Ross-on-Wye

And this is followed by the Old Book Store.

This used to be two shops but has since been made into a single larger one.

Opposite is the old site of The Swan and Falcon Inn (now private residences).

This was visited by Nelson in 1802 and John Byng, the 5th Viscount Torrington (18/02/1742 to 08/01/1813), in 1787.

In August 1802, Lord Nelson visited Wales and the Forest of Dean. He was on a pleasure trip with Sir William Hamilton and his wife Emma, who was also Nelson's mistress. The party passed through Ross-on-Wye and they stopped in the Swan and Falcon Inn and then travelled on into Pembrokeshire, where Sir William owned land.

Then is passes Lloyds Bank at the junction with St. Mary's Street.

Opposite this is the Corn Exchange.

The Corn Exchange was built in 1862 and was designed by Thomas Nicholson.

From the day the Corn Exchange opened the first floor was always associated with entertainment.

Regular events like cabaret, bands, poetry readings, opera, plays and roller-skating, which was all the fashion in the town at point, were held there.

The hall was granted a license to be a cinema in 1922 and took the name 'The New Theatre' and kept this name until its destruction in 1939 due to fire.

The there is a building opposite on the other side of St. Mary's Street from Lloyds and that was the Capital and Counties Bank until 1918.

The building is currently offices or a private residence.

This building was the Ross Gazette Office between 1883 and 1915 when the site lease was sold to Midland Bank and it moved to Man of Ross House.

This shop was Turners shoe shop and the mosaic in the entrance still shows this.

This shop was Ross Pet Supplies (or something similar - I am not sure exactly) during the 1980's and they closed in the late 1980's and the shop has been empty since then.

Unfortunately this shop is bound up in some controversy as who owns the shop is unknown hence nothing can currently be done with it.

During the 1950's, this was Baileys and they sold leather goods.

This building was the Saracen's Head and is recorded as being open during the 17^th century although the exact date it first opened is not clear.

This half timbered building used to be hidden under a layers of plaster until it started to be removed sometime in the late 1890's or early 1900's. At the turn of the century it was covered over but by 1905 the plaster had been removed from the walls of the second floor. It wasn't until just after 1920 that the first floor was uncovered leaving it looking pretty much as it does today, although the ground floor shop fronts have changed many times over the years.

During the 18^th century the building was split in two and the Saracen's Head occupied the left hand side with a shop on the right. In 1931 the shop was occupied by Ernest Butterworth who was a Photographic and Dispensing Chemist. The Inn finally closed its door's in 1969 and was then converted into a shop. It was recently 'The Basement' which was a youth centre (or something like that - I am not entirely sure) but currently (10-9-05) it is empty and up for Let.

This building is famous for its rich decoration including carvings of Tudor roses, pointy bearded heads (as seen to the left) and grapes.

Philip Price, the vicar in Ross during the time of the Plague, was turned out of his living by the Puritans and the landlord of this inn reputedly gave him shelter and that he spent his last days here.

This is a postcard view (published by R.E. Davies) of a collision on the High Street between a bus and a lorry outside of the Saracens Head Inn (on the right) sometime between 1922 and 1939. The bus belonged to B.Barnes & Sons who were based in Bury Road Rawtenstall which is in Lancashire and the lorry may well have been one of Llewellyn's who were based in the Station Yard in Ross.

This was where John Kyrle lived. He was born in Dymock in 1637 and was then educated at Gloucester Grammar School followed by being a gentleman commoner at Balliol College, Oxford. He moved to Ross in 1660 and lived in "Kyrle House" beside the market house. Following his death in 1724, it became an Inn called "The King's Arms". This closed in 1805 and was then divided into a holiday flat and various shop units. From 1915 to around 2000 this was the home of the the Ross Gazette which is the local newspaper. It then became Colemans stationers.

The two postcards below and the one to the left show John Kyrle's House Ross at various different times.

Below left shows the building in 1911 when H. C. Jefferies had a Printers and Stationers shop there, along with a public library. Mr. Jefferies had taken over the stationers from Powles. In 1914, The Ross Gazette took over the premises and changed the frontage; they then continued to run the library. The picture to the left shows a much wider angle, also showing the shop next door, which was Harts the Chemists.

This is a great postcard showing the frontage of Kyrle House when Matthews and Powles had shops there (circa 1900). Below are the two shop windows in greater detail.

This is a postcard (published by Frith's - no. 67701) view of the arches under the Market House showing the High Street from around 1914 (World War 1).

To the right of the picture, is H.C. Jefferies news agent and printers (the shop with Powle over the door) with "All the war news" written next to the door dating the card to World War I and the "Ross Gazette" moved into that shop in around 1915.

Next, on the left of H.C. Jefferies, is "Matthews Chemist & Drugist" with it's signs on the outside of the shop.

This is a wooden pill pot from T. Matthews Chemist Ross, with The Pills, Mrs Smith 65,53408 written on the lid.

The pot has been turned from a piece of wood with great skill and the lid fits perfectly. Amazing to think this is equivalent to the mass-produced plastic pots we use today.

This is a porcelain pot that used to contain Areca Nut Tooth Paste prepared and sold by Thomas Matthews, Chemist Ross, with a picture of John Kyrle on the lid.

The pot top and base are chipped and damaged but it is still an interesting example.

This is a postcard (published by Frith's - no. 84590 [I think]) view out from the arches under the Market House showing the High Street from around 1916.

This is a later view out from under the market arches. This view is probably around 1916 because this was when the "Ross Gazette" moved from its original location at the junction of Church Street and High Street down to Kyrle House.

