The Horn And Trumpet Public House

The Horn and Trumpet Public House

A house, now public house, occupying a prominent corner site at the junction of Angel Street and Angel Place in Worcester. The building has origins dating to 1646-7, when it was built for Robert Sterrop, the Mayor, making it the earliest datable brick house in the city. It underwent mid-19th century encasing, with the addition of stables and various later alterations and additions, including mid-20th century changes and restorations carried out in 1992.

The building is two storeys with attics. The exterior features painted brick to the first floor, with stucco over brick elsewhere, and a renewed plain tile roof. Two pinkish-brown brick chimneys with oversailing courses and pots (partly renewed) stand off-centre at the left and right ends. The front elevation has four first-floor windows. The ground floor displays pilasters with horizontal rustication and fluted cornices at the ends and either side of the entrances and windows. Two off-centre entrances, one to the left and one to the right, each have 6-flush-beaded-panel doors. Ground-floor windows are 8/1 sash windows in shallow reveals beneath cambered arches with central fluted keystones and fluted panels above. Two continuous cornices with a frieze between run across the facade; the upper cornice carries pediments over the doors. The first-floor windows are 8/8 flush sashes under cambered arches, with one opening blind. Three attic roof dormers contain casement windows. The left return features a double 6-raised-and-fielded-panel entrance door between similar pilasters, with a channelled flat arch and fluted keystone above. End pilasters carry similar cornices, with two blind openings between them and a 3-light casement in the gable above.

The interior retains significant original features. The ground floor contains transverse beams with ovolo moulding and step and ogee stops. Panelling is said to have been re-used from a demolished building in Leicestershire. The first floor preserves original panelling in the front two rooms (originally a single room), in places featuring a dentil frieze and panelled doors with HL hinges. A plaster frieze with acanthus scroll and wheat sheaf design runs mostly along the front wall and in places along the side walls. The transverse beams are deeply chamfered, with further axial beams present. A Victorian cast-iron fireplace is also found here. A room to the left contains transverse and axial beams with ogee stops and plaster reeded cornices on either side, along with some 6-raised-and-fielded-panel doors. The roof structure features queen post trusses and panelled divides, with two levels of purlins and exposed rafters. A cupboard with a plank door is present. Plaster and wallpaper fragments indicate past habitation. The roof space is floored with wide planks and retains a jowled post supporting the collar of an interrupted tie beam roof.

Historically, the site was used around 1350 as a burial ground for victims of the Black Death. Before the Reformation, it formed part of the Blackfriars' orchard, after which it came into the city's ownership. In 1646, the land was leased from the city by Robert Sterrop, Mayor, who built the dwelling. By 1678, the house had 8 hearths, and much of its original fabric remains intact; there was probably a rear wing. Around 1800, the building was purchased by the landlord of The Horn and Trumpet, which was then located opposite, and the name was transferred to this address. A large 6-sided carriage lamp above the right entrance to the main facade was remade in 1992 as an imitation of the lost original.

The building forms part of a good group with the Corn Exchange on Angel Street, No. 23 Angel Place, and the Former Congregational Church (now Tramps Discotheque) on Angel Place.