Town Trail

Broseley Town Trail

1/ A tour through the town might well start at the Foresters Arms where there is a large car park. From there one may walk up the winding Church Street. On the right is the Parish Church,All Saints probably the fourth Church on

5 Further up the street opposite a pleasing terrace of Victorian houses is Raddle Hall. Bulit in 1663, it was at one time the home of the local historian, John Randal

6 Still further up the street, is a white cottage facing sideways to the road. Known locally as the Iron-Topped House from the iron rafters supporting its hipped roof, it has pointed Gothic windows and an unusual weather vane.

	7 Turning left at the top of the street, around the Ruabon brick instone block (so named after a local family), one reaches The OldShool. Dating from 1855,
this was designed by a Robert Griffiths in, again, a Gothic style, using the distinctive Broseley blue brick. Retracing one's footsteps one comes to the High Street with its line of three storey shops which overlook The Green, in the early 18th Century a Flooded opencast coal pit used as a fish pond.

8 Further up on the left is the Hall Built in 1867 as a meeting place for the Plymouth Brethren, it is now a focus for communal activities. The manufacturing family Maws supplied the decorative tiles for the two gable ends.
9 10 Opposite in Delphside, the elegant Number 21 looks out over the side of the old Prichard Memorial where Broseley's Market Hall once stood.

the site. This area was the village centre in medieval times - it was completed in 1845, in a Perpendicular style.

2/ Next door is Broseley Hall
Dating from the 1730s and designed by the Shrewsbury architect
Thomas Farnoll Pritchard -; who also

designed the Iron Bridge - it retains many18th Centuryfeatures: pedimented doorcase with fanlight, tall sash windows and a shallow roof hidden by its parapet.

	3/ Opposite the Hall Numbers 6 and 7 form an interesting block. The elevation displays two shades of the mottled brick made, and used widely, in Broseley during the 19th Century.
Number 7 was at one time the Mint for ironmaster John Wilkinson's coinage.

4 The Lawns built in 1727, was bought by John Wilkinson in 1763. A new chimney piece was designed by Pritchard and the house was later leased to John Rose, the China manufacturer. The large bow window was added in the 19th Century.

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Broseley Town Trail

11/ The Old Butchers Shop Bar. This 18th Century property was re-fronted in 1904 and used as a butchers shop until the late 1950s when it became derelict. In 1991 it was restored and converted to its present use; opening in 1994.
	12/ At the top of the street is the Social Club built in 1750 as a private house and later becoming the Pritchard Bank.
13/ Angel House, nearby has a timber frame structure at the rear but is substantially Georgian in style.. Above is an interesting window with a cast iron iron frame. Like many houses in he town it was once an Inn the etched glass panels at the front are a relic of this.
	14 Walk back and, beside the Bank. turn right in Harris s Green, which leads to the Baptist Chapel. Dated 1741/42 it was built by Isaac Wyke, a local surgeon for the Particular Baptists: 'A house' he said 'to cure mad people'. The first Evangelical meetings to be held on the Shropshire Coal field took place here. Wesley is be believed to have preached in the Chapel
. The adjoining Minister's house looks out over a landscape honeycombed with underground workings.
	15 Near the bottom of the hill is Taglewood built as the plaque indicates in 1741/42

16 Return uphill and walk along King Street The Burnt House - so called on account of a fire in June 1883 which partly destroyed the building - bears the inscription 'Inigo Acton built this in 1742'.
Queen's Street, quietly pleasant, contains two houses of particular note.

17 The Cumberland Hotel was built in 1714 as a private house and occupied as such until 1948 when it was sold to the Wrekin Brewery for Ł3000. The current owner is related to the Southern family, who owned the recently restored Pipe Works, and has a line collection of Coalport China
18 Number 2 in Queen Street. with is visible timbered gable end, may stand as an instance of many houses in Broseley which. behind their 18th and 19th Century facades, have a structure going back to a much earlier period
	19 Back into King Street where Orchard house behind its early 19th Century railings and gate, retains many if its 18th Century features.