This shop was until recently one of the two shops used by Wye Electrical Services. Originally this was a pub that was opened to commemorate the visit to the town by King George IV, in 1821, and the subsequent upset this caused.

In 1821, the main passage through the town was up Wye Street (called Dock Pitch at the time) because Wilton Road had not been built at this time. Then travellers went along the High Street and out of the Town along Old Gloucester Road (probably called Arthurs Lane at that time) as Gloucester Road had not been built at this time. This meant horses and carriages had to go around the sharp corner between the High Street and Old Gloucester Road and along the narrow street.

On the corner between the High Street and Old Gloucester Road was the Nag's Head Inn (now converted into a shop) and on the day the King came, a carrier had parked his wagon here whilst he unloaded and the horses had been removed.

The King had to wait in a Pub called The Butchers Arms whilst the blockage was cleared and he was decidedly 'unhappy' about this and set about planning the towns future and he threatened to remove the town from the coaching route unless this was sorted out. Because of this, in 1825 the current Gloucester Road was constructed and later The Butchers Arms was renamed to commemorate the visit.

The building in the middle is the back of the Kyrle Summer House, which is behind Kyrle House, and is now a private residence.

The road shown in the middle bottom of the shot is one of the ancient roads in Ross and is still cobbled. It shows signs of wear from the passing of carts and similar forms of transport.

This is a postcard view of the High Street Ross-on-Wye. On the right is W. Raymond, who were a shoe specialists, next to that is the Ross Gazette Office and on the corner is Harts Chemists. To the left can be seen the George Hotel and Garage which was demolished and replaced by George Place.

The two postcards below and the one to the left show John Kyrle's House Ross at various different times.

Below left shows the building in 1911 when H. C. Jefferies had a Printers and Stationers shop there, along with a library. Mr. Jefferies had taken over the stationers from Powles.

In 1914, The Ross Gazette took over the premises and changed the frontage; they continued to run the library.

The picture to the left shows a much wider angle, also showing the shop next door, which was Harts the Chemists.

This is a postcard view (published by R.E. Davies) of a collision between a bus and a lorry on the High Street outside of the Saracens Head Inn sometime between 1922 and 1939. The bus belonged to B.Barnes & Sons who were based in Bury Road Rawtenstall which is in Lancashire and the lorry may well have been one of Llewellyn's who were based in the Station Yard, Ross.

This view must be pre-1915 as the Ross Gazette office is still shown on the corner of the High Street and Church Street.

To the right of the shot, there is the Crystal Cafe and Board House which also did Accommodation for Cycles, and this is currently Annie's restaurant. Next up the street is the Kings Head Hotel (which still remains) and then there is the Corn Exchange which is now offices and Grandma Peggy's sweet shop.

To the right can be seen a bank followed by a shop selling Judges Postcards. Next along is Brown and Seymour Ltd which has various signs about hair cutting outside. Further down on the corner of Church Street is a shop with 43 - Kyrle written on it and obviously a dentists above.

On the left is Radleys Complete Outfitters and a bit further down can be seen the sign for the Kings Head Hotel.

This is a shot from slightly further down the street. In the middle of the shot is a person riding a bike down the street whilst a motorbike and sidecar is coming up the street and following that is a car.

To the right is Heals who were outfitters and further down, on the corner of Church Street is Turners Shoe shop (the shop entrance still has Turners Rightform Shoes decorating it [image]). On the right can be seen the signs for the New Theatre Cinema and the Kings Head Hotel.

The Tooth Brothers were plumbers, fitters and glaziers with shops at 3 High Street and 5 New Street. They supplied iron, lead and brass lift pumps and iron and porcelain baths to name but a few items.

The receipt was for the repair of a water pump.

This receipt dates from Xmas 1897 and was settled on 11^th May 1898.

J. Strange was a fishmonger, game dealer & fruiterer based at 51 High Street, Ross.

It is a receipt made out to Messers Lawerence & Fowler for the rent of a Posting Station at the Ice House which was due in March 1922.

This receipt dates from 8^th December 1922.

P.C.Bennett F.A.I was an Autioneer & Stock Salesman, Agricultural, Timber and General Valuer and Surveyor. Additionally he was a Fire Assessor, House, Land & Estate Agent and all assurances effected. The offices were in Palace Chambers, Ross-on-Wye.

This item dates from 1937.

Edmund Turner & Co. Ltd were shoe specialists in Ross carrying out repairs by modern methods. MASCOT was their brand of shoes and these were shoes for every member of the family are obainable in handsomely designed shapes for the needs, tastes, and feet, and your inspection of our stock is always cordially welcomed.

They had branches at 43 High Street and 36 Broad Street in Ross and also in Hereford, Monmouth and Abergavenny.

This item dates from 1928.

Wm Watsons and Sons were ironmongers and plumbers at 39 High Street Ross. This is a statement of account to Mr. Percy Bellamy of How Caple and he owed £21 / 17s / 11p. The statement has a note added to the bottom stating "S.O.S. We are Starving".

It is interesting to note that the Watsons logo involves a hedgehog.

This item dates from 1925.

J.Barnwell & Son were a household stores and were the best equipped stores in the district. This is a statement of account for Mr. P. Bellamy.

This item dates from 1926.

This was a bill to the Exec of the late William Bailey of Myrtle Villas, Ashfield, from March 1925.

This was a bill from Bannister & Foxwell Ltd, who were clothiers, hatters, hosiers and complete outfitters, to Ms. Pascoe from Weston Cross and is dated 30th Sept 1933.

Charles Francis was a wholesale tobacconist at 47 High Street.

This was a bill to a Mr. J. N. Suter of Gloucester Road, Ross from the 5th December 1932.