Having crossed paths with the individual again who introduced herself with the delicious ear-food line of "I know the history of this place", and with my friend equally as interested as me, I listened eagerly to the history of the Hole in the Wall. There was a lot of it, so apologies if I get anything wrong.
The architecture of the area at the back sure is peculiar and fascinating. If you've been here, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen it, here it is.
And thanks to my informant, I've managed to get my hands on a picture of this exact room, albeit looking back at the entrance, prior to it being the publicly accessible bundle of awesome it is today.
In spite of its modern makeover it's quite blatantly ancient, and if one looks closely today, the brickwork at the end doesn't match the brickwork making up the walls at all, which alludes to the possibility of it being even lengthier at some point in the past. And it points right at the square! Sure, it's not too low down in comparison to the front of the pub, but given that Shrewsbury is sloped, it probably is subterrainean by the time it hypothetically reaches the square. I do think the fact that Shrewsbury is a sloped extravaganza does fuel the tunnel myths, seeing as one can enter a building at ground level and be on the same level as someones cellar. That's not to say we should always be skeptical, but one must be wary of exaggeration. While the article containing the above image says that this is the old beer cellar, rumour has it that the tunnel was used in the 17th Century to convey criminals to the gallows in the square when the building was allegedly a debtors prison.
It sounds believable. Except there isn't much in the way of evidence. The article does say that there were small numbered holding cells found in which the prisoners may have been kept but given the lack of evidence and the fact that the nearby Music Hall was used for holding prisoners before their trials in the squares courthouse (now a cinema on stilts but you can see that the gargoyles all have little judges wigs), I would not be surprised if some miscommunication has muddled things. The newspapers have muddled the truth with the Music Hall before too, saying that the nuclear bunker was under the square, when in fact it's still within the confines of the Music Hall, now being used as an office.
The same article about the Hole in the Wall also made mention of an old water trough found beneath the pub, although this wasn't one of the publicly visible features. In fact my informant seemed quite puzzled by its mention, having never seen it herself.
But bear with us on that one.
Still, the Hole in the Walls tunnel remains an architectural curiosity, pointing at the square, with a similar design to the Music Halls similarly closed off arches, but were they ever linked? Complete speculation but nothing would surprise me given the historyof both places, and the close proximity of each other.
It has this nifty little arch that would have once let sunlight down into it from above.
This is of course, "Shrewsbury From Where You Are Not", not "Shrewsbury From Where I'm Telling You To Be", so on with the show!
Upon learning that beneath the Hole in the Wall was another arched area pointing towards Pride Hill, I asked if I could see it, and in a surprise twist of fate was offered a tour of the entire place.
And it wreaked havoc with my sense of direction, truth be told.
Here's the arched portion of the cellar, still in use by the pub.
I wonder if this peculiar wall design is part of the prison rumour. The cells would have been tiny but so were the ones in the Music Hall.
Interestingly, the actual name of the pub might tie in to the prison rumour- An exciting story tells of the prisoners removing pegs from holes in the wall whenever they went to exercise. Upon their return, the peg was re-inserted into the hole, so that whoever was on duty knew that everyone was present, sort of like a clocking in function. It's worth noting that the Hole in the Wall was actually the pubs nickname before it became the current official name. My map of Shrewsbury from 1880 labels it the Market Inn, while old photos show it with the similar name Market Vaults. The name sounds terribly mundane compared to the weirder and more memorable Hole in the Wall, but it also had the intriguing nickname "The Blood Tub."
Record of the Market Vaults / Blood Tub go back to 1868. And while it was used as a chapel, barn and paint shop in the years prior to that, records show that as far back as 1527 it was a pub called the Gullet Inn, which takes its name from the neighbouring alleyway, the Gullet Passage. While it sounds like it might have some kind of throat cuttingly creepy origin behind its name, the more boring truth is that there was a stream of water travelling down this way from the bogland that was where Princess House now stands. It was actually the knowledge of this that won over my trust in the informant. She was quick to specify it. She knew her stuff.
Apparently The Gullet Inn was popular with travelling performers, and also boasted an indoor tennis court, allegedly the first in the country for what is called "Real Tennis, " as opposed to modern tennis. But the Gullet met a sad end- there was a fire in 1744 which caused significant damage, it went up for sale in 1785 and it finally closed in 1794.
Curiously, there is an engraving dated 1830 (or 1839 depending on whether thats just a crack), which predates the Market Vaults, and out dates the Gullet Inn. A delightful relic from the intervening years, possibly even during its time as a chapel.
