The Sword in Hand Public House is a Grade II listed building in the East Hertfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 January 1984. Public house.
The Sword in Hand Public House
- WRENN ID
- kindled-rubblework-hawk
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- East Hertfordshire
- Constituency
- North East Hertfordshire MP: Chris Hinchliff (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 24 January 1984
- Type
- Public house
- Address
- The Sword in Hand Public House, High Street, Westmill
- OS grid reference
- TL 369 271
- Coordinates
- 51.9258, -0.01049
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Sword in Hand Public House is a building located in Westmill village that dates back to the 16th century. It was altered in the early 18th century, converted into an inn in 1800, and underwent further changes in the late 19th century, likely in the 1880s. The structure features a timber frame with roughcast exterior on a low red brick sill, which has been renewed. It has a steep old red tile roof that extends down over low rear extensions.
This house has a three-unit plan with a continuous front jetty on the south side and two rear lateral chimneys. The layout includes a parlour at the west end, a short hall-bay with an axial beam that is chamfered with an ogee stop. The building stands two storeys tall with attics, and there is a 19th-century gabled rear wing in the middle that has three low floors. The front elevation features a central gabled dormer on the roof slope, with three windows on each floor and a door in the middle.
The upper floor has a shallow projection with a moulded cove and small trusses at each end. The ground floor is fitted with flush box sash windows that have 6/6 panes and shutters, along with a half-glazed door. The two chimneys have tall diagonal conjoined shafts. Inside, the west room is panelled and features a bolection moulded fire surround and a panel above it. There is a large curved knee-brace supporting the cross-beam and an exposed jowled post for the jetty in the east room. The house was associated with the Bellenden family from the early 18th century until around 1800, and its name derives from the crest of the Greg family.
Local climate
The Sword in Hand Public House sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 710 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 89% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 80% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 36 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 61% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
Sign in or create a free account to unlock:
- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
this building 1 similar nearby listed buildings