17th century public house, The Duke of Wellington, Brightlingsea (EHER 81335)

The former Duke of Wellington Public House lies on one of the main entrances into the town and may have been built as early as circa 1688 by William Pearson as a merchant's house. The form of this earliest phase is uncertain and a mid 18th century date is equally likely. The building was bought by Thomas Jessop in 1815 wen it was converted into a public house. The public house closed sometime between 1918-1939. The building was converted to shops and first floor and attic apartments during the mid to late 20th century. The building is of rendered brick and is of two storeys and attic to the facade and a curtailed rear wing of one storey. No historic fixtures, features or fittings survive on the ground floor. The building was assessed for listing in 2009 but failed to meet the required criteria.

Information from NRHE Brightlingsea, a town of medieval origin, is one of the historic Cinque Ports and a Limb of the Head Port of Sandwich. The Duke of Wellington lies on one of the main entrances into the town from the riverside and it has been suggested that it may have been built as a house in around 1688 by William Pearson, one of the wealthy founders of the town's oyster fishery and the Deputy of the Cinque Port of Brightlingsea in 1700. The form of this earliest phase is uncertain, however, and an early to mid 18th century date is equally likely. From 1744, the property passed to other wealthy merchant men of the town, before being bought by Thomas Jessop in 1815 who converted the building to a public house, the Duke of Wellington, opening in 1815. The public house closed during the interwar period. Historic Ordnance Survey maps of 1874 and 1923 indicate that the rear wing extended further to the east, but has since been partly removed. There have been a number of other 20th century alterations to the building including the construction of an adjoining single storey building to the north, insertion of shop fronts on the ground floor, alteration to openings and fenestration and significantly, the conversion of the ground floor to shops and first and attic floors to flats. A rendered brick building of late 17th or early to mid 18th century with 19th and 20th century alterations. The building comprises a front range of two storeys and an attic and curtailed rear wing of one storey with an attic, both of which have tile-covered gambrel roofs with kneelers and inserted dormers to the façade and rear. There is a 19th century rear stack to the main range and two rendered ridge stacks to the rear wing. The façade has a 20th century central entrance door with arched brick detail above. A projecting porch to the right (south) has a canted, pent slate-covered roof and 20th century inserted shop fronts and doorway. To the left are inserted 20th century shop fronts. On the first floor there are three 20th century casement windows. The rear elevation has inserted doors and windows to the ground and first floor with one 19th century small paned window surviving at ground floor. The south elevation has a 19th century bay added to the ground and first floors with 20th century fenestration and a 20th century casement window at attic level. A late 20th century single storey, flat-roofed shop building is attached to the north elevation, the gable end above being rebuilt with 20th century bricks. The rear wing has inserted window and door openings at ground floor and a dormer in the attic. The east elevation of the rear wing has an exposed former fireplace and flue system of the eastern chimney stack, blocked in and rendered over with a blocked doorway to the right and an inserted uPVC window above. The inspection was limited to the ground floor where no historic features, fixtures and fittings survive. The left-hand shop has two off-set axial bridging beams and one transverse bridging beam of unknown date and material, all of which are covered with wallpaper. There was no evidence of in situ timber wall framing. The former Duke of Wellington Public House is not recommended for listing because the exterior has been altered and the interior remodelled resulting in the loss of historic fabric, features and form. <1>