Red Lion

Red Lion

A house of the early 17th century, converted to a public house in the 19th century, standing on the west side of Market Street. The building is timber-framed with elevations partially rebuilt in brick and masonry; the rear ranges are wholly of brick. Roofs are tiled with brick chimneystacks.

The building has a rectangular main range orientated roughly north-south with two ranges projecting from the rear, creating a U-shaped footprint.

The principal elevation of the main range, rebuilt in the 1950s, is one-and-a-half storeys and three bays. On the ground floor, each bay contains a wide window opening beneath a segmental arched head, holding a six-light casement. Doorways are irregularly positioned between each bay. That on the right has a plain timber surround with a pediment head and a pair of narrow three-panelled doors with a glazed upper light. On the left, the architrave has shaped consoles supporting a shallow hood; the door is panelled with a top light. The upper floor features eaves courses of brick and three pitched dormers, each with pairs of three-light casements and herringbone brick above with lead cheeks.

The southern return elevation remains fully timber-framed with five bays of small box framing, a central window now infilled, and braces. The wall plate beneath the gable projects slightly and is supported on shaped corbels. The timber framing of the rear west wall of this range survives in part, of slightly different construction and two bays in height. The elevation is rebuilt in brick on the left where it meets the northern rear range and obscured by 20th-century extensions on the right.

The northern return elevation is blind and largely constructed from stone, rendered at the base with brick around the top of the gable, from which the ends of two ranks of purlins project. A staggered step occurs in the brickwork just beyond the junction with the rear range, dating to the late 18th or early 19th century. Two segmental-arched window openings appear on the left-hand side of the ground floor, and a blocked doorway and window on the right. The upper floor has two openings beneath the eaves interrupting a brick dentil course. The pitched roof has a blind gable end with a projecting brick chimneystack. The south elevation of the northern range has been buttressed with numerous blocked and inserted openings.

Interior

The main range contains three rooms: the public bar, games room, and snug, accessed through small square lobbies. The main public bar occupies the central room with the bar positioned along much of the rear wall, panelled with a later counter. The bar back has extensive shelving above counter level supported on turned spindles. Two deep chamfered cross beams support a series of substantial joists with chamfers and stops. The position of the northern beam and truncated joists suggests the internal wall and fireplace are a later insertion, likely dating from several centuries ago. A small cupboard to one side is reputed to be a salt cellar, probably a Georgian addition. The inglenook fireplace is brick-lined with a moulded mantle shelf. The partition to the snug has fielded panelling above a bench seat; elsewhere matchboarding lines the walls. The lobby has etched glazed lights. A section of panelling features a scoop and line pattern, possibly original.

The games room has a matchboarded dado and quarry tiled floor. Three wide ceiling beams span the space. The fireplace has a sheet-metal slip bearing the Banks's lion logo in brass, with a simple mantle shelf. In the snug, matchboarding rises to chair rail height above a quarry-tiled floor, and a bolection-moulded chimneypiece with a metal slip is set between alcoves with semi-circular arched heads. Doorways have moulded architraves; doors are either half-glazed with nine lights or of ledge-and-plank construction.

The rear range contains a single large room in use as a beer cellar, accessed via a corridor along one side.