While neither Worcester or Ledbury are timberbeam cities in the way Chester is, there are nonetheless various excellent examples of that sort of architecture in the two cities involves in this post. Above you see the old rectifying house. Now you might think this was a place where sinners received their correction, but actually it has to do with beer and its processing!
From Ledbury we find a very interesting Boots the chemist (i.e. pharmacy) set in such a timberbeam structure.
Here we see the market in Ledbury where presumably the officials were upstairs over the market, and the market covered, was and still is on ground level.
When you look more closely you see that the beams are inset in the plastered front of the building. This last example is a side view of church street leading to the small cathedral in Ledbury.
Of course the old buildings are juxtaposed with new ones in these towns, so you find some novel things such as—
Yes, that says Specs in the City… a glasses shop.
Not far from there is a fine example of a chapel where John Wesley actually preached, a building built by the patron of the Methodist movement in the 18th century, the Countess of Huntingdon. The Wesleys and Whitefield favored buildings that had a certain roundness to it at the back of the apse, and had a wrap around balcony as well, like this building. It also made for better acoustics.
Along the way between Ledbury and Worcester you find some interesting signs you’d never see in America…
Just for the record that first name on the sign is pronounced witch.
And here is another interesting sign as well…in this case a tombstone that tells a story.
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