The French Horn Inn

THE FRENCH HORN INN, WARE

A former inn range, now partly retracted, with the public house accessible from Church Street and commercial ground floor with living accommodation over High Street buildings. Dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, the High Street range was set back and refronted around 1849, with later alterations. The building is timber-framed, with the front range encased in brick and partly stuccoed. The rear range has a stucco first floor and brick underbuilding. Old tiled roofs are concealed by a tall parapet on the front range.

The front range is two storeys with attics. The first floor is colourwashed brick with a stucco parapet above, and the ground floor is stuccoed. The west elevation of the first floor has three mid-19th-century triple-light plate-glazed sash windows in reveals below flat arches, with one similar window on the south elevation. A moulded cornice runs below the windows. The ground floor contains two inserted mid-20th-century shopfronts with plate glass display windows facing west and one facing south.

The north elevation dates from the 17th century and is two storeys with attics, stucco-faced with an old tiled roof. It has two sash windows with glazing bars on the ground and first floors, one casement on the first floor, and a box casement dormer to the attic.

The north-east range, which now houses the public house, is 17th-century timber-framed and stucco-faced with an old tiled roof. It is two storeys, with the first floor containing two flush-set sash windows with glazing bars. The ground floor has two 20th-century three-light sash windows on yellow brick underbuilding and a 20th-century closed brick porch with a gabled old tiled roof. A single-storey range of former stables runs north towards a detached coach house, which is listed separately.

The principal interior feature is a mid-17th-century newel staircase in the northern part of the south range. It is of open-well plan with heavily moulded finials and pierced pendants on the newels. The staircase is of closed string construction with moulded strings and heavily moulded handrails. Each flight and landing has carved, pierced panels featuring geometrical motifs.

The French Horn is one of the most historic inn sites in Ware. Subsequent division into several properties, partial demolition, and later remodelling have made the plan difficult to interpret. Originally the ground floor projected further south into High Street and was jettied on both the High Street and Church Street frontages, with a dragon post at the corner. The adjoining buildings to the east, Nos 54 and 54b, appear to have formed part of the premises, which had multiple gables facing south and west. The inn was refurbished in the early to mid-17th century and extended on the north, with the present north front, facing the former inn yard, dating from that period. The approach to the inn yard was from Church Street, formerly known as French Horn Lane, and was lined with a long range of outbuildings, demolished in the early 20th century. There was also a narrow yard to the east, approached beneath No. 54b. Although greatly reduced in size, The French Horn remains the only major historic inn site in Ware that retains its original use and name. It is listed as Grade II* for the exceptional quality of the staircase.