The Swan Inn

The Swan Inn is a public house that dates back to the late 16th century, with alterations made in 1850, which is the date inscribed on the building. It is a three-cell structure with a cross-passage entrance and stands two storeys high. The building is timber-framed and plastered, with the two end cells originally jettied towards the High Street until the 19th century, when the front walls were underbuilt in gault brick, which is now painted, up to the first-floor level. The left-hand gable was also encased during this period. The roofs are covered with plain tiles, and the end cells feature large gablets designed to resemble cross-wings, complete with bargeboards that are pierced with linked circles and topped with spike finials. A central gabled dormer, matching in design, also displays the date 1850. The chimneys are axial and at the ends, made of gault brick.

The windows are small-pane sashes from around 1850, with a central paired sash at the ground storey and a splayed flat-roofed bay at each end. The entrance door, dating from the 19th century, has three panels, with the upper pair being glazed and featuring an etched design that includes a swan motif. This door is flanked by a pair of pilasters and topped with a simple pediment. Inside, the hall showcases roll-moulded floor joists and a matching binding-joist, all of which have been reused from an earlier 16th-century building. A carved pilaster with a knee above is now exposed within the bar, originating from the formerly jettied front wall. While much of the late 16th-century framing is plain, the attic floor members exhibit composite ovolo-moulding. The roof structure features clasped purlins. Historical records, including the will of Sir Francis Needham, who died in 1632, reference the Inn by its earlier name, The King's Head.