The Kings Arms, Silver Street painting by W W Wheatley
Within our collection we have a series of over 30 illustrations and watercolours by the artist W W Wheatley. Before we dive in to the background of the artist, the subject matter of this particular painting is one that often causes confusion.
The name ‘Kings Arms’ usually brings to mind the pub on Court Street. This causes some confusion for researches as that pub only gained it’s name after the demolition of the original 16th century pub of the same name. The Court Street pub, originally called The Scribbling Horse, changed its name to The Kings Arms to capitalise on the vacant, prestigious title.
History of the Kings Arms Silver Street
The Kings Arms in our painting refers to the original inn of that name. From the 1500s through the early 19th century, it was the principal coaching inn for Trowbridge. It was built as a timber-framed, 16th-century coaching inn. Due to it’s age (the Tudor period), it would have featured low-beamed ceilings, wattle-and-daub walls, and large open hearths. It was a crucial commercial headquarters as it’s location on Silver Street put it in a prime spot in the booming woollen town. During its heyday, Silver Street was a core hub for traders and travellers coming into the market town. It served as the central stop for mail coaches and passenger carriages traveling across Wiltshire, linking Trowbridge to major trade routes like Bristol, Bath, and London.
The arrival of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway in 1848 spelled the demise of the coaching inns. Following The Kings Arms closure in around 1860, the grand old structure was largely altered, subdivided, or demolished to make way for Victorian commercial high-street shops. The image below shows part of the remaining building in 1886. If you look carefully you can see the original pitched timber for the windows through the open roof.
Who Was W. W. Wheatley?
William Walter Wheatley was an English topographical artist and watercolourist. His origins, and much of his life, has been shrouded in mystery. Wheatley is generally recorded as having been born in Bristol in 1811 but his own estimates for date of birth range from 1804 to 1811 in his census records. It is the latter, from the 1881 census, which appears on his death certificate giving his age at death as 74.
He wasn’t a gallery painter who did grand, dramatic landscapes to sell to London aristocrats. Instead, he was an antiquarian illustrator. His life’s work was documenting the streets, cottages, ancient churches, manor houses, and historic old inns of Wiltshire and Somerset. He was incredibly prolific, producing more than 1,500 highly detailed drawings and watercolours. It is thanks to Wheatley that we have such a wonderful range of images of the town from the mid-1800s.
