As part of this year’s Heritage Open Days, I got to go on a tour of Shrewsbury Library – a Grade 1 listed building originally home to Shrewsbury School.
The oldest part of the library is Riggs Hall, a timber-framed building (now at the rear of the property) built early to mid-1400s against the old town walls. It is the only surviving property of several which were rented by the school when it was founded a century later in the 1550s.
The stone buildings were built 1594 – 1630 and included a chapel, dormitories, classrooms and a library.
Shrewsbury School operated at the site between 1552 and 1882 (when it moved to its current riverside location on the Kingsland estate). One of Shrewsbury School’s most famous pupils (and there are quite a few) was Charles Darwin. Unfortunately, he didn’t particularly enjoy his time there and didn’t do particularly well. He simply wasn’t interested in what they were teaching. Perhaps surprisingly, Charles Darwin boarded at the school which was just a short distance over the river from his childhood home, The Mount (Some of my ancestors lived down the street from Darwin’s childhood home… Sadly, the other end of the social scale from him!).
In 1885 Shrewsbury Borough Council opened the Free Library and Museum on the site and there it remained until the buildings became unsafe and were closed in 1976. Walls were leaning out and bowing as much as 175mm and floor timbers were only resting on a single thickness of brick in some places. Roof trusses needed to be strengthened and foundations needed to be underpinned. Basically, the building needed renovating top to bottom before it collapsed! The surveying and extensive renovation cost £3 million.
During restoration works, a number of interesting artefacts have been discovered, including a child’s shoe (found on a beam and believed to be placed there for good luck). The shoe was replaced with a newer shoe during restoration work (superstition!).
The new library opened in 1984, with the courtyard covered over to integrate the main building and Riggs Hall.
Our tour began in the newest part of the library (the covered courtyard) and, perhaps fittingly, ended up the oldest part, Riggs Hall.
Something I hadn’t noticed before the tour is the sundial which sits on a corner of the building. It shows “Shrewsbury Time” – about 10 minutes after Greenwich Mean Time. Britain didn’t have a standardised national time system until the introduction of the railways, instead towns and cities in the country had their own local time.
It was a very interesting tour and I look forward to visiting other Heritage Open Days next year.
It thrills me that they were wise enough to restore the old rather than take it down and replace with new. Fascinating post – I’m so envious of your proximity to so much history!
Shrewsbury certainly has a lot of history!
That building is beautiful. That view from the window is so pretty. You have taken some great photographs. Thank you for sharing xx
Shrewsbury has a lot of old buildings, so is quite a pretty town.
What a wonderful tour! Also, how wonderful, that this was renovated and preserved. Your country does marvelously, with restoration and preservation.
Re: your comment in my blog… Oh I can see why you dislike the earlier twilight, this time of year. With driving to and from work, and not seeing much sun at all, it would have to be unpleasant. -sigh-
Hope you are able to enjoy the Autumnal colors, on weekends.
Wow, what a wonderful building for a library! I’d love to work there.
What a wonderful tour of the library. The library is absolutely beautiful both the old section and the newer one. I love the items that were found as renovations were being done. It adds to the already rich history of the library. Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos, I enjoyed seeing them.
It looks beautiful, and really well kept. And the weather looked perfect too!
Great photos all around! I like seeing all the discoveries, like the shoe and textbook. 🙂 Looks like you had a gorgeous day to visit.
The weather was gorgeous. Sadly, it’s turned now!
That’s just gorgeous! I love it when history is preserved so well.
There aren’t many buildings with that kind of history, not to speak of age, in my part of the world! Great photos.
It looks fascinating I would love to do that tour.
I believe they’ll be doing more next year.
Hi, This post is very interesting. I like admiring old buildings from the comfort of 21st century amenities.
Wow – how utterly beautiful!
Looks fabulous! The Open Days are such a great idea. I used to go to local ones whenever I could.
What an interesting tour. The Heritage Days are great for exploring.
I can’t even imagine going to school somewhere so pretty! I’m glad they restored the building, it’s too beautiful to leave to ruin. Sounds like a great place to visit x
Sophie
http://www.glowsteady.co.uk
thank you so much for such a wonderful tour of a beautiful and history laden library! 🙂
Aww, that’s so interesting. I enjoyed seeing the pictures very much. It’s fascinating to see the lost book and, even more, the lost shoe. Heritage Open Days are really great, aren’t they?
They are great. This was my first one… I’m determined to go to more next year!
I love the older buildings, the work on that one is amazing. And to find that interesting stuff. That is so neat. Thanks for stopping over at the blog and leaving a comment, come anytime. I just noticed as I got on your page that you are in Wales. My maiden name is Montgomery and according to the records that is where my family actually started. Nice meeting you.
Montgomery is just down the road from here and is a lovely little town.
Sounds like another interesting visit, on another glorious day. You lucky thing!
Fantastic post! I have never been to Shrewsbury…definitely one for the list. I love when old buildings are well restored and preserved. Great photos with blue skies.