Saving Greyfriars: the Moores

Matley Moore Coat of Arms with three black birds, red zig zag on the blue garden gates

After almost 440 years of standing proudly on Friar Street, Greyfriars had fallen into disrepair and in the 1930s was threatened with demolition. Siblings Matley Moore and Elsie Moore, members of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society, offered to restore the house and in return for doing so made it their home. In 1949 Matley, Elsie and their mother, Florence, moved in to Greyfriars. They went in search of furniture and decorative items to suit the house and most of the items acquired are still here today.

John Malcolm Matley Moore, 1897 - 1982

Matley was Excursion Secretary for the Worcestershire Archaeological Society from 1923 to 1969. He became a dental surgeon, serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps in his younger years, and ran his dental practice out of Greyfriars’ north wing.

" The work of preserving this house has been immense: it could not have been done at a worse time for materials and labour and of necessity it has been costly: but if it had been delayed any longer, the building would have been past all care."
- Matley Moore

Florence Elsie Moore, 1900 - 1985

Elsie is responsible for much of the artwork and colours adorning the walls at Greyfriars today. She held keen interests in medieval artwork, heraldry and up-cycling: fashioning lamps out of bedposts, clothes from curtains and more. In the early 1960s she saved the three buildings opposite Greyfriars’ house from demolition.

Elsie Moore's Passport
Elsie Moore
Elsie Moore's Passport