Butchers Row
House Museum
article by Mary Avery
T
ake a few steps along the
cobbled Church Lane and you
will come to Butchers Row House
Museum. This fascinating
building has had a chequered
career, starting life in the 1400s
as a market stall situated in the
High Street where it stood,
together with other buildings,
just a few metres in front of St.
Katherine’s Alms Houses. The
stalls supplied everything that
was needed for everyday life.
There were clothes makers,
candle makers, a pub, a clock
maker and butchers. The
butchers would kill the beasts
on the premises on market day,
the market being held under
and around the Market House,
just the other side of the road.
By the end of the 1700s the Church
and council decided to widen the
street. Other premises were found
for the businesses to go to and
then the row was put up for
auction. Most of the buildings
were demolished, with the timbers
being used elsewhere, but three
were saved. What we now refer
to as Butchers Row House was
used to store pharmaceuticals
and chemicals. The owners, Mrs
Ledbury Focus
GP Hunt and Mrs MH
Hatton, gave it to Ledbury
and District Civic Society
in 1976, to be re-erected
on its present site in Church
Lane, to act as a volunteer-
led folk museum.
Every town would have
had a Butchers Row. Cities
such as Manchester and
Exeter have kept examples
and moved them, by rolling
or lifting them, to new sites.
Because of the narrowness
of Church Lane this was not an
option in Ledbury, so the building
had to be dismantled and then
re-erected on the new site. There
is a short slide show, which costs
10p, in the Museum showing how
this was done.
The Museum holds an eclectic
display of items donated by the
citizens of Ledbury. What is on
show is a small proportion of the
actual collection. Amongst the
most interesting are the Boot Bath,
the musical instruments from
around the world and chairs made
by Philip Clissett. He worked in
the woodland around Bosbury
and used the wood from the
woodland and a pole lathe to
shape the chair parts.
If this article has whetted your
appetite to find out more about
Ledbury and the Museum, then
visit between April 1st and
October 31st, 10am to 4 pm.
Better still, why not volunteer to
man the Museum for a two-hour
spell every two weeks. You will be
given training and the Museum has
lots of reading matter to improve
your local knowledge. Volunteers
range in age from early teens to
90+, so no excuses!
Contact Prue Yorke on 01531
633655. She will be organizing the
rota for 2020 early in the New Year.
13