11 And 12, Mealcheapen Street

WORCESTER

SO8554NW MEALCHEAPEN STREET 620-1/17/435 (South side) 05/04/71 Nos.11 AND 12

GV II

House/shop, now 2 shops, that to left with flat over. Numbered right to left, described left to right. c1690s with later additions and alterations including range to rear of No.12 (at left) c1768 and shop front to left of c1870's. Built for Francis and Mary Moule. Brick, painted to left, rendered and painted to right, with plain tile roof, hipped at left, red end brick stack. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with attics to rear, 4 first-floor windows. Two 6/6 flush sashes, at left with sills, to right are 6-pane casements; moulded band over first floor, modillion eaves band. Raised copings to right. Ground floor: shop front has end pilasters, plinth, plate-glass windows canted into glazed door, fascia and cornice. To right: glazed shop front on plinth, entrance to right a glazed door; entrance to passage at left has panelled door with overlight; stanchions visible to both shop fronts. INTERIOR: left house (No.12) noted as having fine open-well staircase to full height with barleytwist-on-vase balusters and closed string; chamfered beams some with run-out stops; some fireplaces; exposed roof timbers to attic include trenched purlins and curved principals, exposed collar beam; doors: 8-panel, 6-panel (some with strap hinges to attic), 7-raised-and-fielded-panel, and 3-panel with s-hinges. Remains of panelling to upper stage and some exposed rectangular framing. Attic has close-studded partition walls. HISTORICAL NOTE: c1700-1750 the premises were owned by John Rea, upholsterer, his inventory of 1740 shows he used the ground floor as a shop, with a parlour in No.11; the rear wing of No.12 housed the kitchen. 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 good group with listed buildings in Cornmarket and with Church of St Swithin, Church Street (qqv). (Hughes P: Buildings and the Building Trade in Worcester 1540-1650: PhD thesis: 1990-: 151, 199-200, 217-8).