The Golden Cross is reputed to be the oldest licensed Public House in Shrewsbury, but records show that it was used as an inn as far back as 1495, some 56 years before the introduction of formal licensing. Its original name was the SEXTRY, so called because it was originally the SACRISTRY of Old St. Chad's Church (the ruins of which can still be seen over the road in Princess Street).
The Sacristry was where the church plate and vestments were kept, and it also provided lodgings for a church officer known as the Sacristan. Similarly the original name of Golden Cross Passage was SEXTRY SHUT, and here were the lodgings of the Vicars Choral of St. Chad's. In 1933 a couple of timber framed archways were discovered which a local archaeologist dated back to the time of Henry III (1216 - 1272), but these had apparently been covered by a later building which some unknown authority has assigned to 1428. The Sacristry was connected to the church by a covered passageway, probably to provide shelter for the Vicars Choral as they processed to their midnight offices in the church. The passageway was subsequently demolished, and the present Princess Street now cuts across its path.
The earliest surviving record for the inn is a Bailiffs' Account for 1495, which shows that the sum of 13s.2d (66p in modern currency) was spent on 'The King's gentlemen in sextre at the comyng home of Mr Prynce from London'. It is not certain who the important 'Mr Prynce' was, but there may be a connection between him and the name 'Princess Street', as earlier spellings of the name show it as 'Princes Street'.
The first known licensee of the inn appears in 1619, when the Bailiffs' Account mentions a lawsuit between John Cleve of the Sextry and his father-in-law John Price of the Pheasant in Mardol (another part of Shrewsbury town centre).
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