Swan Hotel (EHER 38348)

A late 14th century timber framed public house and hotel, with a late 16th century inserted floor and early 19th century rear extension. The building has pebbledash render and gabled plain tile roofs. It is on a complex plan, comprising primarily of a hall house with two cross wings and rear extensions on both wings. The building is two storeys with a cellar. It was extensively renovated in 1990, during which an early 19th century replacement hipped roof was restored in general form to its current gable.

October 1951. Grade II* listed. A late 14th century timber framed public house and hotel, with a late 16th century inserted floor and early 19th century rear extension. The building has pebbledash render and gabled plain tile roofs. It is on a complex plan, comprising primarily of a hall house with two cross wings and rear extensions on both wings. The building is two storeys with a cellar. The front range has two gables with hall range of original ridge height but with narrow-span parallel front roof providing two-storey eaves height on the frontage. The gables are of early 20th century construction with barge-boards and applied timber-framing, the of the north-west wing having machine-made tiles. The first floor of this north-west wing has an early 20th century window. The first floor of the south-east gable has a similar window and the centre range has a pair of semicircular-headed French windows. There is a painted timber balcony in from of the French windows, in the centre of the front elevation, which is mounted on substantial timber posts. The ground floor of both wings has early 19th century windows and a canted bay window underneath the balcony. There are two similar entrance doors, one approached by two stone steps and the other, further downhill, approached by three stone steps. Both have wrought-iron handrails with boot scrapers. The front range is a late 14th century timber framed building of some quality, clearly designed to occupy a restricted urban site. The use of unjowled posts, double pegging of the floor joists and adorsed ogee mouldings is very similar to front block of the Blue Boar Hotel, Silver Street (EHER 7740), and is perhaps by the same carpenter. The hall is of two bays with a very narrow low-end bay and is substantially complete above the inserted late 16th century floor. In the rear (north-east) wall is a fireplace, one flank of which has a mixture of brick and reused 12th century rubble. Also in the rear is a door with a four-centred head which leads under a 'gallery' to the parlour in the north-west wing. The south-east cross-wing has an intruded cross-passage with speres to the hall and formerly with contemporary hood over the front door. It is of four bays, the front two retaining the original service-door heads and with much repaired studwork and wall bracing. The front room was originally a shop and its original arrangement of shop door, and large 'window' with low sill and two arch brackets at the head was revealed during a recent renovation. The third bay from the front contained two staircases, one giving access to a solar over the front two bays, and the other to a first floor room at the rear which has a garderobe door opening, with arched head, in its rear wall. The cross-passage continued to the rear of this wing and its north-west flank seems to have been open to a yard. The north-west wing is of three bays and its southernmost bay appears to have formed another shop. The parlour to its rear had a pair of service-room-like spaces to the north. The south-east flank, to the courtyard, incorporated a purpose-built gallery, the tiny gabled roof of which survives within a later roof. This seems to have provided a first floor access between a pre-existing building to the north and a large chamber in the front two bays of this wing. This chamber had a continuous band of windows on its front elevation and a coupled arch-headed window on the exposed north-west flank. A hole in the framing here also indicates the former presence of a contemporary chimney stack. Crown-post roofs survive substantially complete over both wings; that to the solar of cross-quadrate form. The cross-quadrate hall roof can now only be deduced from the surviving mortice holes. Both important first floor chambers have moulded tie beams on substantial braces with additional moulding orders pegged to their soffits. In the early 19th century a brick parapeted front was attached to the building and the gables were removed in favour of hips. An early 20th century restoration replaced these features, in general form rather than in particular detail. <1> See photo. <2> The Swan was extensively renovated in 1990. This probably early 15th century structure is a classic example of a condensed urban merchants house. It all appears to be a single build, centred on a narrow two-bay hall parallel to the street. East is a cross-wing with extended overshot cross-passage. Evidence suggests that there was a flat porch over the cross-passage door. The front ground floor bay was a shop of the half arch type, with another inserted window to the eastern flank. The wing contained two contra inclined stairs, the first giving access to a solar over the front two bays. In the rear wall at the first floor is a garderobe door. The western cros-swing probably contained a lettable shop in its front part. Behind lay a heated parlour accessed by a complicated route. The rear bay is unusual with suggestions of a pair of extra little service rooms. The rear of this wing is open framed and stood against an earlier build, possibly a kitchen. The hall was floored around 1600. A rear wall stack was also provided, part built of re-used stonework from one of the town's monastic ruins. During works it was revealed that the wall plinth and footings were built using Septaria. <3> The building abuts No.75 High Stret to the south-east.