9 high street

History: Documentary records suggest that there was a house here by the early C16, although the facade of the present building suggests a date of c1600. A public house (The Upper Sun) by 1757, later uses included that of a lodging house. The building was restored in 1927, and the present shop front was inserted, and the timber framing exposed, at that time.

Exterior: Timber framed with concrete tiled roof, with axial brick stack set towards the rear on the left hand side. 2 storeys, comprising main range with short rear wing (extended in the C20). Box-framing in 3 tiers of decorative panels with cusped quatrefoils exposed to first floor. Shop front forms an arcade of 5 bays with arched braced timber posts on stone plinth: central doorway flanked by leaded shop windows, and passage entry to the right. Stone mounting block attached to the left hand side. Upper windows probably date from the 1927 restoration, but appear to be in earlier openings, accommodated by the framing. Single gabled dormer window in the roof.

Interior: Heavily remodelled (probably in the restoration of 1927), but includes an axial beam with run-out chamfer stop in the left hand unit (internal partition removed).

The building is of special interest for the high quality of its decorative framing: it represents a very good example of a wealthy urban building of c1600, and its C20 restoration is also notable as vernacular revival work.

References: Robert Owen, 'Welshpool Landmarks', Montgomeryshire Collections', Vol.38, 1918, p.156; Ion Trant, The Changing Face of Welshpool, 1986, p.27.