The re-birth of a Village Shop in Sulgrave was a broadly based community project. A large number of villagers were involved in the conversion of the old building, and a large volunteer base is now operating it. This is a very successful example of the conversion of an otherwise redundant listed building, now owned and valued by the community. The building contractors were Hannan Laing.
The Village Shop team have ambitions to develop further the marketing of locally grown foods and other locally sourced products.
Click here for Sulgrave Village Shop's own website. |
A short history of the building that now houses the shop appeared in “Sulgrave – the Chronicles of a Country Parish”, an account of a village appraisal carried out in 1991:
The Old School (now usually known as the Reading Room) was built by John Hodges in 1720 as a charity school for ten poor scholars; the datestone includes the initials H I M, for John and his wife Mary (in those days J was normally written as I). The thatch was replaced by blue Bangor slates in the 1890s. The walls are of random rubble. The original gables have stone parapets, with rounded corbels, kneelers and finials. The fine sundial above the door was restored in the 1950s. The building served as a school until a new one was built in 1822. After a period of disuse it was used as a cycle-shop by the owner of Wisteria Cottage. It now accommodates the village Billiard Club and serves as the meeting-room of Sulgrave Parish Council. |
