to grow. Plans for the future include the restoration of the Tudor ceiling, expanding our opening hours and developing new displays. Take a look at our Projects page for more information.

WHAT is a registered charity (1103730) and a limited company.

Why not become an an invaluable part of Tudor House’s history by joining in our Events, by volunteering or by Supporting Us? There are lots of different ways to make a difference to the museum.

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Origins

History

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