20, Mealcheapen Street

WORCESTER

SO8554NW MEALCHEAPEN STREET 620-1/17/440 (South side) 05/04/71 No.20

GV II

Probably shop and house. c1500-1550 with later additions and alterations including brick encasing of early C18 for William Cave and 1970s restorations by FWB Charles and shop front. Timber frame; red brick casing with rubbed brick arch and plain tile roof. PLAN: 2-bay frame with gable end to street. Two storeys, one first-floor window, gable end to street. First floor has casement window with flat arch. Ground floor has plate-glass shop front and glazed entrance to left. INTERIOR: no evidence remains to ground floor of plan or original fittings. Hughes notes that this shows extensive evidence of C16 frame and clasped purlin roof with curved windbraces. HISTORICAL NOTE: this plot was part of the Whiteladies' estate. Mealcheapen Street flourished particularly in 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 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, 222-223).