The Albion Public House

WARE TOWN

TL3514SE CRIB STREET 829-1/9/59 (East side) 14/03/74 Nos.12 AND 14 The Albion Public House

II

House, now public house, with living accommodation above. C15, altered C17 and early C20. Timber-framed, plastered over brick on ground floor, continuous jetty with exposed beam ends, and exposed studs and bracing with pebbledashed plaster infilling, on first floor of No.12, jetty carried on brackets, and beam ends concealed, with pebbledashed plaster first floor to No.14, at left. Old tiled roof, with cruciform red brick chimneystack with oversailing course left, smaller stack at right. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. 2 bay structure with 2 upper rooms, now ceiled (No.12) and cross-wing (former No.14), possibly originally of different build. Two 2-light early C20 wood casements with leaded lattice glazing, in projecting wood surrounds on first floor. 2 recessed early C20 three-light wood casements, with leaded lattice glazing, and recessed central early C20 entrance door, on ground floor. At left, in No.14, is recessed secondary entrance and adjoining boarded over shop window on ground floor, with one boarded over window on first floor. Carriageway on extreme left is part of No.16 adjoining. Gabled rear projection of former No.14 with old tiled roof, 2 storeys, stuccoed, over timber frame with brick underbuilding. Modern flat roofed single storey rear extension. INTERIOR of No.12 ground floor exposed beams in ceiling show mortices for part-partitioning of right hand (south) bay. No.14 used as store, and closed off from left hand (north) end, and chimneystack and adjacent stair to first floor contained within this structure, which forms a cross-wing. First floor central room has exposed studwork at either end, with downward curved bracing. In addition there is a freestanding braced tie-beam. Roof structure 2 bay crown post, unmoulded crown studs built into partitions, with fore and aft bracing to collar purlin, and collars. Halved and pegged rafters, subsequently reinforced with later inserted side purlins. Main roof extended across No.14, probably in C17, but lower rafters, partly cut, indicate that this structure had gabled roof at right angles to main structure. No sign of smoke blackening throughout roof, indicating building unheated before insertion of main C17 stack. The Albion was first recorded as an ale house in 1845, and by 1866 had a skittle alley in the carriageway adjoining. (Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England): An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Hertfordshire: London: 1910-: 230; Ware 25" to 1 Mile. Surveyed by the Ordnance Survey Department: 1851-; Forrester H: Timber Framed Buildings in Hertford and Ware: Hitchin: 1964-: 42; Branch Johnson W: Hertfordshire Inns: Letchworth: 1962-: 96-7).

Listing NGR: TL3574214499