PEOPLE, HISTORY, COMMUNITY
This is a project with the City community at its heart.
The Folk of Gloucester is a project situated within a 16th century Tudor building with the City community at its heart. Honouring and learning about our past, by bringing people together from the present, our aim is to keep the history of Gloucester city alive through the telling of stories.
Through the display of objects, exhibitions, and delivery of programmes and events we will bring to life the stories of the people of the City of Gloucester from the Tudor period to the present day. We want every child within the city and surrounding districts to visit The Folk to discover and rediscover their love for this historically important building and City.
“Gloucester is a beautiful, vibrant and diverse city full of history and it is our intention that everyone in the local community will have the opportunity to be involved in The Folk of Gloucester.”
In November 2019 The Gloucester Civic Trust agreed a licence to operate The Folk with Gloucester City Council.
The Gloucester Civic Trust’s charitable purpose is to raise the public awareness and interest in the City, promote high standards of local planning and architecture and secure the preservation, protection, development and improvement of features of historic interest in Gloucester.
Under this arrangement we will now be able to programme regular community led events and begin formulating comprehensive plans for the future of the building and bring it back into use at the heart of our community.
our team
The Folk is overseen by the trustees of the Gloucester Civic Trust and managed by a board comprising trustees, employees, consultants and volunteers. The Operations team is led by Alex Cooke and the Cafe is managed by Jo and Katrina. The garden is cared for by Cherry who is transforming it from wilderness to sanctuary. Everything else is supported by our amazing team of volunteers and partners.
OUR HISTORY
99-101 WESTGATE STREET
A Grade 2 listed building from the Tudor period (around 1550)
A traditional timber frame building, half timbered (the term derives from splitting trees in half to make a pair of beams) were constructed from oak.
The walls, floor and roof frames were all jointed and pegged together. The joints used were developed by carpenters over many generations as the best method of jointing beams in any particular part of the frame. No nails or iron ties were necessary. Timber framebuildings are strong and much lighter than the equivalent in brick and stone. They could be made very tall if desired; an advantage on cramped Town sites. Another advantage of timber-frame construction is that once the frame has been completed the roof, walls and floors can all be finished simultaneously. The wall panels were filled with ‘wattle and daub’ and then plastered, while the roof could be tiled, thatched or slated.
BISHOP HOOPER’s HOUSE
The building has been known for many years as Bishop Hooper House because some people believed that Bishop Hooper stayed here on the night before he was burnt at the stake in 1555. However there is no evidence that this actually happened!
The museum has what is claimed to be part of the burnt stake.
On the ground floor much of the rich carving to the posts has been hacked away to allow insertion of latter shop fronts.
The building comprises a pair of shops with domestic and workshop accommodation above. Behind No 99 is a three storey service block. (Which became the pin factory annexe). The shops were originally unglazed and would have been closed by oak shutters at night. On the east side is a passageway which leads to the gardens and outbuildings.
A wealthy clothier, John Sandford, owned the building by 1548. It is probable that the premises were used for the storing of cloth and the manufacture of garments. The continuous glazing on the first floor would have provided excellent light for needle
work.
Little is known of the history over the next two centuries but during that time a large chimney was built behind No 101 and a two storey brick extension with a further chimney was built in the courtyard.
By 1743 William Cowcher, pinmaker, was the occupier. He probably repaired the buildings and adapted them for pin making by linking No 99 and No 101 and the top floor fireplace in No 99 was converted into an annealing forge. Other changes were made but by the beginning of the 19C a decline of the pin making industry occurred.
With the end of pin making in the building, around 1850, the interior was partitioned to provide domestic accommodation, sitting rooms, bedrooms, and kitchens although some rooms remained as workshops for crafts such as tinsmithing and basket making.
By 1900 the ground floor of No 101 has a large shopfront and two front doors, one for the shop and one for the accommodation. Between 1900 and 1933 No 99 was an undertakers. No 101 was successively a sweetshop, a cobblers and a fishmongers.
In 1933 the building was purchased by the City and restored. Internal partitions were removed to expose the Tudor fabric and a fine reproduction oak staircase was inserted. The Victorian shopfronts were removed and the present ground floor windows placed in the original Tudor openings. Finally, then first floor windows once again received leaded lights.
It was used to soften the brass wire during pin manufacture. If you would like to see what a pin looked like look at the posts in Westgate street modelled on the pins which show how the brass wire was wrapped around the top.
NO 103 A 17 TH C HOUSE
This is believed to have been built around 150 years after 99-101 and is only partly timber framed. In 1646 No 103 was sold to Damaris Deighton to Henry Watkins, a maltster. She had inherited the house from her father John Deighton, a surgeon in 1640. The buildings consists of three floors plus attics and cellars. The lower walls are constructed of stone with timber faming on the upper floors.The plan is to develop this building into a commercial venture of some sort, accommodation or retail outlet.
PIN FACTORY ANNEXE
This stands behind 97 Westgate and was originally entirely separated from No 99 by the passageway. By 1548 it was owned by John Sandford in common with 93-107 Westgate. The building was originally a two story Tudor timber framed barn. By 1743 William Cowcher was making pins in 99 Westgate. Around the turn of the 18thC the building was remodelled to accommodate pin making workers. The Tudor roof was removed and an extra brick built storey added on. The walls on the lower floors had already been “infilled” with bricks. From 1900-1933 the annexe formed part of the undertakers premises which occupied No 99 Westgate Street and was probably where the coffins were made.
CIDER HOUSE – NO 2 QUAY STREET
This building is shown on an estate map of 1780 and is brick built with a very fine oak roof. From 1825 the premises were owned by Robert Lovesey, a timber merchant and wheelwright. From the mid 19thC until 1963 it was used as a slaughter house by butchers with shops in Westgate Street. A beam with pulleys was fitted high in the roof for the handling of carcases and can still be seen. The Museum acquired No 2 Quay Street in 1969 and restored it. It now houses a horse driven cider mill (one of the last surviving in the Wets Country) and press.
NEW BUILDINGS
Land was bought by the Council in the 1960’s to join Westgate and Quay Street. The dairy (now the Café) was opened in 1983, the Ironmongers Shop (which was converted to a sweet shop in recent years) in 1985 together with workshops for the carpenter and wheelwrights.