Monument Type(s):

• INN (15th century - 1400 AD to 1499 AD) + Sci.Date

Summary

An early 15th century public house, which is protected by Grade II* Listing.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA3684 - 1987 WB on cellar works under the Kings Head by BUFAU
• ESA6981 - 1987 photographic record of wall painting in the Kings Head, Mardol, Shrewsbury by University College, Cardiff

Description

Public house, possibly built as inn. Late C15. Timber-framed with plain tiled roof. 3 storeys, wide 2-window range. Central doorway with continuous band of windows to ground floor, reproducing the traceried detail of original windows. Jettied first storey framed in large panels with cusped arch bracing at each end and centrally forming trefoiled panels. Paired windows forming two 6-light casements with traceried heads. Second storey also jettied, and framed in large panels with plain bracing and jewelled central post. Paired windows form 6-light casements with leaded panes. INTERIOR: remains of wall-painting exposed and conserved on internal wall, representing Last Supper. (Smith JT: Shrewsbury: Topography and Domestic Architecture to the Mid C17: 1953) <2>

Wall painting conserved/displayed is on brick chimney, the earliest known in Shrewsbury. The building was originally roofed with two gables facing the street, later remodelled with a single parallel ridge. Restoration in 1980s by Arrol & Snell; further information in practice's archives. <3>

Photographic record carried out in the summer of 1987, prior to, during and following conservation work undertaken on wall paintings. The paintings were discovered purely by chance during renovation work at the Kings Head Inn. Workmen demolishing a first floor chimney place and its accompanying flue, found traces of pigment on a much larger and older chimney stack, against which the newer flue had been constructed. Initial observations divided the decoration into three registers. The first register was fragmentary and only a dove, gothic scroll and angel were distinguishable. The second or middle register was the most detailed and exciting. This contained a scene representing a series of haloed figures dining at a long table, in front of which stood another figure, depicting the last supper. The top or third register, consisted of a lion said to be couchant. ->

-> Investigative cleaning suggested that the painting of the three registers was executed at the same time, probably by the same artist. An additional stencilled pattern was also probably executed at this time. The last supper appears to have been repainted at some point during its life, in exact imitation of the original and in the same painting style. ->

-> Includes photographs of the paintings prior to and during conservation. <7>

This building has been dated by dendrochronology (tree ring dating) to 1404. Originally it had two gables facing the street but these were remodelled early in its history. Inside a 15th Century depiction of the Last Supper was recently found painted on a brick chimney. It became known as the King's Head when sometime between 1780 and 1820 the name was transferred from an inn on the corner of Roushill. It was previously known as the "Last Inn". <8>

A double-pile house, it originally had twin gables facing the street. The double-jowl post is a prominent feature of the frontage, and from this a wall-plate, which still bears the seatings of the rafters on either side, runs back. On the soffit of the northern side of this plate are stave holes which have rounded corners, noticed elsewhere in Shropshire as an early feature. It is possible that both units had crown post roofs. When the roof was realigned the tie-beams became a wall-plate. Jettied at two levels and with large flat joists and (restored) traceried windows, the building has cusped decoration and open framing on the exterior. Bull-nosed joists are exposed on the upper storey but concealed with coving on the lower storey.The original building is dendro-dated to 1404. The two rear 'wings' are continuations of the original gable-end units, but they had their roof-lines lowered in the remodelling. The wall-painting on the ground floor chimney breast is dated c.1450-1520 and has similarities to the Last Judgment in Cound church. The chimney is located in the southern rear 'wing' which suggests that this unit was an open hall at the time of the remodelling. The fact that the chimney is brick-built indicates an early use of brick in the town. Floor plans, sections and SW elevation drawing, outline of painting and exterior photograph. ->

->Further discussion, with two illustrations, of wall-painting on pp.323-325, and stencilling, with illustration on p.344.<9>

Situated close to the Welsh bridge and the quayside, The King’s Head is a three-storied structure of double pile form jettied at each floor level and with open framing which includes cusped braces in the end panels. Two six-light windows with ogee tracery in the heads are a feature of the second storey, and bull-nosed joists are exposed at each floor jetty level. The double-jowl post, indicative of a double pile form, would have had greater prominence when the roof was twin-gabled. At present there is a continuous roofline and the roof structure relates to the alteration. Originally there may have been crown-post construction in each gable. In a rear wing the room at ground level, which appears to have been a hall, contains a brick-built chimney on which there is a recently-discovered medieval painting of the Last Supper, the Annunciation and a third register which is difficult to decipher. The painting may be coeval with the framing, or applied soon after the framing was completed in 1404. <10>

Religious painting in ground-floor hall on brick chimney-stack. Rare and important pre-Reformation secular painting dated 1450-1520. Also has stencil on chimney breast of first-floor room. Pigments used; carbon black; lime; red ochre. Colour illustration. <11>

Sources

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