Woman's bid to save house where mum died in fire

The daughter of a woman who died in a fire at a 14th Century town house has launched an appeal to raise £500,000 to save the damaged property.

The blaze claiming the life of Rose Roberts, 81, broke out at Grade II listed Perches House in Shrewsbury on Tuesday.

The building - known to many as Scrooge's office from the 1984 movie adaption of A Christmas Carol - was restored by Roberts over a number of decades.

Her daughter Jessica Richards, who had an office in the building, said on her crowdfunding page that £100,000 was needed to stabilise and secure the structure before any restoration work could begin.

She described the building as "an irreplaceable part of Shrewsbury's history" which could be lost forever.

She said preserving Perches House had been her mother's life's work from when she moved there at the age of 37.

"Without her, this house simply would not have survived," Richards said.

Due to "complex circumstances entirely beyond my mother's control", the house was not covered by insurance, she added.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service is still investigating the cause of the fire, but Richards said it appeared to have started in her mother's room on the ground floor.

She said the blaze had completely destroyed the roof and the oak staircase, adding the upper floors had been saturated by water, putting them at risk of collapse.

Drawing inspiration from her mother's work to restore the building, she said she was determined to rebuild Perches House and eventually re-open it to the public.

Richards said any money raised would go towards the emergency stabilisation of the building, plus weatherproofing and then surveys and finally restoration work.

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