Tucked into a 14th-century building, Greenfields Gunmakers has sat on Milford Street for 64 years.

Today, the business is the only place within Wiltshire where gunsmiths work out of a high street shop. The next nearest combined shop and gunsmith workshop is nearly 100 miles away in Oxfordshire.

Gabriella Gowman, who has worked at Greenfields for 13 years, said: “It’s handy because we’ve got on-site gunsmiths which a lot of gun shops don’t have now, so we can carry out the repairs ourselves.”

The skill of gunsmithing is unique in that there is still no formal system of education or certification for it in the UK. Learning the trade remains a very informal affair, with new generations learning from the old in an old-fashioned apprenticeship system.

The gun shop sees customers from all over the world, as it's easier to buy a gun in the UK than try to personally import one’s own.

The location’s history as Greenfields Gunmakers began in 1960 when Kenneth Greenfield left the London gun shop he had inherited from his father for literally greener pastures, setting up business in Salisbury to take advantage of the potential market in the surrounding rural area. In 1997, ownership of the business was handed over to longtime employee Alan Pike, who had started working at the shop as a young man in the 1970s. Alan remains in charge to this day.

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The gun shop has expanded over the decades, taking over neighbouring parts of the building and smashing down more modern walls, bringing back together parts of the large building that were all one when it was constructed centuries ago.

According to British History Online, the home of Greenfields Gunmakers was originally known as The Bolehall within the Black Horse Chequer. Much of the building was replaced in the 17th and 18th centuries, but the roof is believed to date back to 1319, when the building was first mentioned in surviving documents, when Philip Aubyn, who served as city coroner in 1303, transferred the building to Henry Borry, who served as mayor of Salisbury in 1323. This would make the structure one of the oldest domestic buildings in Salisbury.

Alan said a great deal was learnt about the building following renovations over the past few years.

He said: “We uncovered things that we didn’t know were there. The building next door, which was bought in 2016- that was an eye opener with what we found.

“It’s been great to really put it back- to bring to the surface its character.”