77 High Street (formerly listed as The Castle Inn) (EHER 28742)

A historic building survey was conducted in 2019 prior to conversion of the public house. It found that the Castle Inn building had some significant architectural features including the surviving timber framing with ovolo mouldings and carved bracket in the central range, the carved tie beam and former window openings in the west cross wing, the Tudor brick fireplaces, the memento mori wall painting and the diamond mullion window and framing in the east cross wing. It stated that the original form of the building is recognisable despite alterations which obliterated the jettied and gabled southern elevations of the cross wings. The tall brick chimneys with diagonal shafts are also significant and prominent features.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: No 77 High Street (formerly listed as The Castle Inn). House, now public house, of about 1400-1600. RCHM 6. Grade II. <1> Castle Inn is of half H-shaped plan with the wings extending towards the north. It has two original chimney-stacks, one of five shafts set diagonally on a rectangular base and one of three octagonal shafts. Inside the building the middle room has an original moulded ceiling-beam resting at one end on a wall-post with enriched mouldings. The east room has above the fireplace a 17th century painted panel with the verse "The houer Runneth | and T(ime flieth) | As Flower Fadeth | So Man Dieth | Sic transit Gloria | Mundi"; on each side of it is an hour-glass, cherub's head, flower and skull and beyond a pair of crouching lions with swags above. <2> May 2019. Building survey. The building's history is documented from the mid 14th century and was associated with the Abbott family from the 16th century. It makes an significant contribution to the streetscape and Conservation Area as an important example of a timber framed domestic building, parts of which date from the late 14th century. The historic building survey demonstrates that the original form of the building is recognisable despite alterations. The pool room contains a Tudor brick fireplace and painting above as described in the listed building description. The area around the fireplace and the rest of the room has been plastered with modern plaster but there are exposed studs on the east wall including 19th century window sashes on the east and south walls. A partition wall has been removed at the north end of the room and the ceiling beam has been boxed in. The main bar is in the about 1600 middle range with exposed ceiling beams. The axial beam has ovolo mouldings and the west end rests on a massive main post which has ornamental stepped sawtooth carvings and bolection mouldings. The west wall has exposed studs and evidence of a blocked doorway with lower lintel to the south of the existing doorway. The bay window with timber cill in the south wall is a late 20th century insertion as interpreted in the exterior description. There are two 19th century sashes with marginal lights in the south wall, the east one in a former door opening. The fireplace is Tudor brick with chamfered jambs and there is a roughly hewn bressummer with peg holes which may have supported a shelf or have been used for fireplace furniture such as a spit. The hearth is 19th century white brick and the floor is carpeted over concrete. The dining room occupies the ground floor of the late 14th century west cross wing which has a lower ceiling than the main bar. It was formerly three cells but the internal partitions have been removed and the west and north walls appear to have been largely re-built. No timber framing is visible and the studs may not survive. In the South wall there is a 20th century door to the street and a 19th century sash with marginal lights. The two dining areas are separated by open studwork comprising re-used studs set into a concrete rendered plinth with a doorway at the east end. Towards the north end of the west wall is the external chimney. This has a small black 19th century grate with a late 20th century re-modelled surround painted to resemble brickwork. The timber frame of East wall of the room has been removed in the north part of the room to insert a bar and doorway into the rear lobby which is a brick, late 20th century single-storey flat roofed extension. The lobby has been inserted into the return angle of the west cross wing. The lockerooms have exposed beams and they are accessed by a covered walkway which was added in the 20th century. It has a tiled floor, match boarded half-walls and glazed upper walls and roof. It is a lean to structure against the west wall of the east cross wing and a small section of the north wall of the middle range. There is a 20th century half glazed (4 panes) door in the west wall giving access to the courtyard. The basement cellar is accessed via an open tread timber stair adjacent to the staircase leading to the first floor, both stairs situated behind the bar. It is whitewashed, with brick walls and a concrete floor. The ceiling joists and ground floorboards are 20th century replacements but the beam resting on the Southern brick wall (next to the stairs to the first floor) is original. The first floor is the landlord's apartment, comprising a living room, kitchen/dining room, an office, three bedrooms and a bathroom. The living room is the largest room on the first floor, situated above the main bar, and the floor level is higher than the landing (up one step). There is a small Tudor brick fireplace with a modern brick hearth and a painted bressummer. The axial beam is exposed and to the south of the fireplace is a store room with modern ledged and braced door which leads into the kitchen/dining room via another door. The kitchen/dining room in the east cross wing has a late 20th century ledged and braced door and a modern tiled floor. There are kitchen units against the northern and eastern walls but the studs and wall plates are exposed above the wall tiles. No shutter grooves/window lintels were visible. On the north side of the stack is a store room in which the timber frame of the chimney bay is visible. A short corridor on the west side of the east cross wing leads to the bathroom and bedroom. There is a Tudor brick fireplace in the bedroom with canted east and west walls and an ovolo moulded bressummer with fine lambs tongue stops. The tiebeam has a roughly hewn chamfer with run out stops and is supported by massive jowled main posts, the studs and wall plates are exposed on the eastern and southern walls. The eastern wall has a mid 16th century diamond mullion window and the wall plate is chamfered. There is no evidence of shutter grooves but the window was originally unglazed. There are two bedrooms and an office, accessed separately via a corridor, in the west cross wing. They contain exposed timber framing. The roof structure is visible from the attic, confirming that there have been three different builds, the middle range being later in date than the cross wings. The Tudor brickwork of the main stack is exposed and the middle range has a collar rafter roof with clasped, trenched purlins. The floor boards in the middle part of the attic are mainly original. The roof has been under felted beneath the plain tiles in the 20th century and the collars and rafters are exposed. The attic staircase dates from the late 17th century or early 18th century and has its original planked and battened door and original treads and risers. There is a two-storey part added to the northern end of the eastern cross wing in the early 19th century (it is shown on the 1838 Tithe map) and it was further extended west with a single storey store in the later 19th century. It is constructed of red brick with a clay pantile roof and the east part was stabling with a loft over (not examined). This part is now the public house kitchen, kitchen store and crate store. <3> See also: <4> <5>