10 Historic Buildings of Hereford

Herefordshire History
Written By The Herefordian Historian .

As the capital of its county, Hereford is inevitably home to countless historic structures. Many of its citizens are likely aware of the importance of such buildings, even if they are not familiar with their pasts, but there are some dotted around the city that are lesser known.

1. Hereford Cathedral

No list of Hereford’s historic buildings would be complete without the inclusion of the cathedral. Standing high on the north bank of the River Wye, the view of its tower from the Old Bridge has long been a famous one, and for good reason.

There has been a cathedral on this site since at least the eleventh century, when the Saxons still inhabited the city. Any trace of this is now long gone though, as it was burnt down in 1055 when a Welsh raid practically razed Hereford to the ground.

The oldest parts of the present cathedral date from the early twelfth century, after the Normans had invaded and taken control of the city. They consecrated this new place of worship sometime between the years of 1142 and 1148.

Hereford Cathedral

Two centuries later, in the early fourteenth century, the central tower we see today was built (then capped by a spire), covered in the delicate ballflower decoration that was so popular at the time. There was once a second tower (also with a spire) at the west end, but it dramatically collapsed on Easter Sunday in 1786. This came as no surprise to the locals, as it had been showing signs of instability for years.

In 1788, James Wyatt was hired to rebuild the west front, and after three years, the work was finally completed. Unfortunately, it paled in comparison to its predecessor. During the rebuilding, the nave was shortened by one bay, the central tower’s spire was removed, and the new Gothic façade did little to blend in with the medieval fabric of rest of the building.

Thankfully, a small earthquake in 1896 provided an excuse to make a second try at the west front. This time, the work was carried out by John Oldrid Scott, who between the years of 1902 and 1908 gave the cathedral the west front it still sports today. In time, this too was loathed just as much as Wyatt’s, but I have to admit, I do rather prefer it over his.

2. The Old House

Standing in the middle of High Town like a Jacobean island, the Old House is usually the first image that comes to mind when people think of Hereford. It seems to be taken for granted, with most passersby never giving it’s odd position a second thought. As with everything though, there is a story behind it.

The house was built in 1621, likely for a local butcher by the name of John Jones. At that time, it was part of a whole line of houses that took up the middle of the marketplace, known collectively as Butchers’ Row. I’m sure you can guess where the name came from.

The Old House as it looked when it was a part of Butchers' Row

Beneath the gabled roof of its south porch is a carving of the arms of the Butchers’ Guild of London, although any link it had with this specific guild is not known.

By the early nineteenth century, the throng of old buildings crowding up the once open and airy marketplace was starting to become a nuisance. Consequently, by 1837 they had all been pulled down, with only the Old House left to stand.

In 1882, it became a branch of the Worcester City & Council Bank (now known as Lloyds Bank). In 1928 they moved out and relocated to their present site on the north side of High Town. With the Old House no longer of use to them, they promptly gifted it to the city, who then set about restoring it and turning it into the museum it is today.

3. Shire Hall

In my humble opinion, the Shire Hall is truly the best piece of Regency architecture that Hereford has to offer, if only because it is one of the few buildings in the city built during that time.

Completed in 1817, it was designed by Robert Smirke, who apparently took inspiration from the Temple of Hephaestus. The Greek influence is hard to miss, as the front of the building is dominated by a portico of six Doric columns.

The fact that the Shire Hall serves partly as a courtroom is rather fitting, as it was actually built on top of the former County Gaol, the cellar of which still exists underneath.

The Shire Hall

4. Butter Market

The Butter Market is a deceptively narrow building, as its width does little to hint at the vast market that lies behind its frontage.

Before it and the cattle market that once lay to the northwest were built, all the goods brought into the city on market days were bought and sold in the open air of High town and the surrounding streets. As can be imagined, this made quite a lot of noise and mess, so in 1809, the council bought a plot of land on the north side of the marketplace on which to construct a Butter Market.

The Butter Market as it looked in 1860, with its newly completed clocktower

This was opened the following year, but it looked vastly different from the structure we see today. Although it had now been taken off the streets, clearing High Town of countless market stalls and turning it into a fashionable promenade, it was still held in the open air. The only structure that stood at the market’s opening was an archway marking out the entrance, which still exists today.