Meanwhile, in the present day, the cellar beyond the arched area has a few nifty architectural tidbits.
Here's a nifty bend.
Here's a nifty corner arch with seemingly no purpose other than to look like it should be something important without actually being something important. It's kinda like the royal family of corner arches.
Here's a nifty photo, giving you an overall vibe for the rest of the cellar.
Delivery doors are an expected feature. This one comes out on Gullet Passage.
There's this wonderful archway indicative of a former doorway.
My guide then took me upstairs, which was oddly homely. This place had been an inn, so the upstairs rooms were of course formerly accomodation. Some of them are still flats, which makes me feel somewhat guilty for that time I sat on the roof all those years ago during the flag tower rooftopping adventure.
Eep!!
Prior to being The Gullet Inn, the building was owned by the Shutte family as far back as the 14th Century. However the Shutte's themselves can be traced back as far as 1219, when their name was Schitte. The Schittes specialized, as you can guess, in the removal of night soil. But over the passing years, the Schittes became the Shuttes and became renouned weapons makers. The premises actually expanded from the street named Shoplatch up to the square. The name "Shoplatch" even derives from "Shutte's Place."
Lady Sarah, a young deceased girl said to still haunt the Hole in the Wall, is a descendant of the Shutte family, according to the Shropshire archives.
Some of the original stone walls of Shuttes Place are still visible at the Hole in the Wall, incorporated into the buildings current design. Most of it you can see for yourself at the back of the public area, but some of it extends to the roof!
In the staff areas, there was this lovely little fireplace, no doubt a relic from the Inn days.
There were two upstairs bits that weren't really being used. The Graffiti room was a curiosity, as nobody has any idea who scribbled on the walls here in crayon, and while the likelihood seemed former staff members, some of it seemed awfully child like.
"My teacher is horrible."
"Hannah is my favourite cousin."
Another little upstairs room had a little chair, some kind of wardrobe, evidence of shelves, a dusty toilet, and a reasonable supply of avian schitte but what was fascinating was that the window overlooking the stairs looks as though it should be an exterior window. I happened to get this thought throughout the tour, the likelihood being that several buildings have over the course of time been amalgamated into the current one. The modern day Hole in the Wall is itself an amalgamation of two public houses, mashed together and opened in its modern incarnation in 1985.
And of course, one wasn't going to leave these upstairs bits without taking a higher-than-everybody shot of Gullet Passage.
I have a funny feeling I've taken shots of Gullet Passage before, from the rooftops opposite, during my climb to the flag tower on the point where Pride Hill and Shoplatch meet, but I can't find these pictures anywhere.
Was this the end of the tour? For the time being. However in the cellar, I was shown a very literal hole in the wall, which I was told connected to a secret blocked off cellar no longer accessible, but because the staff knew how much I'd love to see it, they agreed to let me venture in!
This was really exciting behind the scenes stuff! Not even Hole in the Wall staff venture down here anymore. They can't. It's blocked off! By the time you read this it will be blocked off again. In all my years exploring I have only ever utilized existing openings, and never forced entry, so it was a first for me to actually be able to take a screwdriver to the barricade so that my guide and I could pry our way into this health & safety nightmare. She said I could go first, and I completely failed at masking my enthusiasm.
*Cue dramatic music*
It can't really be overstated how cool it was of the staff to let me do this, and accompany me. While I'm perfectly happy poking around these death traps that are abandoned buildings, my guide was a truly outside her comfort zone, yet bravely pursuing me into this unknown little world. It was her adventure as much as mine. She was no longer a guide, but an accomplice!
Plenty of cigarette ends for a place inaccessible to humanity...
It's barely even noticable what with the decay and the camera quality, but here are a set of steps that once led up to Gullet Passage.
Possible remnants of shelves.
Stairs to the unexplored ground floor. Underneath them is a lawnmower sign.
And here is the mighty water trough of Hole in the Wall myth and legend! What's it doing in the cellar of a public house? We had no idea!
Tunnel enthusiasts will like this next bit.
If that was a tunnel, then just so you know it points paralel to the square, in the direction of the Music Hall. But to be honest, it looks more like an old fireplace to me, but I'm no expert. It was clearly something though!
Here's the actual "Hole in the wall" that I mentioned, awarding us a peephole into the cellar of the actual pub.
On the rim of the trough were some cards, one of which had "Steve Taylor" written on it.
