Ye Olde Boars Head Public House

Ye Olde Boar's Head Public House is an early 17th-century public house, located on Long Street in Middleton. Datestones indicate construction phases in 1587 and 1632, with a subsequent 18th-century addition and 19th and 20th-century alterations and additions. The building is principally timber-framed with a stone plinth and a graduated stone slate roof, with a brick addition. It comprises five bays and two storeys, with wings projecting to the rear of bays 1, 4 and 5, and an outshut to the rear of bays 2 and 3.

The stone plinth is prominent and painted. The front features two doors in bay 2; one is a studded oak door with a simple overlight, the other is blocked with a basket arch. Bay 4 slightly projects, with a gable, as does bay 2. All gables have decorative timber panelling, although only that of bay 1 is original. Ground floor windows are casement and tripartite sash windows with glazing bars, while the first floor has 5, 3, 6 and 6-light ovolo-moulded timber mullion windows. There are two brick ridge chimney stacks. Bay 5, originally the Sessions Room, was added in the 18th century and partly rebuilt in the 20th century, featuring a Venetian window with double doors. The left return is largely obscured or rebuilt with applied timbers.

The interior retains much of the original timber-framed structure, with square panels, diagonal braces to the principal posts, and diagonally braced tie-beam roof trusses with wind bracing. Ovolo-moulded timber-mullioned windows, previously hidden by rear additions, are still visible. Features include chamfered floor beams with ogee stops, a staircase with a deep handrail on turned balusters and a newel with a bold acorn finial, and a massive stone fireplace in the former Sessions Room, featuring carved boar's heads and a date. Later cast-iron fire surrounds are also present. A first floor room displays scratched dates of 1638 and 1642 into the plasterwork, along with faint wall paintings outlining pendentives. The building’s early history is unclear, possibly originating as two houses, one following a baffle-entry plan.