Another Trip to Herefordshire - Part 2: Tenbury Wells

 

Thursday last week was thank goodness dry and sunny and we decided to spend the afternoon in Tenbury Wells which turned out to be fairly quiet i.e. few people!  We'd driven through a few times but never stopped to explore.

Tenbury Walls known as "The Town in the Orchard" is a small ancient market town.  The River Teme flows along the edge of the town and separates Worcestershire from Shropshire. The border with Herefordshire is about a mile away.  The town contains several 17th century half timbered buildings and Georgian houses.  When mineral water wells were discovered in 1840 the town added "Wells" to its name.  Queen Victoria who visited the area at the end of the 19th century called it "my little town in the orchard" hence its alternative name.

I think this unusual building contained public toilets!

The Royal Oak (currently vacant) is a 16th century inn and was the main coaching house on the route from London to the North.  The name commemorates the escape of Charles II when he hid in a oak tree after the Battle of Worcester.

Parts of the Crow Hotel date from the first half of the 17th century and in the early 18th century it became an inn.

The Kyre Brook

The newly restored Tenbury Spa or Pump Rooms

When they were built in 1862 it was thought that mineral water from Tenbury had healing properties and the town would become another famous Spa town. This was not to be!! The building was designed by James Cranston of Birmingham who based the design on his greenhouse! It is one of the earliest prefabricated buldings.  It became derelict at the end of the 20th century but was fully restored for the Millennium and is now used as a community hall, registry office for weddings and houses the office of the town clerk.

Tenbury House erected in 1815 on the site of an earlier house. The building was unfortunately obscured somewhat by scaffolding!!

There is quite a large Tesco in Tenbury Wells which will be useful when we eventually shop there rather than taking food from home every time we visit.  The car park was quiet, most people were wearing masks and they also seemed to be sanitising the trolleys.

We then found a path alongside the River Teme which led to the 16th century Tenbury Bridge, the gateway to the town.  

We then wandered round a park known as The Burgage

This was an unusual little tree which looked like a species of conifer.

Then we walked back into town. These clocks were in the window of a pub that looked recently vacated.

We visited the market square

The Market Tavern

We bought some plants from this shop before we left.  They had a very sensible arrangement of payment at a counter at the door.  If you wanted fruit and vegetables from inside they would get them for you.

The Round Market (orginally called the Butter Market) built by James Cranston in 1858. It was built so that farmers' wives could sell butter and poultry under cover.

Holland House built in the early 18th century was once known as the Cross House as it was near to the Market Square cross but was renamed after the Holland family moved in in 1791.

We then had a look round the exterior of the church of St Mary - I'll write about that in the next post!  

When we got back B planted the White Heather and Cyclamen we had bought also some hyacinth bulbs.  

D bought us the Gatekeeper statue - it is similar to the one we have at home.

Still not happy with new blogger as it is taking ages to create a new post and I am fed up of having to left align, change font size and pick paragraphs every time I upload a photo!

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera