Shuts of Shrewsbury No 20 - Gullet Passage

Shoplatch - The Square

Gullet Passage is one of the better known and used passages in Shrewsbury and connects The Square to Shoplatch. We start our short photo journey halfway down The Square from the Music Hall, on the left hand side. Nestling in the corner here is the top entrance to the Gullet Passage.



I say "top entrance" because the passage does slope down towards Shoplatch and there are some steps at this entrance. The name Gullet comes from the old English word "golate" which means stream, as there was once a stream which ran down from The Square (which was once the site of a bog, before it was drained and covered) towards the River Severn via Gullet Passage, under what is now the Market Hall and down Barker Street. There was also a "Gullet Inn" along this passage during the 19th Century.



The "Hole in the Wall" public house is at the bottom of the passage and has its main entrance now on Shoplatch. The passage meanders around this pub. The passage emerges on Shoplatch next to the Nat West bank.



Nat West is technically on Mardol Head and the passage is the boundary between Mardol Head and Shoplatch. Opposite the entrance is Mardol House, one of the two large buildings that make up the new(ish) Market Hall. This is now the only shut that connects this part of town to The Square - Plough Shut once did (but is now a dead end) and Drayton's Passage now diverts to Market Street instead.

History of the Shut

Here is an old rhyme that features Gullet Passage:


Don't you know the muffin man?
Don't you know his name?
Don't you know the muffin man,
That lives down our lane?
All round the Butter Cross
Up and down St.Giles'
Up and down the Gullet Shut
And call at Molly Miles'.

(Molly Miles was the landlady of the Gullet Inn)

thought you might like this from mythstories site.