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Archenfield Archaeology Ltd for the |
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Church Street, Hereford |
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Church Street would have been one of the main streets of the Anglo-Saxon town, leading north from the Cathedral. Its northern end joined the old Saxon street which ran along the inside of the ramparts which defended the town. This street is now simply East Street. The narrow lane leading from Church Street to High Town dates from after the Norman Conquest. Its earliest form was likely to have been as a footpath where people scrambled over the old Saxon North Wall of Hereford to get to the new market place. |
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Church Street was once known as Cabbage Lane and was the site of Hereford’s vegetable market. What is now Church Street was Broad Cabbage Lane and the northern narrow part was Narrow Cabbage Lane. Later the name was gentrified into Broad and Narrow Capuchin Lane. Now the two parts are identified separately as Church Street and Capuchin Land but, oddly, the properties retain their 19th century numbers which ignore the difference. Although originally the vegetable market, when we first begin to identify the nature of the businesses in the street, they consist of a typical cross-section of provincial trades and professions.. In the 1770s Benjamin Johnson kept a ‘toy-shop’ in Broad Capuchin Lane. At this period the term toy-shop did not imply a place where children’s play-things were sold – ‘toys’ were trinkets, essentially for adults. Johnson kept a stock of teas, which he sold wholesale – his son was in the tea trade in London. Tea was an expensive luxury at this time and working class people drank beer in the towns and cider in the villages and farms. The middle class had known coffee for many years but tea was still relatively new to the English. On one side of Benjamin Johnson’s shop was Mr Atkins, mercer and linen-draper and on the other Elizabeth Price, milliner. Another linen-draper in Broad Capuchin Lane in the 1770s was John Stewert who died in February 1774 – his business was carried on by his widow Elizabeth. Next door to the Stewerts were the premises of Thomas Honiatt, brazier. The licensee of the Dog public House was Thomas Morgan. Nearby were William Johnson the barber and Thomas Taylor the butcher. It was also in this period that Church Street was the Home of Roger Kemble, actor and manager of his travelling players, and his family. His daughter Sarah, under her married name Sarah Siddens, was one of the most celebrated actresses of her time. |
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Cabbage Lane, Hereford in 1837, by David Cox. The use of the street as the vegetable market is reflected in the businesses here. Opposite the greengrocer’s on the right is Joseph Jenkins, Nurseryman and Seedsman. |
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In 1863 Church Street still possessed a wide range of occupations. At number 2 (now in Capuchin Lane) was Francis Allsop, boot and shoe maker. This may have confused some people because another boot and shoe maker traded from number 29 and his name was Thomas Allsop. Further along the east side of Capuchin Lane/Church Street were William James, fruiterer and Susannah Baskerville, butcher. Next door to Mrs Baskerville, at what is now the Moka Bar, was the Seven Stars public house where Charles Burgwin was the Licensee. On the opposite side of East Street from the Seven Stars, the building which is now Berry Red was William Ginham, tinman and brazier. At number 11 Mrs Eliza Smith was the licensee of the Dog, now the Lichfield Vaults. William Bannister was a beer retailer at number 16, Thomas William Garrold a solicitor and commissioner in Common Law Courts at number 17 and John Earle a tailor at number 18. Joseph Jeynes, cabinet-maker, was at 26 and Thomas Carpenter ran a day school at number 28. At number 34 was the tailor James Court and Robert Farthing Knight was a currier and leather-cutter at number 26. Mary Chance was a china and glass dealer at number 38 and Mrs Lissy Cole a shopkeeper at number 40. By the 1920s Church Street had begun to take on the character which we recognise today. There were four or five antique dealers, an engraver, boot repairers, a costumier, a hairdresser and two pubs. Other trades included a musical instrument dealer, a newsagent, two confectioners, a butcher and a poulterer. |
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The building which now houses 'Ambience' was the childhood home of John Ward RA, the portrait painter. The corner shop belonged to an engraver, Alfred Rumsey. In the 1920s young John would watch him, engrossed, while he engraved coffin plates. The shop is still 'A Rumsey'. |
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One of the antique shops was that of Russell Ward who had moved to Hereford from London and whose specialisation was paintings. His son John was a pupil at St Owen’s school in Hereford and although not of the first academic rank, was showing artistic promise. John Ward is now of course one of the greatest British portrait painters, with such immediately recognisable works as his portrait of Diana, Princess of Wales and of that of the three Cabinet Secretaries. Church Street remains one of the most interesting streets in Hereford, popular with tourists but still catering for locals. |
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The Powell Theatre is in the Zimmerman Building on the corner Church Street and the Cathedral Close. The Zimmerman Building is part of Hereford Cathedral School and was originally built as a telephone exchange in the 1950s. |
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maintained by Archenfield Archaeology Ltd |
