Old King William IV House

Old King William IV House

A former timber-framed house of probable 17th-century date, altered and subdivided into two cottages in the late 18th or early 19th century, with later 19th-century alterations as a public house. It was converted into a single dwelling in the late 20th century.

The building is constructed of painted brick and stone with brick gable end stacks and a roof of clay tiles. It is aligned north to south with a rectangular plan and stands at the corner of Lynn Road and Egremont Street, rising to one-and-a-half storeys.

The principal elevation to Lynn Road is of late 18th or early 19th-century brick. It features a double cogged eaves between corbelled brackets, a deep plinth, and five six-over-six sashes in flush cased frames. The central window is wider and is possibly set within a former 17th-century doorway, while the two flanking windows are set within former segmental-headed doorways of late 18th or early 19th-century date. The attic has two gabled dormers with two-light casements with square-paned glazing.

The north gable end to Egremont Street comprises uncoursed stone rubble to the lower section with brick above. A date stone in the apex of the gable is inscribed "DB / 1987" and records the partial rebuilding of the gable in the late 20th century. Adjoining the right-hand side is the northern end of an outshut addition built against the west side in the later 19th century. It has a vertical-rectangular casement with square-paned glazing and a plank and batten door, both late 20th century.

The west face of the 19th-century addition has a central doorway containing a late 20th-century panelled door. It is flanked on its right-hand side by two small square casement windows and on its left by two rectangular casements, one vertically aligned and one horizontally aligned, all with square-paned glazing. The attic has a gabled dormer at the centre with a uPVC three-light mullion window. All the windows are late 20th-century replacements.

The ground floor of the 17th-century range, originally of three bays, comprises an off-centre staircase passage with a large room on the south side and a smaller room on the north. The north-side room and staircase passage are believed to occupy the original northern bay, while the larger southern room occupies the former central and southern bays of the 17th-century building. A spine beam, comprised of at least three large pieces of timber, runs through the centre of the ground floor in a north-south alignment. It is traversed by three centrally placed cross beams. The central and northern beams, which are unchamfered and roughly finished, are partly concealed by the later partition walling which forms the staircase passage. Both of these beams are supported by late 20th-century salvaged timber posts. The spine beam in the southern room is comprised of at least two pieces of timber. In the northern part of the room (the former central bay), the spine beam is roughly chamfered and is unstopped where its south end meets the southernmost cross beam. The southern spine beam, which runs from the southern cross beam to a bracket set within the late 18th or early 19th-century chimney stack in the south gable wall, is also roughly chamfered with no stops at either end. Both spine beams have joists extending east and west of them. These are irregularly spaced and sized, and roughly finished. In the central bay there is a further beam running parallel with the spine beam in the centre of the east side. Also roughly finished with no evidence of a chamfer, its exact function is unknown. A series of residual lap joints on the south side of the southernmost cross beam probably indicate the position of a former partition.

Built against the south gable wall is a late 18th or early 19th-century fireplace and chimney stack. It has a large opening formed of brick with a timber bressumer with residual mortises on its outer face indicating that it is a piece of salvaged timber. Within the fireplace, on the rear wall, there are two niches, while the north side contains a bread oven. To the left-hand side of the fireplace is a cupboard with a plank and batten door. A shallow scoop in the outer wall of the building indicates that this was possibly the position of a former staircase.

In the northern room the spine beam is largely boxed in and is supported on a boxed in post sitting against the north gable wall. At the northernmost end a section of the boxing has been removed to reveal a chamfered beam with run-out stops. On the east side of the beam there are residual mortises for the former ceiling joists; two joists from this ceiling bay still survive in the staircase passage. To the west wall there is a former 19th-century serving hatch, now blocked up, while the former fireplace which stood against the north gable wall was removed in the late 20th century.

The 19th-century outshut on the west side, added when the building was converted into a public house, comprises a late 20th-century kitchen (the former servery) on the north side and a late 20th-century bathroom (the former toilets) on the south. Both these rooms, along with the attic storey, which was largely reconfigured in the late 20th century, retain no historic fixtures and fittings of interest. The roof structure, which is concealed by late 20th-century plasterboard, is a late 20th-century replacement and is therefore of considerably less interest.