Woolly says – A short drive away from us is the small town of Ledbury, one of the many Black and White towns in the surrounding area and one that I was eager to find out more about. Having driven half way there the stupid human suddenly realised that she had left the camera back at base, I sat glaring at her as we turned round and went back to retrieve it much to Alfie the Dogs confusion. Finally with camera in hand we drove back and having found a parking space we finally set off to look around.
Ledbury is a borough whose origins date to around AD 690, in the Domesday Book it was recorded as Liedeberge and it is thought that the name was taken from the River Leadon on which it stands. The car park was in the grounds of what had once been the Masters House, The Master’s House is a composite building started in 1487 and added and adapted up to 2011 when it reached its current look. At its heart is the original timber-framed Tudor mansion, originally a home for the Master of St Katherine’s Hospital it is now used as the town’s library. The grounds included some stone plagues detailing the lives of some of the servants and workers of that time, a lovely memorial to them.
Having read through the stone tablets we headed into the high street arriving at the Alms houses, founded in 1232 by Bishop Foliot. They were then closed as part of the Dissolution of the monasteries in 1547. The current buildings date from 1822 and 1866 and now provide homes to people of the town rather than the sick.
Even more interesting was the rather lovely clock tower. Actually, known as the Barrett-Browning memorial clock tower it was designed by Brightwen Binyon and opened in 1896 to house the library and named after the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning who had lived in the area. With it’s brown timber beams it certainly stood out from the shops that surrounded it.
The high street had a number of wonderful timbered facias retaining its history along with the modern shops it made for a great game of spot the black and white building.
The war memorial was very fine and as the mutt gave it a good sniffing Jo and I looked at the lovely mosaic pictures representing the armed forces.
Crossing the road we arrived at the market hall, very similar to the one in Ross on Wye, Ledbury Market Hall, also known as Ledbury Town Hall is a Grade I listed building completed in 1617 using a mock Tudor design. It was in fine shape and made a most impressive sight.
A small cobbled lane took us past more half-timbered buildings and to the door of the one of the town’s museums.
The Butchers Row House Museum is a quaint timber framed medieval building, it looks as if it has been there for centuries when, in fact, this little Victorian cottage has been around the block! Once it sat in the middle of Ledbury’s High Street as a part of a row of 15 burgage houses and shops, known as Butchers Row (the earliest reference goes back to 1468). As the name indicates, this is where animals were slaughtered. In 1830 the buildings of Butchers Row were torn down to make way for new development. Fortunately, the little building was kept intact; the frame was dismantled and re-erected in 1979 where it still stands today.
Inside was tiny, a one up and one down, but it was crammed with history of the town including the civil war where there was much bloodshed. It also had display cases filled with outfits from the Victorian era and musical instruments from around the world. None of these however held a candle to the boot bath.
Originally a sage green, the bath was kept at St Katherines hospital and was taken out on its trolley from door to door through the town so that the occupants could have a bath, not a lot of modesty going on at that time then. It had been painted black in the efforts to preserve it and is one of only 5 remaining in the UK. I peered inside and decided that I preferred it in the museum rather than in use as Jo might get ideas on my yearly ablutions.
As we exited the small but perfectly formed museum my tummy let out a large groan meaning that I was in imminent danger of starvation, I looked up at my carer to see if she might have plans for feeding me before I expired.
His grubby little face peered up at me and luckily for him I was in the same mindset, even better there was a lovely courtyard café right in front of us.
Woolly says – Having consumed a vat of delicious chowder and discussed the need to not put my paws into the bowl we were finally fed and watered. We set off along the lane that led us towards the towns church.
The Church of St. Michael & All Angels was obviously well looked after from its manicured graveyard to its bright and welcoming interior. Construction started in the 11th century and further additions arrived in the 1600’s including the sperate bell tower that was once housed further away.
As Jo attempted and failed to get a picture of the whole of the church area, I crept inside to look at it’s stunning stained glass windows, each one different and incredible from the much older highly detailed to the modern day progressive look of patterns, they were wonderful.
Having spend a long time gazing upwards at the wooden ceiling I set off to see if the human had finally captured her shot.
As we left the churchyard, we paused to admire the very grand Church House, one of Ledbury’s oldest timber framed buildings it is believed to date from the end of the 15th century. During restoration work in 1989 to the building, Elizabethan wall paintings were discovered underneath the existing walls. The designs in the main pattern are floral and based on the Elizabethan Knot Gardens and are believed to date from the 1560’s or 1570’s sadly as it was closed I wouldn’t be able to feast my eyes on these delights.
We arrived back on the High Street and took the time to admire the former coaching inn The Feathers which had been built in 1565 before continuing along the road to look at a building that was Ledbury Park, built in 1595 and was Prince Rupert’s headquarters during the battle of Ledbury in 1645 during the Civil War.
Arriving back at our starting point we all agreed that Ledbury was a beautiful town and had been well worth the walk round, lots of interesting buildings for me and Jo and a whole town full of scents for Alfie the Dog made even better by the super lunch we had consumed, life is good.