7 And 8, Mealcheapen Street

WORCESTER

SO8554NW MEALCHEAPEN STREET 620-1/17/433 (South side) 05/04/71 Nos.7 AND 8

GV II

Formerly known as: Red Lion Inn. Inn, now shops with offices over. 1765 with later additions and alterations including c1980s shop fronts. Reddish-brown brick in Flemish bond with brick eaves, stone sills and keystones; plain tile roof; probably timber framed. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys plus attics, 5 first-floor windows (3:2). 6/6 near-flush sashes with flat arches of gauged brick and central raised keystones, sills. Crowning modillion eaves band. 2 roof dormers with hipped roofs have casement windows. Ground floor has Victorian-style shop fronts with glazed windows and entrances; further entrance to right a board door. INTERIORS: noted as retaining the original staircase from first floor. HISTORICAL NOTE: owned by the Dean and Chapter and rented out. Formerly The Red Lion Inn, developed as such by the Cooke family c1650s. Rebuilt from ground level after a fire of 1765. Mealcheapen Street flourished particularly n the C16 and early C17 predominantly as a retail outlet; Hughes: 'it was the proximity to the Cornmarket that gave the street much of its prosperity and led to the establishment of a number of large inns.' All the listed buildings in Mealcheapen Street form a group together with the listed buildings in Cornmarket and with Church of St Swithun, Church Street (qqv). (Hughes P: Buildings and the Building Trade in Worcester 1540-1650: PhD thesis: 1990-: 199-200, 209).