It wasn’t until 1860 that the present clocktower was added on top, at which time the market was roofed over with iron and glass to protect its patrons and traders from the weather.

Unfortunately, this roof no longer survives, as it was destroyed by a fire that ripped through the Butter Market in the early 1920s. It was rebuilt a few years later, and in 2001 a suspended ceiling was installed, making the market feel rather claustrophobic.

5. Bishop’s Palace

My favourite view of the Bishops’ Palace is from across the water when walking along the riverside path of Bishop’s Meadow. Its red brick walls and stone dressings peek through the trees, and it presents an imposing image as it looms high above the riverbank.

The main part of the building was likely built by Bishop William de Vere, who was in office between the years of 1186 and 1198. Within the structure are the remains of an eleventh-century chapel and a twelfth-century hall, the latter of which is one of the oldest of its kind in Britain.  

Whilst the hall has mostly been preserved, the chapel is long gone, having been demolished in 1737. Only its north wall remains, and now forms part of the south walk of the Bishop’s Cloister.

The building underwent many stages of remodelling, most notably by Bishop Philip Bisse (1712-21), Bishop George Huntingford (1815-32), and Bishop Thomas Musgrave (1837-47). One of the results of these seemingly never-ending works was that almost the entire structure was encased in brick and stone during the Georgian era.

The south front, built in Tudor Gothic for Bishop Musgrave in the early 1840s, is what can be seen from Bishop’s Meadow, and is part of the view I love so much.

6. Town Hall

Before the Town Hall was built, the City Council met at a number of places around the city. One was the Tolsey, which stood where Commercial Street meets High Town, and another was in the Market Hall, a grand timber-framed gothic building built in the sixteenth century that stood on pillars at the west end of High Town.

The latter was sadly demolished in 1862 after a botched facelift had been carried out in the previous century, but that’s a story for another day.

Later, they met at the Guildhall on the east side of Widemarsh Street, the meeting hall of which is now hidden behind an interwar Tudor style building that currently houses the gunroom of Philip Morris & Son, among other businesses.

During this time, the council offices and Mayor’s Parlour were located across the road at Mansion House, an arrangement that must have been rather inconvenient. 

It was obvious that the City Council needed a more suitable base of operations, and on 13 May 1902, the foundation stone of the Town Hall was laid by none other than Princess Henry of Battenburg, Queen Victoria’s youngest child.

It was opened on 9 June 1904, and from then until 1998 it served as their headquarters. That year, the City Council was absorbed into Herefordshire Council, which was formed after Herefordshire and Worcestershire were restored as individual counties.

It still lives on though, in its own way. It was officially made a parish council at the turn of the millennium, but as Queen Elizabeth II renewed Hereford’s immemorial city status, it is still known as the City Council.

7. Hereford Library & Museum

The library and museum owes much of its existence to Sir James Rankin, who during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was a prominent member of the Woolhope Naturalist’s Field Club, which still lives on today.

It was he who presented the plot of land for its construction to the City Council in 1871, on the condition that the Woolhope Club would always be granted a meeting room within the building.

The foundation stone wad laid in 1873, and although it was initially estimated that the building would cost £4,700 to erect, this figure soon ballooned to £7,600. To make up the difference, the City Council, along James Rankin himself, had to dip into their coffers.

The library and museum was opened the following year, and was finished in a style termed ‘Anglicised Venetian Gothic’. Its frontage is adorned with intricate carvings of flowers, fauna, and animals, the latter of which is a nod to James Rankin’s love for zoology.

At present, the building is undergoing renovations, and is set to be decked out as a dedicated local museum. Meanwhile, the library and its collection will be moved to the Shire Hall to free up space for artefacts and exhibitions.

8. Cosy Club (42 Widemarsh Street)

Some of you reading this may think that the Cosy Club is a rather odd choice for a list of some of Hereford’s most historic buildings, but do not let its current use deceive you, for it has many stories to tell.