We finally ventured upstairs to the abandoned ground floor.
Here we have the front door of what we later learned was once an ironmonger / hardware store called Honeychurch. Honeychurch seems to have been around as early as the 1950s, maybe even earlier, and closed allegedly around the 1980s. A few people I've spoken to have named a few other shops it could have been and as my associate pointed out, there were coat hangers, size cubes and a little area that would have made an adequate fitting room, indicative of a clothes shop. However, it's latest incarnation before closing was Frazers, a card shop.
When the Hole in the Wall had amalgamated with the second pub, some of their spare bits and bobs were put in here for storage, it seems, and then forgotten about.
There's this rather adorable alien toy, which I failed to recognise from any toy franchise I know of.
The alcove in the wall here is actually facing Pockets, a shop on the square.
This window is also facing Pockets.
Old pub tables.
Scuttling up to the first floor, we discovered natural light! And with the increase in photons through the optic nerve came an increased awareness of bird faeces around us.
The upstairs room had a wash basin and a load of leftovers from Frazers glory days, including the old shop sign propped neatly against the fireplace.
One more floor awaited, and it was a bird poop bonanza! And I was probably inhaling bird poop fumes. But one thing struck me! This room seemed almost symetrical to the upstairs room of the Hole in the Wall, complete with toilet room and everything... Oh God that's vile...
But it's probably still in better condition than the ones in some Shrewsbury nightclubs. I'll say probably, because I don't want to suggest that I've ever actually set foot in one of those nightclubs and found out for sure.
Near the toilet my associate pointed out this dead bird.
Quite mysteriously, there was once a door on the stairs leading to parts unknown. I'd love to know whats beyond there but I'll think it'll take more than a screwdriver and a tenacious explorer / barmaid team up.
And that's what The Hole in the Wall looks like behind closed doors. And in this case, behind barricaded doors to secret stairways.
It's very awesome to live in Shrewsbury, with all its historical nuggets. But just because one is happy perusing that which is forgotten and abandoned by humanity, that does not mean I'm detached from humanity itself. Shrewsbury has a lot of history, but the people who are there today are part of its history, with every story and eccentricity. And it has this wonderful community vibe that has allowed a random explorer a chance to glimpse something few people will ever see, and hats off to the Hole in the Wall staff for permitting it. Hats off to my guide-turned-accomplice for knowing her schitte. You know what I went in for originally? Jack Daniels & coke, with a side of curly fries. By the time the tour was done the fries were cold, and it totally didn't matter.
I strongly recommend this place if you're ever in Shrewsbury. Good food, good atmosphere, and if you're reeeeaaally lucky, you might run into me, because I'm totally more likely to drink where I feel welcome.
As a final note, I did later check out the clothes shop behind the Hole in the Wall, Jaeger. The staff there were very pleasant, and we ended up having a detailed discussion about the shops relation to the whole thing. While the interior of Jaeger has been very much revamped, a few historical bits and bobs give its age away. Apparently this was the Judges house, back when court ws held in the square. Not only that but the walls between Jaeger and the Hole in the Wall that on quiet days they can even hear people in the Hole in the Wall, and even smell the food. But the most intriguing bit was definitely this lovely archway very close to the ground, which they very kindly moved the clothing display away from so that I could photograph it.
The archway is too low down to be a fireplace, and the brickwork at the back is totally different to the brickwork of the frame, and if one looks closely, the floor was clearly added at a later date too. I have a theory that this may have been a descending slope or stairway, and given that it's at the back of the store and directly behind the Hole in the Wall, it was likely connected. Since this was the judges house, this is fairly reasonable evidence for the debtors prison rumour.
While I was there a customer also said that the building used to have a tunnel that went beneath the square. If there's any truth to that then there are implications of a greater passage network. The Music Halls square-facing cellar is only about eight feet beneath square level, and doesn't go beneath the square. However, I am reasonably sure that the Music Hall tunnels connected to the Princess Street tunnels, which do indeed point towards the square.
Of course, this is pure speculation at this stage, but I'm becoming pretty convinced.
Meanwhile, if you have any stories about this place, or any of the other places I've blogged about, please get in touch. You can follow me over on Instagram, twitter, and you can friend me on Facebook.
Thank you for reading. Stay awesome.
Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteLove it, fantastic! I was captivated by the pics & info!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much
Helen
Wonderful pictures and glimpses of our towns history . Thank you
ReplyDelete