Five hundred years ago the weavers of Worcester submitted their statutes and ordinances to the crown for official approval. Their original copy survives complete with beautiful illuminations. Read of its origins and significance to what later was to become the Clothiers Guild and how the rules and regulations it contains would have affected the early tenants of Tudor House.
Tag Archives: Tudor House Tales
Tudor House is over 500 years old – well parts of it are. In that time it has seen many Kings and Queens come and go. Some, however, had a direct influence or contact with the buildings. In this Platinum Jubilee blog special we describe some of the royals who are part of the colourful story that made what is Tudor House Museum today.
In our blog two months back we showcased the Joseland storeware jugs on display in the Cross Keys Tavern part of the museum. This month we return to the theme of stone ware vessels with details about some of our other exhibits and explain what/who these were used for/by.
A buzz of excitement went around the museum the other Friday. Thought to have worn away long ago, this witch mark was spotted in our café area. The chance discovery was made primarily due to the advantageous early afternoon lighting that fateful day. Still it is not easy to find and, when found, not particularly clear. It is carved into one of the sandstone blocks of the great fireplace.
In the Tudor House Museum Tavern Room sits a neat little collection of brown glaze stoneware demijohns. One is from a neighbouring business in Victorian Friar Street – that of George Joseland and Sons. So who was George Joseland, who were his sons, when and where were they in Friar Street and what exactly was the nature of the business?
This is a copy of an article taken from the Worcester City Museums “Object of the Month” web-page way back in 2003 describing the Cross Keys Inn.
Littlebury’s trade directory of 1879 has an entry for a Mrs W. Wood (milliner) at number 39 Friar Street. Note that house numbering was different back then and this equates to the northern part of the present day number 42. This account begins at that point with our subject married, with a family (ranging from a baby in arms to grown up offspring) and already an established Worcester business-woman. That is how she first came to the attention of of Tudor House Museum. From that starting point her humble origins in the south-west counties of England have been discovered as too has her ignominious end in a Worcester suburb.
The Cottryl family are inextricably linked to the Tudor history of Friar Street in general and Tudor House in particular. We have definitive records of several generations of Cottryls being present dating back as far as the reign of Henry VIII and extending to beyond the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. John Cottryl lived at around the time that the current half-timbered building was erected. This makes him a very strong candidate for having had a hand in its construction and maybe even living in it too.
Elinor Shipway died in July 1760 at the age of 65. The closest of her family had preceded her to the grave but her will suggests she still had the comfort of her extended family. She had helped establish the Cross Keys Tavern and, with her husband, had seen its expansion. This, the final instalment of Elinor’s involvement with what is now Tudor House museum, sets the scene for the next stage of the history of the Cross Keys.