The Cardinal'S Hat Public House

WORCESTER

SO8554NW FRIAR STREET 620-1/17/293 (East side) 05/04/71 No.31 The Cardinal's Hat Public House (Formerly Listed as: FRIAR STREET (East side) Nos.29 AND 31 The Chattery (No.29); Davenport (No.31))

GV II

House, now public house. c1760, possibly with late C15 origins and with later additions and alterations including ground floor frontage at right c1900. Pinkish-orange brick in Flemish bond, stone sills; with plain tile roof, half-hipped at right; left end stacks with oversailing courses and pots. 3 storeys with attic at rear, 3 first-floor windows. First and second floors have fluted keystones and flat arches of gauged brick. Replacement 12/12 sashes in near-flush frames, all with sills. Dentil eaves cornice. Tudorbethan-style pub front; wide off-centre right entrance has three doors, canted inwards, to bars and hallway (alike): part-glazed with 4-centred light and multi-pane overlight. Chamfered plinth; square panels of imitation timber-framing; mullion and transom windows, that to left has four lights, that to right has two lights, with ovolo-moulded mullions and transoms; band of imitation timber-framing over. Ovolo-moulded cornice. INTERIOR: the tap room, to left, has decorative close studding; stone chimneypiece has 4-centred arch, a plaster relief of a cardinal's hat above. The lounge, to rear, has c1900 panelling and boxed beams; similar stone chimneypiece and Tudor style overmantel; fixed benches around the walls; the windows have stained glass depicting a cardinal's hat. The hall has a panelled dado with lozenge decoration. Open-newel staircase has rod-on-vase balusters with square knops and shaped handrail. Snug to left has decorative close studding. HISTORICAL NOTE: there has been a public house on this site called The Cardinal's Hat since at least 1497. John Gaskell, a London carrier, bought the property in 1757 and subsequently rebuilt it. In 1814 the property reverted to an inn, then called the Coventry Arms. (Huges, P. and Molyneux, N.: Worcester Street: Friar Street: Worcester: 1984-: PP. 13-14).