Description

SHREWSBURY

SJ4912NW CASTLE GATES 653-1/11/153 (West side) 10/01/53 Library (Formerly Listed as: CASTLE GATES (West side) Museum and Library)

GV I

Library, formerly Shrewsbury Grammar School. 2 phases, one dated 1595, the other dated 1630. Coursed and squared rubble, with roof not visible behind parapet. PLAN: main entrance range, with tower at angle, and gabled cross range beyond to right. EXTERIOR: entrance block of 1630, 3 storeys, 5-window range with central shallow segmental archway with fluted Corinthian columns on high bases. 2 male figures stand on the columns, with inscriptions in Greek beneath and between them, and the date. Four 2-light chamfered mullioned windows each side to ground floor, 4-light mullioned and transomed windows over, and on top storey, 2- and 3-light mullioned windows, one cut by carved Royal Arms with lion and unicorn. String courses are Greek motifs, each different. Parapet which sweeps up into fleur-de-lys finials. Decorated window in gable end, lighting principal room within. Massive sundials etched onto stonework on each facade. Tower to the right, 6 unequal stages, with blocked door to ground floor, then mullioned windows of 2 and 3 lights, one to each stage, lighting stair within. Clock in upper stage. Embattled parapet with pinnacles. Earlier gabled range to left dated 1595. Principal room at first-floor level, with wide Decorated-style window. Smaller mullioned and transomed window to lower storey, and date stone with inscription recording David Lloyd and Thomas Lewis. Chamfered segmentally-arched doorway and narrow window in the lowest stage. INTERIOR: cambered trusses. In the earlier block, the main hall has been extensively modified, and the ceiling, with moulded tie beams and traceried decoration, is a C19 alteration.

Listing NGR: SJ4937012803

External Links

• Shrewsbury Library at Wikipedia
• Shrewsbury Library official website
• Wikidata Q7503684

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]