Image Courtesy: Espresso Addict, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
This small timber-framed building was built after the Great Fire of Nantwich which took place in 1583. Like many buildings in Nantwich, it is built at right angles to the street. This is because it’s based on the width of the old burgage plots. This means that it’s a much bigger building than the shop front might suggest.
Th building has had a variety of uses over the years. In the 1896 Kelly’s Directory it was the office of the Nantwich Guardian.
In the Duties on Land Values, carried out around 1910, Mr Racklyeft had a shop there:
Image courtesy of the National Archives, Kew.
The survey tells us that building was “in fair condition” but the roof needs renewing:
Image courtesy of the National Archives, Kew.
This 1913 advert shows George Arthur Racklyeft was a “Complete House Furnisher”:
In 1961 it was occupied by Youngs Chemists:
who also sold farm and garden supplies.
The building was more recently Bridgford’s estate agents.
You can read more about the restoration of this building on John Brough’s A Dabber’s Nantwich website.