George Vaults

ROCHESTER HIGH STREET TQ 7468 NW 7/109 No 35 (George Vaults) (formerly 24.10.50 listed as George Inn) GV II* Public house. