Oswestry Visitor And Exhibition Centre

Oswestry Visitor and Exhibition Centre, Church Terrace, Oswestry

This building comprises three separate structures—numbers 1 to 3 Church Terrace—now functioning as a museum and restaurant. Originally a school, later divided into three cottages, the complex exhibits a complex build history spanning from the 15th century to the early 19th century.

The core dates to the 15th century and was substantially remodelled in the late 16th century, with considerable later additions and alterations. Construction is timber-framed with plaster and red brick infill, partly refaced and extended in early 19th-century red brick, all beneath a graded slate roof. The main structure follows a hall range of two wide bays with a cross-wing to the left added later. A pair of cottages (numbers 2 and 3) in early 19th-century red brick were built in the angle to the right. The hall range stands at one storey with an attic, while the cross-wing rises to two storeys.

The timber framing displays sophisticated detailing. The cross-wing exhibits close-set vertical posts with a middle rail and quatrefoil decoration to the gable (much renewed), with carved bargeboards. A moulded bressumer with stepped stops to the first floor indicates the gable was originally jettied; a carved corner post from the original left-hand corner was discovered during restoration around 1980, though the jetty is now underbuilt in brick. The gable end of the hall range displays herringbone decoration and close-set vertical posts with a middle rail, square panels, and a long curving tension brace to the rear.

Fenestration dates largely to the 19th century and was repaired in the 20th century, with leaded casements on each floor to the cross-wing and three to the former cottages alternating with entrances. Two slate-hung gabled eaves dormers light the upper floors. The gable end of the hall range has 20th-century casements with restored surrounds and moulded cills. Doorways include 19th-century ledged doors to the cross-wing and former cottages (the latter now bricked over internally). A red brick chimney stack was rebuilt immediately in front of the ridge to the right of the gable.

Interior: The plan of the original building is indicated by a moulded bressumer running around the ceiling of the main ground-floor room. Square panels to the front and rear walls are complemented by 17th-century oak rectangular panelling applied to the right-hand wall. The ceiling has chamfered cross and spine beams with straight-cut stops. A rebuilt inglenook fireplace and 18th-century cupboards with H-hinges are set into the wall to the left of the staircase in the hall range. Light timber frame is exposed in the 19th-century cottage additions. A ledged plank and muntin door with fleur-de-lys strap hinges marks the entrance to an oak winder staircase in the cross-wing; another similar door stands at the top of the hall staircase. Upstairs, further timber framing is exposed, with decorative herringbone work forming lozenge patterns above and below the tie beam of the left-hand truss of the hall range. Massive plank floor boards and an infilled Tudor arch doorway between the bays of the hall range survive. Roofs are of queen-strut type with a slightly cambered tie beam to the central truss of the hall range; the wide left-hand bay has single purlins and straight wind braces, whilst the right-hand bay contains an inserted loft. A truncated chimney bay stands to the left; the cross-wing has a similar roof and later timber-framed partition walls.

Historical Context: This building originally formed part of Oswestry Grammar School, founded by David Holbache in 1407. It occupies a prominent position on the edge of the churchyard of St. Oswald.