The Kings Head Inn

The Kings Head Inn is a 17th-century inn, significantly extended in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is timber framed, with some areas weatherboarded and others revealing the frame with plaster infill, and a roof of handmade red clay tiles. Originally comprising four parallel ranges aligned approximately north-south to east-south-east (presenting gables to the High Road), it has later extensions to the rear (to the south-east), to the west, and to the north-east, dating to the early 20th century. The building is three storeys high with attics.

The front elevation is jettied at both first and second floors; the ground floor is weatherboarded, while the upper floors display a considerably restored timber frame. The ground floor of the original building features three glazed doors, one flanked by columns with fluted capitals and large stone balls. A canted bay of four double-hung sash windows, dating to the early 18th century, provides additional light. Other windows include a 19th-century horizontally sliding sash window of four lights, and two late 19th-century double-hung sash windows of two lights, all with 20th-century diamond leading. A 19th-century bressumer with moulded and dentilled details is also present.

The first floor has two oriels and two casement windows, in a 17th-century style but dating to the 19th century, again with 20th-century diamond leading, along with flat balusters and an infill between them. A band of restored 17th-century carved strapwork and jewel bosses sits on the bressumer, supported by five carved scrolled brackets. The second floor features one oriel and three casement windows of similar style and with diamond leading; blocked frieze windows are visible across three of the four ranges. There are three large and one small gables, two with casement windows in a 17th-century style. A chimney stack has grouped diagonal shafts finished with a cement render.

To the southwest is a small, two-storey building, originally jettied in the 17th century, likely a separate house originally and now incorporated into the inn. It has a 19th-century double-hung sash window of two lights on the ground floor (with 20th-century diamond leading) and a 19th-century double-hung sash window of twelve lights on the first floor, topped with a shallow pediment and a false second storey with a single-pitch roof to the rear. The north-east extension, dated to the early 20th century, is built in a style sympathetic to the main building and of a high standard. Photographs taken in the past show that the upper parts of the façade were once fully plastered, although the timber frame was exposed by 1952. The restoration has been undertaken to a high standard and is not excessive—for example, while one oriel window on the second floor has been reconstructed, the evidence of three others is still visible.

The interior has been similarly restored. The rear extension features three gables with infill framing between two of them, displaying exposed framing of poorer quality with much re-used timber and scattered 20th-century windows. A chimney stack of 17th-century red brickwork is visible between the two north-east gables.