The Hollybush Inn

The Hollybush Inn

This is a 17th-century box-frame cottage and beerhouse, with later modifications and additions, located on Main Road in Seighford.

The building was constructed in 1675, probably as a dwelling but possibly originally serving as a house incorporating a beerhouse. Early beerhouses were typically simple domestic dwellings with an area set aside for customers to sit or stand and be served with beer or ale kept elsewhere in the building. A drinking establishment or inn would have suited the building's location on the western approach road into Seighford from Stafford.

The structure is built with an oak wall frame and handmade red brick nogging panels. The roof structure is oak, covered in clay tile. Internal partition walls are oak-framed with lathe and plaster infill, though some parts have been rebuilt in red brick.

The building is planned as a two-bay, single-depth range aligned roughly east to west, with doors to the centre and left of the south front. A length of central partition wall survives to the ground floor. A winder stair adjacent to the inglenook at the east end leads to an attic floor subdivided centrally by a plaster-infilled roof truss. The west attic room is subdivided further to form a bathroom in the south-west corner. An addition dates to circa 1840, with a north-facing front. Late 20th-century extensions to the rear and west gable end are not of special interest.

The north front presents a largely intact oak small-frame with a door to the left. The architrave is partly cut away to reveal a dated oak lintel reading '16.T A.75'. To the right a wide window opening has been inserted with circa 1900 brick infill below. Other infill panels are 17th- or 18th-century brick nogging. Two passing braces are visible below the eaves. The right half of the front is mainly obscured by the 1840 extension, which has a door and window facing east and two 20th-century openings facing the road. The west pitch of the clay tile roof to this range is a cat slide. The west gable wall is obscured at ground floor level by a late 20th-century kitchen and dining room extension. The gable end shows an exposed truss with large purlins breaking through. The upper parts of the truss have been cut away for a later chimney. There is a modified 18th- or 19th-century window opening to the left under a cambered brick head and a later opening to the right. The east gable wall is a circa 1900 brick replacement. The south elevation has wide inserted openings providing access to the large late 20th-century range. There is a 20th-century dormer window on each principal roof slope.

The main bar area is entered from the south through widened openings. The remaining sections of the south wall have some embedded floating timbers and a 17th-century corner post. A late 20th-century servery stands to the left of the main bar area, which is centrally divided by a modified 17th-century oak-framed partition wall. The wall posts have consistent hacking across them on their east face, which would have formerly provided a key for a lime plaster finish. At the east end is a modified inglenook with bressumer. To the left of the inglenook a sealed doorway leads to the front door with dated lintel. To the right is a timber winder stair leading to the attic floor. Two substantial, deeply chamfered and stopped 17th-century spine beams span the ground floor with substantial bowed joists. The north wall has a substantial bowed beam above the inserted window opening, a 17th-century mid-rail. The beam runs above the central doorway to the left, which now leads into the 1840 range, and has two iron pintles in the left jamb. To the left of the doorway is a cellar door and stone steps below. The cellar entrance is enclosed by a partition wall, possibly 17th-century, behind which is a serving hatch from the servery into the 1840 range. The hatch is formed by the removal of two infill panels in the former exterior wall. Other panels, visible from within the 1840 range, have exposed brick nogging and intact framing with an additional pintle in the post by the hatch.

To the first floor, the stairs open directly into an east bedroom with substantial purlins. A 17th-century roof truss divides the room from a west bedroom and bathroom, and is infilled with thick horse hair plaster with lathes. Below modern coverings are possible 17th-century floorboards. There is a short section of ovolo-moulded skirting board. The west rooms have pegged purlins concurrently aligned to the east bedroom, and of similar scantling. The west bedroom has a covered 18th-century fireplace. Above, the roof timbers are 17th-century except for 20th-century rafters. A late 19th- or early 20th-century chimney has been inserted through the west truss. There is a substantial ridge beam.

Against the north-east corner of the 1840 range stands a 19th-century water pump with cast iron handle.