The Old Kings Head Hotel

The Old King's Head Hotel

Town house with undercroft at street level, now hotel. Dating from around 1208 when built for Peter the Clerk, the building was rebuilt from former Row level upward and refronted probably in part during the 15th and 16th centuries and early 17th century for Randle Holme I, the first of four generations of heralds and armorial painters. The building was heavily renovated in 1935. It is constructed of yellow sandstone, timber frame with plaster panels, render and painted brickwork, with grey slate roofs.

Exterior

The building presents three storeys to Lower Bridge Street, arranged in three bays, with three bays plus outshuts to Castle Street to the south.

To Lower Bridge Street the former undercroft storey is refaced in sandstone with a framed and boarded Tudor-arched oak door in a canted recessed south-east corner having a 2-light leaded window to the porch. The remainder of the south bay and centre bay are rendered, with small mullioned leaded casements in stone panels and a framed and boarded Tudor-arched oak door. The north bay projects, with Tudor-arched double doors and a 5-light mullioned window in replaced stonework.

The second storey is rendered with 3-light oak-mullioned leaded casements: one to the south bay, two to the centre bay and two to the north bay. A bold coved jetty extends across the third storey of the south and central bays, each with a 4-light leaded casement with small-framed apron and two panels of herringbone strutting to each side. The north bay has seven small-framed panels with wavy braces and a boldly projecting sill on shaped brackets beneath a pair of 2-light leaded casements.

All three gables have plain ties to the south and central bays and a projecting tie to the north bay, with herringbone strutting and replaced bargeboards. The entire front was largely reconstructed in 1935.

The repaired south face to Castle Street shows stonework probably of early 13th-century origin in the west bay. The central and east bays are of painted brick with a damaged bay-post and miscellaneous openings. The second storey contains the floor-beam to the central and east bays and a lighter, higher rail to the west bay, with a former Row post in the east bay, bay-posts, two intermediate posts and struts in the central bay, and small-framing in the west bay, all brick-nogged. The third storey has herringbone struts and some close-studding in the east bay with an intermediate rail and a 3-light leaded casement. The jettied central bay has a pair of leaded oriels with aprons of three quatrefoil panels, herringbone panels to each side beneath a jettied herringbone-strutted gable with replaced bargeboards and a replaced chimney at the east corner. The small-framed west bay is jettied with two 3-light leaded casements.

A one-bay flush rear wing of painted brick has a cellar door, a leaded casement to the second storey and two to the third storey. A two-storey outshut, formerly stables, has replaced carriage doors and small-pane casements.

Interior

The public rooms only were inspected during listing. The cellars behind the range facing Lower Bridge Street contain medieval stone walls, probably of early 13th-century date, but much altered later. They now form an irregular group of small rooms, but appear always to have been sub-divided, unlike other Chester undercrofts.

The timber-framed former undercroft, now the first storey, to Lower Bridge Street has a row of seven samson-posts parallel with the front having jowled tops carrying a longitudinal bridging beam that is arch-braced, formerly with such braces also to front and back. The former Row storey, now the second storey, has framing integral with that to the undercroft, including the samson-post arcade, with bridging beams and joists. Evidence of the former Row exists in mortices now empty. The present structure indicates a former plan with a range of small chambers, probably shops, between the Row and a parallel single-storey hall-like main chamber. The third storey framing appears to be integral with that of the former Row storey and undercroft beneath. The former floor-plan and means of access are not yet established.