The Salopian Star

The Salopian Star is a house, now an inn, dating to 1669, with alterations from the late 19th or early 20th century. It is timber-framed with plastered and painted brick infill, with pebbledash to the right-hand return front. The building has a painted dressed sandstone and later brick plinth, planted timbers to the front, and brick underbuilding to the right. The roof is covered with plain tiles. The timber frame features small square panels, five from the sole plate to the wall plate, with long straight tension braces. The first-floor panels to the front are characterised by diagonal struts forming lozenge patterns. The attic is slightly jettied, with a hewn bracket to the left, and features a tier of square quatrefoil panels beneath the eaves. Gable ends contain tiers of cusped small square panels and curved v-struts. The building is in an L-plan, with two plus two framed bays. There are two storeys and an attic over a basement, with a two-storey wing at the rear. Integral brick end stacks are located to the left and right, and an external brick end stack to the rear. The front facade has a two-window arrangement, featuring C19 three-light wooden casements, with the ground-floor lights having straight-sided arched heads. Two-light segmental-headed basement openings are also present. A two-storey timber-framed gabled porch, dated “IB (or IE) 1669” on a tie-beam, is off-centre to the right, with cusped v-struts in the gable, two-light first-floor wooden casements to each side, and an open ground floor with two posts, curved brackets, and a pair of C19 two-panelled doors with rectangular overlights. Late C19 or early C20 stone steps, in two flights, lead to the front, accompanied by a brick wall. A carriageway to the left has a C19 pilastered surround and a double-canted sign above. Inside the left-hand gable end is a tie-beam truss with two collars and queen struts. The rear of the building has a pair of stepped timber-framed gables, each with a collar and tie-beam truss with queen struts and v-struts. An early to mid-19th century two-storey brick addition is located in the rear angle, featuring 16-pane glazing bar sashes and an integral brick lateral stack. The interior was only partly inspected, but a rear wing contains a pair of ovolo-moulded ceiling beams with ogee stops.