Help Save the House that Rose Re-Built

Aim

A fire killed my mum Rose Roberts and destroyed historic Perches House in Shrewsbury. This campaign aims to save it and mum's legacy.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a devastating fire claimed the life of my mum, Rose Roberts, 81, and catastrophically damaged Perches House — a Grade II* listed, four-storey 14th-century town house at the heart of Shrewsbury. Perches House was my mum’s home and also home to my own business Shrewsbury Arts & Crafts. Many visitors to Shrewsbury still recognise it as the setting for Scrooge’s office in the 1984 filming of ‘A Christmas Carol’. Mum spent over 40 years saving, restoring and opening this house to the public, for which she was awarded a Civic Award. I am asking for help to stabilise and rebuild the house she dedicated her life to, so her legacy — and an irreplaceable part of Shrewsbury’s history — is not lost forever.

Building Control has confirmed that the house can be saved, but only with immediate and substantial intervention. The shop is still largely intact but smoke damaged. Already, around £100,000 is needed just to stabilise and secure the structure — and this is before any restoration work can even begin.

The Story

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, fire crews were called at around 3.30am to a major fire at Perches House, an historic 14th-century building on Castle Street, in Shrewsbury. Eleven fire engines attended. Despite the extraordinary bravery of the firefighters — who entered conditions beyond what their equipment could safely withstand — my mum, Rose Roberts, tragically lost her life.

Perches House was not just my mum’s home.
 It was her life’s work.

Mum lived there from the age of 37 until she was 81. She spearheaded a campaign to save the building from decline and restored it with care and knowledge and her own hard labour. She secured its Grade II* listed status and was awarded a Civic Award for her work. Without her, this house simply would not have survived.

To me, the house is my mum.
 They are completely intertwined.

From the moment I was born, this was the house she brought me home to. Every room held a lifetime of memories, antiques, artworks, furniture, toys, and objects collected across the world — not just things, but the story of our lives together. Mum even opened the house as a toy museum and ran public tours, sharing her love of history and craftsmanship with the wider community.

Perches House was once one of the great medieval mansions of Shrewsbury — Perches Mansion — as significant as Rowley’s House or Owen’s Mansion. Over centuries it was divided into parts, but Perches House remains the oldest surviving section, a vital piece of the town’s medieval fabric.

The Fire & the Damage

The fire started on the ground floor, in mum’s room and travelled up through the wattle and daub walls and original oak staircase. Witnesses reported hearing a loud explosion, but the cause is still unknown. We all live in a flat on the other side of the street and saw it firsthand including our 8-year-old daughter - it was horrifying not being able to do anything. 

The damage is catastrophic:

• The roof has burned completely through
• The original wide oak staircase running through the house has been destroyed
• Upper floors are saturated with water, tiles and timber are weighing down, putting ceiling at risk of collapse
• Parts of the structure are unstable and have required urgent propping and weatherproofing

From my kitchen, I can see straight through the building to the sky.

Building Control has confirmed that the house can be saved, but only with immediate and substantial intervention. Already, around £100,000 is needed just to stabilise and secure the structure — and this is before any restoration work can even begin.

Perches House was the location of Scrooge's office in the 1984 filming of 'A Christmas Carol' in Shrewsbury featuring George C. Scott

Why We Need Help

At the time of the fire, due to complex circumstances entirely beyond my mother’s control, the house and its contents were left without cover. 

Mum went to renew her insurance last year but was refused. She asked why but wasn’t given a reason. She had always paid on time and had never made any claims. After that refusal, she approached another company, who wouldn’t touch her. Mum had been ill for the past 9 months. Had she been well I am sure we would have sorted it but mum’s health took priority over trying to reinstate the insurance.

That means there is no financial safety net — for the building, for its restoration, or for the loss of my mum’s lifetime of work and my only source of income. The shop frontage at SY1 2BY (Windsor Place) and the private residence at 35A Castle Street are two entrances to the same historic building, and both have been severely affected.

I have lost my beloved mum, my home, my livelihood and a building that holds centuries of Shrewsbury’s history

But I refuse to let this be the end of her story.

Rose’s Legacy — and the Future

Mum could do anything. She wasn’t a qualified architect, but she drew plans, project-managed restorations across Shrewsbury and beyond, and had an instinctive understanding of historic buildings. She believed in craftsmanship, in doing things properly, and in preserving the past for future generations.

I want to rebuild Perches House as her legacy — The House That Rose Rebuilt.

My hope is not just to restore it as a home, but eventually to reopen it to the public once more — as a place of history, art, memory and creativity. Perhaps an art gallery, perhaps a cultural space — but always a living tribute to the woman who saved it once already.

This isn’t just about me.
 It’s about saving one of Shrewsbury’s most important historic buildings.

Perches House during Rose's renovations in the early 1980s

How the Funds Will Be Used

Funds raised will go directly towards:

• Emergency structural stabilisation
• Propping and securing the roof
• Temporary weatherproofing
• Specialist surveys and heritage inspections
• Like-for-like restoration work required for a Grade II* listed building
• Salvaging and conserving what remains of the house and its contents

Every pound helps keep the building standing while we await full reports and permissions.

A Final Thank You

If you are able to donate, share, or simply help spread the word, you are helping to save not only a building — but a story, a legacy, and a piece of Shrewsbury’s soul.

The figure we are currently seeking to raise is at present a ballpark figure. We will be updating this as we have specific information and an estimation of the amount needed to stabilise and rescue this historic building (engineers, scaffold, emergency work, planning, etc). Will will be completely transparent in this and will update our supporters as and when information comes in. 

Let’s build this back - for Rose, for Perches House, for Shrewsbury and our historic heritage. 

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. 

Jess Richards and family

Pictured below: Rose with daughter Jess and granddaughter 

This project successfully funded on 30th April 2026