Jarmyns

The Crotchet public house, formerly a house and forge, dates to the mid-15th century and has been altered in the 19th and 20th centuries. The building is timber framed and plastered, with a rendered brick front, and includes a single-storey range in red Flemish bond brickwork. Red handmade plain clay tiles cover the roofs of the two-storey ranges, while slate covers the single-storey ranges. A two-bay crosswing, aligned roughly northwest to southeast, has a hipped and gabletted roof to its northwest end. A two-bay hall range is aligned northeast to southwest. Both the front of the hall and crosswing have been truncated by a 19th-century brick parapetted front. A 20th-century flat-roofed extension has been added to the rear, along with a circa 17th or 18th-century gabled rear wing. Single-storey ranges to the southwest form an L shape; the front range of these previously served as a forge. The southwest frontage range has a two-storey appearance with ground floor windows consisting of three 20th-century metal picture windows with top-hung vents. The first floor has four 20th-century metal casement windows of 16 panes each. A single-storey part of the frontage has four 20th-century metal casement windows of 20 panes with top-hung vents. A northeast elevation shows a 19th-century 2x2 sash window with a moulded architrave and a 19th-century flush meeting-style casement window with horizontal glazing bars. Two 19th-century red brick stacks are present, one with string course detailing to the rear wing, and a rendered stack is located in the centre of the crosswing. The substantial oak frame includes jowled storey posts and evidence of external bracing. Empty mortices and wattle grooves on the underside of the crosswing bridging joists indicate the former position of a partition. Floor joists are flat section and housed into bridging joists with central tenons. A trimmed stair trap, now filled, adjoins the rear wall. The bridging joist is chamfered with a stepped run-out stop. Much of the frame is covered at first floor, and the roof space is plastered over flat section oak rafters and collars. Chamfered transverse and axial bridging joists are visible at ground floor in the 1½-storey hall range, with the flooring covered. The Crotchet public house was previously the tap rooms of the Blue Posts Inn, and the forge was associated with the same coaching inn complex.