About the Firm:

History of Irelands Mansion

Ireland's Mansion was built in 1575, in the reign of Elizabeth I. Her reign saw the construction of many of Shrewsbury's well-known buildings, including the Market Hall and Council House. Many of the timber-framed mansions which survive today were also built, for example Owen's Mansion (1592) and Rowley's House (1595) and of these Irelands Mansion was the earliest .

Like many such buildings in the town, Irelands Mansion was built by a local draper - the drapers were extremely wealthy and powerful merchants who traded in woollen cloth.

A Draper's Mansion

In the 16th Century the most important cash commodity was wool. Wool production had hitherto been concentrated on the great monastic estates, but these were divided up and sold during the Reformation,  and after the break with Rome the Italian bankers also departed. This left a gap, and it was the lawyers and merchants who had the ready money to buy the land taken from the monasteries who soon took over the marketing of wool and cloth. Local merchants with links to London and Wales did especially well.

Shrewsbury was in a prime location to lead the way in the new wool trade, being on the border with  Wales where much of the wool was produced, and on the banks of the river Severn, which allowed goods to be transported by boat.

The new prosperity brought to Shrewsbury meant that new buildings were built, buildings of such quality that they could survive to the present day. Irelands Mansion was the earliest of the buildings erected by the new wool merchants which still survives.