Duke's Head Hotel

Duke's Head Hotel

A former coaching inn built between 1683 and 1689, possibly designed by Henry Bell.

The principal range faces west onto Tuesday Market Place and consists of three storeys with an attic beneath a hipped roof. A long rear wing extends northwards along Market Lane. Smaller ranges added in the 19th century and an east wing enclose a small courtyard, which was infilled in the 20th century. A large rear extension built in 1973 is excluded from the listing.

The main façade is rendered and colourwashed with stone dressings and painted stonework. It features a symmetrical nine-bay composition with the three central bays projecting forward beneath a broken segmental pediment topped by a large pedimented dormer window with an oval attic light. The roof has a ridge stack and an acanthus modillion eaves cornice, repeated on the central pediment. Rusticated quoins mark the corners and the projecting central section.

At ground level, the outer bays of the central projection are defined by wide segmental arches on pilaster strips, with the left arch containing a 20th-century door. The three bays to the left are lit by two-light cross casements, while the five to the right have two-over-two-pane horned sashes in moulded frames. The first floor has two-light cross casements with floral scrolled plaster lintels; the central window is more elaborate, featuring pilaster surrounds, a broken segmental pediment, a laurel wreath and coat-of-arms. Second-floor windows are two-light mullioned casements, with the central one embellished with side volutes. Two gabled dormer windows rise from the roof space on either side of the central pedimented dormer.

The north return wall facing Market Lane is of red brick laid in indeterminate bond and shows evidence of replacement and repair. Its fenestration is irregularly placed and mostly comprises 20th-century sash windows set flush in the wall, some under gauged brick arches. The east bay presents a gable end to the street adjoining a large 20th-century extension which is excluded from the listing. The other elevations are not visible from the street. The roof is covered in slate.

The interior has been substantially altered over time, with ground and most upper floors remodelled, leaving only fragments of the original plan and fittings. The principal staircase, located to the left of the reception in the north-west corner, dates to 1683–1684 and rises through three floors. It is a fine closed-string staircase with turned bulbous balusters, a wide unmoulded handrail, square panelled newel posts, and large-frame dado panelling.

The principal first-floor room to the west retains original large-frame bolection-moulded panelling with long middle panels and horizontal upper panels, a dado rail and heavy moulded cornice. It was formerly two separate rooms, evident from two pine bolection-moulded fireplaces: one retains Delft tiles and the other features an 18th-century reeded inset with corner blocks.

Embedded in the first-floor south wall of what was the north gallery are three round timber columns with round moulded capitals resting on high square bases. These are the sole surviving elements of the 17th-century accommodation galleries.

The large room in the east range, used as a Masonic Temple for over two hundred years, features an entrance canopy supported by four fluted Ionic columns, each surmounted by a section of entablature with dentilled cornice. The room also contains two classical doorcases with panelled Corinthian pilasters and entablature. The joinery is grained to resemble oak with some detail picked out in gilt.