Old House Hereford - Museum

The Old House is one of Hereford's most striking landmarks, a magnificent black and white timber-framed building that stands marooned in the centre of High Town, the city's main pedestrian square. Built in 1621 as part of a row of butchers' shops known as Butchers' Row, it is the sole survivor of the terrace, which was demolished in 1816. Its jettied upper storeys, ornate gables and richly carved beams make it one of the finest examples of Jacobean domestic architecture in the country.

Inside, the building operates as a free museum furnished in the style of a 17th-century merchant's home. Visitors can explore three floors arranged across the kitchen, hall and bedchambers, each laid out with period oak furniture, four-poster beds, pewter and ceramics that evoke daily life in early Stuart Hereford. Interpretation panels explain the building's history as a working shop, a bank, and eventually a museum gifted to the city by Lloyds Bank in 1929.

The Old House sits at the heart of Hereford's compact shopping streets, a short walk from Hereford Cathedral and the Mappa Mundi. It makes for an engaging stop of around an hour, particularly for those interested in vernacular architecture and the social history of the Welsh Marches.