ROW NINETEEN - WRESTLER'S ROW *1
(Not mentioned
in Johnson's Notebook)
Row no. nineteen from George Street to Church Plain
was called Wrestler's Row, because it led directly to the ancient Wrestler's Inn.
Early in the seventeenth century this house was called "Thirkell's",
but as far back as 1691 it was known as the Wrestler's and then extended westwards
as far as Middlegate Street. (as it was originally called, later to be
Charlotte Street, now called George
Street.)
This being so, the Wrestler's must have been included
within the space between rows nineteen and twenty One, which was in 1906 part
of the brewery, and in 1989 the
Tesco's Supermarket Store.
If the eastward part of this
space on Swinden's map is indeed Thirkell's or the Wrestler's, then it appears
to be a dormy house or annexe, with a garden behind it on the west side. The
further west end of the area between these two rows seems to be
taken up with a rabbit warren of very small dwellings. The premises of the
Wrestlers had previously belonged to Daniel
Tills and John Albert Hendrick,
subsequently to Joseph Partridge, Robert Newman and Samuel Meadow.*1 Part of
the Wrestler's was reconverted in Palmer's time to a liquor shop, called the
"Anchor of Hope", but this was the part fronting Brewery plain and is
to be seen on the photograph. There was
also a spirit store in the brewery facing onto brewery plain, but this
of course was not a retail outlet. The 1943 photo also shows the offices of the
brewery, which by then look quite different to the 1700 or 1894 frontage, which
we are privileged to be able to view. Whether the "Anchor of Hope"
was Yerrell's or Woodcock's warehouse I do not know.
The Occupants, Row Nineteen
In 1886 and later, there were no occupants, as the
brewery was here.
In the Row
Survey of 1936 it says- "Rows 16, 17, 18, 19, do not exist, having been
absorbed into Lacon's Brewery Business".