We had a delightful evening at Great Oxenbold in May last year.  Great Oxenbold is a farmhouse in the parish of Monkhopton and is the home of Rachel and Tom Barker.  Madge Moran, Shropshire’s leading authority on vernacular (ie local domestic) buildings, was our guide on a tour of the house.  It has what must be the oldest wine cellar in Shropshire; using dendrochronology (tree ring measurement) Madge has dated its oak beams to 1247. Built as a country retreat for the Priors of Wenlock, it pre-dates Shrewsbury castle.  

It consists of a hall house above a three bay undercroft with a chapel attached to its east side.  The cellar is the only unblocked part of the undercroft; a spiral stair may once have led to a private chamber.  The original entrance to the house, now blocked, was on the north side and reached by a drawbridge of which only the pivot corbels remain.  Stripping away the paper and plaster from the doorway revealed a pottager, used to keep soups and stews warm - common in northern France, but rare in English farmhouses.  The chapel is now a store behind the kitchen and there is little to indicate its original purpose, except for an aumbry, a piscina and three lancet windows under a corbel table in its north wall.

John Leonard (Trustee), Madge Moran,

Madge Moran showing us around the farmhouse at Great Oxenbold

After our tour around the farmhouse we enjoyed an appetising selection of cheeses and other goodies, together with the wine.  All in all a great evening.

Our grateful thanks to Rachel and Tom Barker for welcoming us to their home, to Madge Moran and to Stephen and Jackie Winwood and to Diana Radford for organising the event.