The Old Bulls Head Inn With Attached Former Assembly Rooms And Stables

The Old Bulls Head Inn with attached former assembly rooms and stables, Baldock Street, Ware

This is a house, now a public house with living accommodation above. The building began as an early 16th-century structure that was altered and extended in the 17th century. A carriageway adjoining the property was formed in the 19th century, and major extensions were constructed in the late 19th century. The interior ground floor was refurbished and opened out in the 1980s.

The exterior consists of a two-storey, two-bay early 16th-century building with a continuous jettied first floor on the west elevation. Above this is an old tiled roof with wide eaves overhang and a cornice carried on corbels and paired out profiled consoles. A red brick chimneystack adjoins the carriageway. Front attic dormers, now removed, were previously added to the west elevation. The jettied first floor is carried on curved brackets with a flush fascia covering the projecting ends of joists. The studs are exposed with colourwashed pebbledashed infilling.

Twin projecting oriel bays dating to around 1600 feature curved and moulded spandrels below. Wood window frames follow a mullion and transom pattern with ovolo mouldings, egg and dart ornament to transoms and mullions with raised edges. Modern plain fixed glazing and undivided opening casements are also present. The ground floor has stuccoed facing beneath the jetty and masonry lining. Two canted oriel bay windows are positioned on the front: the left-hand example dates to the mid-19th century and is now closed with glazing bars, carried on three cut brackets; the right-hand example is 18th century with sashes, carried on two cut brackets. A left-hand half-glazed door with flush lower panels and central twin leaf doors, also half-glazed with lower flush panel, both date to the 19th century. An 18th-century wrought-iron bracket with ornamental overthrow for hanging a sign stands centrally, with the top raised in the mid-20th century. A tall carriageway to the right features paired gates, formed after 1836, passing through the north bay of the adjoining No. 24.

The plastered front above the fascia has a moulded cornice with a 20th-century three-light wood casement window. A two-storey gabled rear wing with attics was added to the east in the 17th century, including a staircase. A large rear two-storey offshoot constructed in late 19th century yellow brick with red dressings, a Welsh slated roof, irregularly placed sash windows, and a central lantern light was built along the northern boundary to accommodate an assembly room. Beyond this stands a range of 19th-century stables, one and two storeys in height, constructed of yellow brick with red rubbed arches and a Welsh slate roof.

The interior was opened out on the ground floor with exposed beams. A large inglenook fireplace to the right dates to the 18th century and features a bolection moulded surround, restored in 1988. The roof structure consists of two bays with tall square-section crown posts, with fore and aft bracing supporting the collar purlin. The rafters are halved and pegged pairs of heavy section timber.

Although bearing the name of one of Ware's most historic inns, recorded in 1572, this is not the original site, which was located in Middle Row on the north of the High Street. No. 24 Baldock Street became an inn in the 18th century and is recorded in 1823. The formation of the carriageway after 1836 enabled the inn to expand around the rear yard.