"A Remedy for All Ills?" The Medicines Your Gt Grandmother Would Have Used

With Valerie White and Barbara Depledge

During the day you will learn about the extraordinary story of how a remarkable Tudor timber framed building was used by Samuel Johnson, “The Disease Specialist of Wrinehill”, and founder of the family business, for the manufacture and distribution of patent medicines. The business lasted for nearly a century, from 1870 to 1969. Based on written sources and artefacts from the Johnson Archive, given to the Blackden Trust for safekeeping by the descendants of Samuel Johnson, the day provides an opportunity to find out more about the man, the products and the building, which, after the Johnsons’ ownership, came to be called the Old Medicine House.

Participants will discover about the medicinal plants that arrived with the house and are now growing in the Herb Garden. They will be visiting the “Factory” where remedies were made and packaged, and learn more about Samuel Johnson and how he developed the famous “Staffordshire Cure-All”. They will also discover whether or not the remedies actually worked and why!

A buffet lunch will be provided (Please contact us at contact@theblackdentrust.org.uk if you have special dietary requirements)