Built in the early seventeenth century, it once adjoined one of the city’s six medieval gates, the one in question being Widemarsh Gate. Much to many local historians’ despair, I am sure, these were all demolished in the late eighteenth century, with the one on Widemarsh Street being taken down in 1798.

As the building’s structure was intertwined with that of the gate, part of it had to be rebuilt following the latter’s destruction. This is where the entrance to the Cosy Club now lies.

42 Widemarsh Street as it looked during the demolition of Widemarsh Gate

However, if you walk to the left of these doors, you will find another on the building’s north face, and if you look hard enough, you should be able to make out the year 1626 carved above it. That year, Thomas Church, a dyer living there with his wife, asked permission to cut a doorway into the north wall, which then made up part of the city wall, so that he could gain access to the city ditch to wash the clothes he had dyed.

A few hundred years later, in the nineteenth century, the building was being used as a girl’s school, and David Cox, one of the greatest English landscape painters in history, was employed there to teach the young students how to draw.

Later in the century, it became a private boy’s school, and among its pupils was Hereford-born Alfred Watkins, who would go on to become a renowned amateur archaeologist and would spearhead the theory of ley lines.

9. Green Dragon Hotel

The origins of the Green Dragon are somewhat murky. Taking up a great chunk of the west side of Broad Street, it seems as if it’s been there forever, but there was once a time where it held a much less intimidating presence.

All we know of its early history is that it started life as an ordinary inn called the White Lion. It is rumoured that, during the twelfth century, the men working on the construction of the Norman cathedral frequented the pub.

Its later visitors were of a higher stature, as it is thought that the future King Edward IV stayed there after winning the Battle of Mortimer’s cross in 1461, which took place in the north of the county. It is also said that one of the leaders of the opposing force, Owen Tudor, spent the night at the inn before being executed a short distance away in High Town.

The Green Dragon in around 1890, before the extension to the north

What we know for sure is that it received its current name sometime in the early eighteenth century, and that after having owned it for hundreds of years, the College of the Vicars Choral sold it to the Bosley family in 1843, who turned the hotel into what it is today.

In 1857, it was they who erected the Italianate front that still graces the west side of Broad Street. By this time, the Green Dragon had become the city’s most prominent hotel, and in 1880, the building was expanded to offer fifty more bedrooms, and again in 1913, adding a further forty rooms.

In 1930, it reached its final form when two properties to the north were bought up and demolished, allowing the façade to be extended a further six bays. It was during this expansion that a fourteenth-century fireplace head and a seventeenth-century plaster ceiling were discovered, and they are still preserved within the hotel to this day.

10. Coningsby Hospital

The Coningsby Hospital is rather out of the way for most people to happen upon it during a visit to Hereford, but it is more than worth seeking out.

Founded in Widemarsh Street in 1614 by Thomas Coningsby, the hospital took up part of the site of what had once been Blackfriars Priory, which was granted to the friars in 1319 after lengthy disagreements with the cathedral.

The priory operated until 1538, at which point it was closed as a result of King Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was early in the next century that Thomas Coningsby sought to use the ruins as building material for his hospital, and also to turn into his own house.

The hospital was intended for the use of war veterans, and the south courtyard contained twelve tenements for the men to live in. North of this lies the communal hall and the chapel.

In 1854, the building was restored by John Gray, and a central water pump was placed in the courtyard. It can still be seen today, as the building operates as a medieval museum. To its rear are Blackfriars Rose Gardens, which still contain the ruins of the priory along with the only surviving friars preaching cross in England, which dates from the late fourteenth century.

Sources

  • Brooks, A., & Pevsner, N. (2012). The Buildings of England: Herefordshire. Yale University Press.

  • Eisel, J., & Shoesmith, R. (2004). The Pubs of Hereford City. Logaston Press.

  • Foxton, D., & Shoesmith, R. (2019). Hereford in 50 Buildings. Amberley Publishing.

  • Johnson, A., & Shoesmith, R. (2016). The Story of Hereford. Logaston Press.

  • Roberts, G. (2001). The Shaping of Modern Hereford. Logaston Press.

  • Weaver, P. (2015). A Dictionary of Herefordshire Biography. Logaston Press.

Images

The Herefordian Historian . https://herefordianhistorian.co.uk
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