The House on Crutches Museum

To find out more about some of the objects on display in this room, scroll down the page or click the shortcuts below:

• Architectural Features
• The Tannery
• Shoe and Clog Making
• Medical Display
• The 'Broads & Pughs' Cabinet
• Brewing Display

To visit the other galleries click these links:

• Lobby Gallery
• Parlour Gallery
• Agricultural Gallery

The House on Crutches may have started life as a simple single room dwelling sometime in the twelfth century, but it certainly grew over the years. There are no certain details about the owners of the house but, whoever they were and whatever they did, they had become very affluent by the 1600s as this large, well-lit and airy room with its wide fireplace reveals. This may have been the Great Chamber, or Solar, of the extended medieval house, built for the private use of the master and mistress. It emphasised their social status and importance, moving them upstairs and away from the hustle and bustle of the household and the servants below. The original room with its extension over the jetty would probably not have been accessed by the staircase below the small window. It would have been entered by a set of stairs to the rear of the next room. Traces of its Banisters can be seen above the modern staircase in the Agricultural room.

The oak framing for the room was expensive. But the pride of the room would have been the windows, as glass was just as costly. The original room would have contained at least three large windows. The large window in the jetty would have given an unhindered view of the hills and woods beyond the town. The buildings that block this view today are all later 18th century infill. The large window to the left of the jetty looked up the cobbled way, over the Market Place and had a view of the castle. The third window, which had a similar view, may be a new piercing, but is more possibly an eighteenth century replacement, known as a Yorkshire Sliding Sash

There can only be speculation about the smallest window in the room and the staircase. This window was only discovered during the restoration of the building in 1985. When it was originally made, and later blocked in, remains a mystery. But if window and staircase are connected, then both may have been installed during the Civil War [1642 - 1645 ] when this area of South West Shropshire was considerably harassed by both Royalist and Parliamentarian forces. The window may have been created as a convenient outlook for a Watchman, the staircase being a later replacement for a ladder. Around 1665, during the last great outbreak of the Plague or Black Death, the window may have been blocked in. The window faces south, and it was believed that the infection was carried on the warm, moist southerly winds. Whatever happened will probably remain one of the many secrets of this very old house.

The Bishop’s Castle Tannery was at the bottom of the town, conveniently near a constant flow of water needed for the tanning pools, and the cattle market, which was held at the bottom of Church Street outside the Six Bells. The TANNERY was, perhaps, not so conveniently situated for the Church. Tanning is one of the oldest and, possibly smelliest trades!

Leather making involved a great many processes one of which was carried out with a scudding knife as seen here. It was used to scrape the underside of the hide removing the soft tissue. The hides would then be soaked in pools as part of the tanning process. Oak bark, stripped from felled trees, was the source of the TANNIN, crucial to the curing process. It was this ingredient that gave the profession its name.

Clogs

Clogs were sold from the nearby Welsh town of Knighton by the grandfather of the present shoemaker in the town. They had a regular contract for the local gas factory where irons on the soles should have been a distinct fire hazard. Nevertheless, they were indeed sold with irons! Is this what’s known as Brave Soles? In earlier times clogs met the need for cheap and durable footwear. Wooden soles and leather uppers were weatherproof and most families did the repairs themselves with the aid of a last. The irons, and even rubbers, were easily obtainable and even the loss of a strap button could be easily dealt with.

Shoes

Leather production encouraged the tradition of shoemaking in the town. However factories in the north, making cheap mass produced footwear, meant that bespoke boots and shoes were not economical. This shift in “carriage” trade heralded the spate of shoe shops in the town. At one stage no less than 7 shoe retailers could be found here.

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Medical Display

This display reveals the considerable changes that have taken place since the advent of patent medicines and the market domination by international drug companies. At the beginning of the last century, the local chemist made pills and potions, grinding the ingredients by hand, carefully measuring liquids and powders. Many people sought the advice of the chemist, which was free, rather than the doctor, who was not. And toothache, was perhaps easier to bear than assault by the foot-powered drill!

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The 'Broads and Pughs' Cabinet

There were several outfitters, dressmakers, milliners and tailors in the town, many of them established in the mid 1800’s. Several of them survived until well after WW2. BROADS and PUGHS the tailor were among them. Broads, which sold everything from a pin to the latest ladies' fashions, survived until the 960’s. Displayed are a variety of articles sold in the shop and a Daybook kept by the assistants. You begin to get an idea of the robust business conducted in the town not only from the entries themselves but from the number of assistants employed on Market Day. Market day has been held on a Friday for many centuries.
By the late 1940’s, Mr Leslie Pugh, the fifth generation of this tailoring family, had moved the business to the High street. The tailors, in traditional fashion, sat cross-legged on their benches in the work-shop at the back of the front shop. Mr. Pugh’s Tailors Shears are on display, as well as a Ladies Jacket, made at the High Street premises which finally closed in the 1950’s.

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Brewing Display

This display reveals something of the brewing industry in Bishop’s castle – which has boasted many public houses in its long history. The Three Tuns at the top of the town in Salop Street has a Victorian Tower Brewery, and is still providing good real ales to the delight of many CAMRA aficionados. In the very recent past two public houses in the High Street, The Six Bells and, The Boar’s Head, had apple orchards (now, sadly lost) to the rear of their buildings and produced cider. This was the favourite tipple of The Drovers, whose routes and history are outlined on a separate board display.
Today there is yet another real ale brewery. The Six Bells at the bottom of the town is a thriving enterprise and has many awards under its belt already. Over the years the town has seen no fewer than 29 (at the last count) pubs and ale houses. not all at once, of course! Today there are six.

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