This is another drawing by my uncle, Eddie Parker. It shows the building in Frankwell, Shrewsbury, that I remember as the Co-op. However, according to Historic Buildings In Art, a web site devoted to the work of William Albert Green (mostly pen and ink drawings), the building was originally built in 1576 by John Worrall as two houses.
For some time it was an inn that went under various names, notably ‘The String of Horses‘. Part of the building became a Co-operative Store after a fire in 1912. It was dismantled around 1971 to make way for the Frankwell roundabout, but was rebuilt at the Avoncroft Museum at Bromsgrove. (I’ve been promising myself a visit to the museum for years but never made it yet.)
Shrewsbury Museums Service has a photograph of the building here, and there’s a drawing by William Green here, one of a number of his Shrewsbury drawings. As a former resident of Ludlow, I like his drawings of our little town, too, but it seems he drew subjects from all over England and Wales.
I suppose for consistency with similar posts on this site I ought to include a photo of the roundabout to show what the area looks like now, but as I live in Cornwall and don’t get to Shropshire much these days, it probably isn’t going to happen.
David Harley
Small Blue-Green World
