Former Upper Sun Inn, Welshpool

button-theme-crimeFormer Upper Sun Inn, 10 High Street

The frontage of this timber-framed building is thought to date from c.1600. From 1507 a house on this site was owned by Humphrey Kynaston, known as Wild Humphrey. His mother, Lady Elizabeth Kynaston, may have lived here, and possibly Humphrey himself. Humphrey led a riotous lifestyle, becoming an outlaw. His ability to evade capture earned him a place in folklore. He is said to have lived his last years in Welshpool, after being pardoned by King Henry VIII.

By 1757 this building was a pub called the Upper Sun Inn, after the sun on the Kynaston crest. Later it was used as a lodging house. In the mid-19th century it was again a pub known as the Sun Inn or Sunne Inn. Later that century, the building was divided into two parts with entrances either side of the passage which now forms the porch. The thatched roof may have been replaced with slates at this time.

Many of Welshpool’s timber-framed buildings had been demolished by the 1920s, when this building and the adjacent properties were bought by Miss HE Harrison. She restored the buildings and opened a café here called The Prentice Traders.

Another restoration was carried out in the 1990s by John and Alexandra Spencer, who established a picture-framing studio in the building. In May 2010 Melanie Jenkins opened Cracked Wheat Organics here, selling organic food, skincare and other products.

Cadw, the Welsh Government’s historic monuments body, says the building is of special interest “for the high quality of its decorative framing” and “it represents a very good example of a wealthy urban building of c.1600”.

Postcode: SY21 7JP    View Location Map

Website of Cracked Wheat Organics

Footnotes: Previous occupants
1666 – Rented for £20 per year by Peter Jones on a 99-year lease
1757 – John Edwards became tenant of the inn
1839 – Thomas Edwards was the Sunne Inn’s landlord
1927 – Miss HE Harrison opened a café called The Prentice Traders
1958 – Bought by FW Hughes & Sons and run as a restaurant, still called The Prentice Traders
1965 – Bryan and Anne Gotto opened a shop selling Welsh crafts and art materials, again called The Prentice Traders
1994 – John and Alexandra Spencer moved their picture-framing business here from Severn Street, renaming the shop Framework Studios