Ledbury is a market town and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and west of the Malvern Hills.

It has a significant number of timber-framed structures, in particular along Church Lane and High Street. One of the most outstanding is the Market House, built in 1617, located in the town centre. Other notable buildings include the parish church of St. Michael and All Angels, the Painted Room (containing sixteenth-century frescoes), the Old Grammar School, the Barrett-Browning memorial clock tower (designed by Brightwen Binyon and opened in 1896 to house the library until 2015), nearby Eastnor Castle and the St. Katherine's Hospital site. Founded c. 1231, this is a rare surviving example of a hospital complex, with hall, chapel, a Master's House (fully restored and opened in March 2015 to house the Library), almshouses and a timber-framed barn.

Church Lane

Impossibly cute, Church Lane is a cobblestone alley from the Medieval Church of St Michael and All Angels to the famous Market House. It weaves through a ravine of timber-framed houses, some hanging almost precariously over the alley.

Many of Ledbury’s main attractions are in these Tudor and late-Medieval houses, like the Heritage Centre, Butcher’s Row House Museum and the must-see 16th-Century Painted Room. One building not open to the public but sure to stop you in your tracks is the Church House at the upper end. Dating to 1600, this has projecting first and second floors, and the three mullioned windows on the first floor have survived since the start of the 17th century.

At the lower end you can drop by the quaintly named Mrs Muffin’s Tea Shop or the little Prince of Wales Pub.

Market House

Ledbury’s postcard landmark is the timber-framed Market House on the High Street.

Begun in 1617, this oak building has an open market place underneath and an upper storey raised on 16 wooden posts. While the upper floor of market buildings like this were normally used for official purposes as council chambers, Ledbury’s Market House stored corn, hops, wool and acorns for the tanning trade.



On Tuesdays and Saturdays the evocative space under Market House is still used for its intended purpose, and packed with stalls trading fresh produce, arts and crafts and hardware.

16th-Century Painted Room

At the bottom end of Church Lane is one of the oldest timber-framed buildings in Ledbury.

Dating from the 1400s, this historic building contains town council offices, and went through a big restoration starting in 1988. In the course of this work, layers of wallpaper were stripped away in one of the upstairs rooms, revealing wonderful frescoes from the 1560s or 1570s.

These were preserved with the help of English Heritage and are considered the best examples of Elizabethan wall paintings in the country.

The frescoes have patterns taken from Tudor knot gardens and are imitations of the wall hangings and tapestries that would be found in the wealthiest homes of the period.

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