Bishop Percy's House. The Building

Cellar

There are two cellars of the house, one accessed from the front of the building actually numbered as 51 Cartway indicating it was a premises in its own right. The second cellar is accessed from the rear on the west side. It is in this rear cellar that two large Grinshill sandstone columns stand their age extending back to the medieval building on the site prior to the build of Bishop Percy's House. An early example of a dumb waiter runs through the staircase pillar in the house and starts here suggesting this was the original kitchen.

Ground Floor

This would have been commercial space for Forsters haulage business. There is however a grand fireplace bearing the inscription " Except The Lord Bvild The Howse. The Labourers There Of Prevail Not. Erected by R For* 1580 ", which would have influenced the open this would have been a great hall. The inscription is signed FOR* , thus the belief the name was Forster not Forester. The fireplace was opened out to form a kitchen in the early 1950's.

The rear of the building is no longer in existence as the rear gable of the building was past repair in the mid 1940's and had to be demolished and rebuilt. The reconstructed rear gable consisted of shower and changing rooms on the ground floor and a rebuilt rooms on the first and second floor.

On the rear western side of the rear is the main staircase that starts in the passage way between 52 and 53 Cartway. This division endorses the belief the ground floor was commercial premises and the first and second floor the domestic dwellings.

First Floor

Originally the front consisted of two rooms separated by two doors at the front of the building, with a large picture window overlooking the River Severn on the Eastern side. One of the doors is no longer in place, this original aperture has filled with an infill that is in keeping with the original internal wall. However the pegging of the joists is with metal screws not with wooden pegs as would have been originally used. Separating the front from the rear of the building on the eastern side is a small corridor and back staircase that is part of the medieval tower that the house was built around, at the rear would have been a further room. This rear gable of the building was demolished in the early 1950's as it was felt it was beyond repair, it was replaced with a more modern build gable end.

Second Floor

The second floor is a long gallery with all the large exposed oak beams and trusses that supported the roof, the divisions between them originally filled with wattle and daub. Many of the original curved supporting braces were removed probably during the building developments of the 1800's. This would have been to allow the space to be better utilised. It is speculated the original use of this floor would have been bedroom space.
As previously stated the rear gable of the building was demolished in the early 1950's. In the modern gable room you can see the top of the original stone chimney stacks from the original building.

Staircase

Through the centre pillar of the great staircase on the west side of the building is a very early example of a dumb waiter controlled by a pulley system, with small doors on each floor. this started in the cellar at the rear of the building indicating this was the original kitchen area.

53 Cartway

53 Cartway was built in the 17th century adjoining Bishop Percy's House (52 Cartway) on the west side. This made the original exterior west wall become the internal wall of number 53 on the upper floors. Building works carried out in the early 1950's combined the interior of 52 and 53 Cartway on the first floor with a modern staircase to the second floor. The ground floor of 53 Cartway was turned into ladies toilets during the building works of the early 1950's.

Exterior Of The Building

The rear gable of the building was past repair in the late 1940's and had to be demolished and rebuilt. The reconstructed gable consisted of shower and changing rooms on the ground floor and a rebuilt rooms on the first and second floor.

The original front door is still in use that locks with a large substantial key. Two additional doors have been added and removed over the period the house has existed, probably added in the 1800's and removed in the 1900's.

At the rear of the building an iron foundry existing in the 1800's that showed on ordinance survey maps in 1884, 1903 and 1927. It is unsure exactly when this was demolished but the land it was built on was used to build a gymnasium on in 1952 by the Bridgnorth Boys Club. This is still in existance but in a very poor state of repair.

Future development plans have been approved to build four luxury properties on the site of the gymnasium.