The Greyfriars

This substantial timber-framed house dates from around 1485 and was built for Thomas Grene, a wealthy brewer who served as High Bailiff of Worcester from 1493 to 1497, and his wife Elizabeth. The building has undergone several significant phases of alteration and extension. A probable 16th-century extension was added to the north wing. Around 1600 to 1630, further alterations were carried out for Francis Street, including the insertion of a new staircase, parlour windows, and an internal frieze. At this stage, the rear south range, possibly originally a brew-house, appears to have been incorporated into the main building. An additional range was added to the south wing in the early 18th century. In the 1870s the building was converted into three shops with tenements above. Extensive renovations were undertaken around the 1940s (with a date of 1949 appearing on fall-pipes) for Elsie and Malcolm Matley Moore, when the ground-floor front facade was re-created and additional flooring and panelling were inserted.

The building is of timber-framed construction with lath and plaster infill. The north-east wing has panelled oak infill with brick nogging, while the extension to the south-east wing is of whitewashed brick. The roof is covered in plain tiles and there are brick chimneys.

Plan and Structure

The facade measures 69 feet in length (approximately 20 metres) and curves to follow the line of the street. The building stands two storeys high with attics to the gables and is composed of four bays. It was probably originally L-shaped in plan, with a short gabled cross-wing to the north. The range to the south-east was probably incorporated as a cross-wing during the 17th century, and both wings were subsequently extended. Chimneys are positioned at the rear of the main range at the south-east and north-east.

Timber Framing

The timber framing is mainly of close studding, except for the north wing which has box frames. The first floor is jettied and supported by a bressumer beam with hollow, ovolo, hollow and double-ovolo moulding. This beam rests on carved and ovolo-moulded brackets, some of which have been renewed. The brackets on either side of the carriage arch are particularly notable, bearing the initials 'TG' (Thomas Grene) and 'EG' (Elizabeth Grene) alongside shields. The spandrels of the carriage arch feature foliate carving. Slender columnettes articulate the main posts at both ground and first-floor levels. The gables have carved bargeboards, which have been partly renewed. Good carpenters' marks are clearly visible within the carriage arch.

Exterior

The building stands on a chamfered plinth. Off-centre to the left is a carriage entrance with renewed plank doors set within a hollow-moulded arch in double-hollow-moulded jambs. Replacement two- and three-light mullioned and transomed windows have diamond-paned leaded lights and ovolo-moulded sills. Coving has been added below the jetty. The first floor has a continuous moulded sill band with hollow, ovolo, hollow and ovolo moulding, which has been partly renewed. Each wing has a four-light window, while the centre has a long twelve-light window, all with ovolo-moulded mullions and transoms and diamond-pane leaded lights.

The main entrance to the south wing is at the rear, accessed through the carriage arch. The porch has outer posts decorated with slender pilasters, and a panelled door with carved decoration in the spandrels. The rear of the carriage arch has a similar moulded bressumer beam with a long nine-light mullioned and transomed window above. Additional posts and a girding beam with carved decoration in the spandrels are visible within the arch. A two-light mullioned window is set in the apex of the gable. Two further entrances on the north side of the carriage arch provide access to the north wing. The north wing gable has a three-light mullioned attic window on its south side. The wings otherwise have casement windows and six-over-six pane sashes. A further entrance to the south wing features a re-used pointed door with four panels and quatrefoil decoration with a rose motif.

Interior

Remains of two original staircases survive, which wound around the north-east and south-east stacks. The north-east staircase has been reconstructed, while the south-east example was interrupted when a wider principal staircase was added during the 17th century. This later staircase has square newel posts with shaped finials and an upper row of turned balusters.

The ground floor to the south of the carriage arch has been one large room since around 1949. A transverse beam, with mortices indicating a former dividing wall, is supported by an inserted chamfered post. There is also an ovolo- and hollow-moulded axial beam. Oak panelling lines the dado, with the panelling to the south wall thought to be original to the house. The 18th-century stone-flagged floor was brought from Wychbold Hall, near Droitwich. The chimneypiece to the south-east has a four-centred arch with two levels of ovolo moulding. A dining room in the south wing contains imported Georgian features including a shaped cupboard with fluted Ionic columns and shaped shelves with a shell niche and dentil cornice. Above the chimneypiece are 16th-century Italian majolica tiles. The room also contains panels of early 18th-century wallpaper and a door with seven raised-and-fielded panels.

