Tudor House Museum

About the museum

Tudor House is a timber-framed building erected around 1520 on Friar Street, which the museum describes as Worcester’s oldest street. It began as three separate dwellings, home and workshop to weavers, carpenters, a baker and later a solicitor’s widow. Part of the building was used for brewing for some 500 years and was known as the Cross Keys tavern from at least the 1700s. It was later a hairdresser’s shop and a chip shop.

In the early 1900s Richard Cadbury restored the building, joined the three properties together and ran the Tudor Coffee House there, offering inexpensive food to poorer people in the area. Worcester Corporation bought the house in 1921, and over the following decades it served as a school clinic and dentist, and in the Second World War as an air raid warden’s post and billeting office. A Museum of Local Life used the building from the 1970s until 2003.

In 2004 the Worcester Heritage & Amenity Trust took on the lease and opened Tudor House Museum, at first run by volunteers without public funding. Since 2008 the lease has been held by Worcester Municipal Charities on the trust’s behalf under a 999-year agreement. Admission is free, and the museum depends on donations and volunteers.

Highlights

• Timber-framed house from about 1520 on Friar Street
• Tudor Rooms with what the museum calls the only remaining original embossed ceiling in Worcester
• Victorian kitchen and tavern rooms
• Coffee shop with vintage china, in the former Cadbury coffee house
• Rat Trail and other activities for children

Permanent exhibitions

• Tudor Rooms – Period rooms on the first floor of the 16th-century house, including the Tudor Room with an original embossed ceiling.
• Victorian kitchen and tavern – Ground-floor rooms showing everyday life in the house in the Victorian period, together with its past as a tavern.

Founded

2004

Operated by

Worcester Heritage & Amenity Trust

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Admission is free for all ages and donations are welcome. Events, workshops, out-of-hours tours, school and group visits and craft activities have their own prices.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: not available
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The museum is a Grade II* listed building with steps and stairs, and there is no lift to the first floor. The entrance corridor and courtyard are level, there is a ramp into the coffee shop, and the tavern and Victorian kitchen are level. Visitors who cannot manage the stairs can ask for a folder describing the Tudor Rooms, which staff set out in the coffee shop with a free tea or coffee. Chairs are provided in every room, magnifying viewers are available on request, and a torch is available if the lighting is a problem. The accessible toilet on the courtyard is a large unisex room with handrails. Assistance dogs are welcome and water is provided. Friar Street is mostly flat and partly pedestrianised, with a kerb outside the museum. The nearest car park with disabled bays is the Cathedral multi-storey.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Hands-on stations
• Stroller-friendly
• Baby changing facilities

Children can dress up and play games. The Rat Trail (£2) guides younger visitors round the house, and a free hide-and-seek activity for under-fives involves counting knitted rats. Craft packs are available in school holidays, with themed family activities on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in the summer holidays. High chairs, buggy parking and baby changing are provided, staff can warm baby milk or food on request, and breastfeeding and bottle feeding are welcome throughout.

Getting there & parking

The museum is on Friar Street in the centre of Worcester.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop

The coffee shop serves teas, coffees, soft drinks, light lunches, toasted teacakes, scones and cakes on vintage china; gluten-free crumpets and oat milk are available on request. The shop sells souvenirs, toys, books, postcards and tea cosies knitted by volunteers.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Private parties
• Weddings / ceremonies

Up to 40 guests.

The first-floor Tudor Room seats up to 40 and is hired for exhibitions, talks and events (exhibition hire £30 plus VAT per week). The whole building can be hired for private events (£150 plus VAT from 09:00 to 17:00 or £200 plus VAT from 16:00 to 23:00), and a meeting space costs £60 per half day. Wedding receptions can be discussed with the museum.

Plan your visit