File:Museum - Ancient High House - Greengate Street, Stafford (33107342222).jpg

A look at the historic buildings on Greengate Street in Stafford. It's now part of the main high street in the town centre full of shops, pubs, restaurants and cafes.

Museum, Savers and Fone Giant.

<a href="http://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/the-ancient-high-house" rel="noreferrer nofollow">Ancient High House</a>

The Ancient High House is one of the finest Tudor buildings in the country. Once dominating the skyline of Stafford, it is the largest remaining timber framed town house in England. Royalty was welcomed to the house in 1642 when King Charles I stayed there en route to Shrewsbury, and the house retains an extensive collection of period furniture and architectural features. It is also the home of the Staffordshire Yeomanry Museum.

Built in around 1595 for the wealthy Dorrington family, the ornate timber framed building is reputed to be the largest surviving timber framed town house in England from the Tudor period.

In 1986 the house opened as a museum and now provides a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the people who have lived there over the centuries.

Grade II listed building.

<a href="http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-383989-high-house-staffordshire#.WLwcf39FaGw" rel="noreferrer nofollow">High House, Stafford</a>

   STAFFORD

   SJ9223SW GREENGATE STREET
   590-1/10/47 (West side)
   16/01/51 Nos.47, 48 AND 49
   High House (No.49)

   GV II*

   House, now museum and shops. 1595, for John Dorrington;
   extensively restored 1976-86 by FWB Charles.
   MATERIALS: timber-frame; tile roof with stone and brick stack.
   PLAN: E-plan.
   EXTERIOR: 3 storeys with attic; symmetrical 5-window range;
   each upper floor is jettied on console brackets. Ground floor
   has two C20 shopfronts on ashlar plinth; central porch is
   reinstated, on ashlar plinth and with open front and side
   openings. Upper floors have ovolo-mullioned and transomed
   windows, mostly reinstated; all have leaded glazing. 1st floor
   has central oriel with 2+2-light bowed window with king
   mullion and reinstated balustrade with square balusters,
   flanking 3-light windows and end 2+1+2-light windows with king
   mullions; 2nd floor has central 2+1+2-light window, flanking
   2-light windows and end 1+2+1-light canted oriels; attic has
   four 5-light windows with 3 upper lights under gables.
   Timber-framing has mostly square panels with decorative ogee
   braces, cusping etc. Right return has 2 canted oriels flanking
   2-light window to ground, 1st and 2nd floors; 3 gabled windows
   to attic. Rear has 2 gabled wings, that to left with
   asymmetrical gable, flanking gabled stair wing.
   INTERIOR: 2 ashlar fireplaces to ground floor with Tudor
   arches and damaged friezes over; stop-chamfered beams;
   open-well stair has turned balusters, stop-chamfered square
   newels with finials and pendants and moulded handrails. 1st
   floor landing has mid C18 wallpaper in Gothick style; corridor
   has rectangular flush panelling repainted in original style;
   ovolo-moulded beams and timber-framed partition walls; 2
   ashlar fireplaces; rear room has surviving pieces of mid C18
   wallpaper; room to left end has C20 wallpaper reproducing
   design of pieces discovered 2nd floor similar. Attic has 2
   roof trusses with timber-framed infill flanking stone stack.
   HISTORY: the house is believed to be the largest timber-framed
   town house in England; Charles I and Prince Rupert stayed here
   in 1642; Izaak Walton, 1593-1683, writer, lived here for many
   years.
   (Buildings of England: Pevsner N and Nairn J: Staffordshire:
   London: 1974-: 245; Shell Guides: Thorold H: Staffordshire:
   London: 1978-: 152; Stafford Borough Council: Ancient High
   House: Tour: 1986-; Lambert B: The Preservation of the Ancient
   High House: Stafford: 1986-).

   Listing NGR: SJ9219923201

This text is a legacy record and has not been updated since the building was originally listed. Details of the building may have changed in the intervening time. You should not rely on this listing as an accurate description of the building.

Source: English Heritage