Anniversary of a sad 14-day sale at hotel

This weekend was the anniversary of an incredible but very sad sale at The Lion Hotel.

Exactly 232 years ago the Shrewsbury inn, pictured below, held an auction which lasted an amazing 14 days.

The reason was that the owner of the hotel, solicitor John Ashby, who was Mayor of Shrewsbury and town clerk from 1767 until his death 12 years later, had died in debt.

On Friday, October 8, 1779, a grand sale was held of all the owner’s goods, including a ‘considerable’ cellar, to help pay off his bills.

A magnificent sales catalogue, printed by the Shrewsbury firm of Eddowes, provides a detailed picture of a well-stocked inn and survives in the Chancery Masters’ Exhibits, giving the names of purchasers and prices paid.

The sales catalogue gave an insight into The Lion, which listed kitchens, servants’ hall and quarters, parlours, larders, callers and butler’s pantry plus 10 chambers, five lodging rooms, three dining rooms, the Assembly Room, card and coffee rooms adjoining and two bars. There was even a small fire engine kept in the garden.

The town and country gentry enjoyed the social occasion and the rich pickings from the sale, which raised £1,508 from furnishings and £376 from the sale of Ashby’s extensive library, but that was nowhere near enough to pay off the debts.

According to the London Gazette, £9, 222 was then realised by the sale of Ashby’s personal estate.

But more money was needed so Ashby’s manor at Yockleton was sold for £12,000 and The Lion and some of the adjoining premises including Sycamore House, the octagonal building at the rear of the hotel which Ashby had left in his will to his wife and which can still be seen today, were sold for £1,000 to Shrewsbury stationer John Bishop.

Local historian Rev Hugh Owen, who had been minister of St Julian’s since 1791 and who had the inn in his parish, said: “As long as Mr Ashby lived, The Lion was esteemed one of the most comfortable as well as most handsome large inns in England.

He said that when Mr Ashby died there were “involved circumstances” from the “expense he had incurred in the building and management of this inn, with a general, liberal, elegant and hospitable manner of life.”

There’s more about John Ashby’s story in Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury. To buy a signed copy for £5 plus postage email John@jbutterworth.plus.com