Thomas Paine Hotel

The Thomas Paine Hotel comprises four 18th-century houses, later unified internally in the mid-20th century and again in 1974 to create a hotel. The north front presents two late 18th-century houses constructed of flint and clunch, featuring gabled pantiled roofs and whitewashed walls. They have sash windows with glazing bars on the ground and first floors. A projecting first-floor window is located to the west, and a flat-topped dormer to the east house. An addition was made in 1832, facing White Hart Street, built of cut flint with gault brick dressings and a slate roof. This section is two storeys and three bays, with a central four-panelled door, overlight, and a hood supported by console brackets. There are 10/10 unhorned sashes to the left and right of the door on the ground floor, and three 6/6 unhorned sashes on the first floor. A gabled roof features an internal gable-end stack to the north, and a 1832 datestone is set into the north gable head. A large late 19th-century brick addition, with concrete tile roofs, extends to the south, consisting of two gabled ranges with a projecting central gable and the main entrance. This section has sash windows without glazing bars, and gabled roofs with gault brick stacks.

Inside, a brick fireplace with chamfered jambs remains in a first-floor west room. Chamfered and tongue-stopped bridging beams are scattered throughout the interior. The 1832 range incorporates re-used 17th-century sunk-quadrant bridging beams with one fillet. A 19th-century staircase boasts turned balusters and a moulded handrail. Thomas Paine (1737-1809), who was born on or near this site, lends the hotel its name.