Fact File

Francis Woolfe, the owner of the barn, was presented with a silver tankard and plate by Charles 11 after the Restoration.

Woolfe's Barn

It was here in Madeley, that the future King Charles 11 was given safe refuge by Francis Woolfe prior to his flight to Boscobel House and to the eventual safety of France, after fleeing the battlefield of Worcester in 1651. The battle had brought to an end the bloody and ignominious English Civil Wars and with it the demise of the Royalist cause.

Standing in this quiet street nowadays, you can almost hear the sound of iron on stone as the hooves of Cromwell's horses echoed in the still morning air as Roundheads scoured the locality for fleeing royalists.

Had fate not been kind to our fugitive, the restoration of the monarchy might never have happened - no Merry Monarch or Nell Gwynne for history to recount.

As you gaze at the building and dwell on its past, you cannot help but recall the final words of the poem, The Listeners, by Walter de la Mare:

'And how the silence surged softly backwards, when the plunging hooves were gone'.

Written by Colin Ayling © 2007