On the first floor, exposed timber framing to the rear central part includes massive joweled posts for the north wing. A carved frieze dating from around 1630 bears the Street family coat of arms and features scroll and dragon carving on two sides of the central room, which also has oak panelling. Transverse and axial beams have double ovolo moulding. To the north-east, a chimneypiece has a chamfered lintel. A cupboard at the north end of the corridor has shaped shelves and a shell niche. There is some exposed close studding, and the partition wall has arch bracing. The north wing has extensive exposed close studding to the front part. Panelling includes linenfold (some of which is thought to be original to the house) and oak panelling. Medieval tiles from Halesowen Abbey are present, along with panels of painted and carved decoration featuring figures and foliage in the bedroom.

Roof Structure

The main range has three bays with collar-and-tie-beam trusses, one level of rough-hewn purlins (one of which has been removed), and exposed rafters. There is a significant drop in floor level between the main range and the south wing. A frame for a doorway exists at the south gable of the main roof. The purlins from the south range are truncated at the west end, with short joining purlins connecting to the main range.

The timbering at the west end of the south wing is exposed and of high quality, suggesting this may have been an external wall. Trusses have collar-beams and queen struts. The south wing has two levels of rough-hewn purlins (the upper level renewed) and rafters. At the east end of the south range is a queen-post collar-beam truss and a formerly external stack in narrow brick. In the further range, the roof has one level of purlins to the south and two to the north. The north wing has curved collar beams, one level of exposed chamfered purlins with curved wind braces, and re-used rafters.

Historical Context

The original character of the house is somewhat unclear. However, it appears that initially the house had a rear hall and two rear wings containing a heated parlour, kitchen, six chambers and a heated 'little hall'. A continuous projecting window ran along the ground-floor facade. Originally there were four first-floor windows, each lighting a separate room. On the ground floor there were three rooms on the street front, with the southernmost containing a fireplace. This was an advanced design for its time, with no open hall and all first-floor rooms having ceilings. The rear left wing is mostly 17th-century work.

The relationship of the south-west wing to the main building and its date remain subjects of debate. The disposition of the roof timbers in the main range and this rear range indicates that the two were probably separate buildings originally. The addition of the wide staircase around 1630 filled the gap between the two buildings, and at this stage it seems probable that the rear range was incorporated into the main house. It has been suggested that the south-east wing could have been an earlier building on the site or, alternatively, that it may have been built at the same time as the main house but used as a brew-house or similar structure.

There are architectural parallels between this building and The Commandery on Sidbury, for example in the moulding of the beams and the carpenters' marks, and in the use of slender columnettes which also appear on numbers 4 and 5 Cornmarket.

The house was probably built for Thomas Grene (or Green), a wealthy brewer, and was subsequently owned or tenanted by Thomas Twesyll, formerly auditor to Katherine of Aragon and an associate of Thomas Cromwell. Richard Stroude was in occupation by 1550, followed by the Goodlacks. The next known householders were Francis Street, the elder and younger. Street bought the property around 1570, selling it to the Corporation of Worcester in 1600 as a charity investment, but the family retained a 400-year lease on the property. Subsequent lessees include George Street, a brewer who served as Mayor of Worcester in 1635. His son, Thomas (later Sir Thomas, Member of Parliament and judge), administered the property for his younger brother, John. During the early 17th century the Streets made improvements to the property, adding the wide staircase, the parlour window and the first-floor frieze.

The property was subdivided during the 18th century and declined during the 19th century, when it became a public house (the Old Oak Inn), dwellings and shops. In 1943, The Greyfriars was bought by the Worcester Archaeological Society and restored by life tenants Malcolm Matley Moore and his sister Elsie, who presented it to the National Trust in 1966. Miss Moore also bought numbers 14, 16 and 18 Friar Street in order to preserve the building's surroundings. It was a commonly held belief around 1900 that the house was built by the Franciscan friars, whose monastery occupied Friar Street, as a guest house, and it acquired the name The Greyfriars.

Friar Street originated as a rear access lane for buildings in High Street until the foundation of the Franciscan Friary in 1235. The first friary building occupied the stretch between numbers 11 to 25 (odd). The south end of the street was developed first, with plots dating from the mid-14th century. Plots at the north end date from the early 15th century. Many of the existing houses date from the Reformation, the Friary having been suppressed in 1539 and its property sold by the Crown to the Corporation of Worcester, which demolished much of it for building materials. Building continued from around 1540 onwards, modifications were made during the 17th century, while the 18th century saw the replacement of several older buildings. Friar Street was inhabited mainly by tradesmen: weavers, clothiers, brewers and innkeepers.