Memorials of Shrewsbury / being a concise description of the town and its environs, adapted as a general guide for the information of visitors and residents

by Henry Pidgeon

THE MERCERS’ HALL.

Several of the Incorporated Companies originally possessed Halls for holding their meetings and the celebration of their feasts: the former have of late years been held at the Town Hall, and the latter at some of the inns.

About the middle of the street, on the right, is the Unitarian Meeting House (p. [95]), where the poet Coleridge preached in 1798; [149] and a few yards further is the “Sextry” passage, or (as it is called in our provincialism) a “shut.” This originally communicated with St. Chad’s church-yard by a covered passage, and derived its name from the sacristy of the church, which is supposed to have stood within it. An old building, now the “Golden Cross,” appears to have been a tavern as early as the year 1495, for in the archives of the corporation is the charge of 13s. 2d. “for wine spent on the king’s gentlemen in the Sextrie.” Its gloomy and confined situation proves how little our unpolished ancestors regarded accommodation or prospect when they were enjoying the pleasure of a jovial carouse.

The ancient stone building at the extremity of the street was in times past occupied as the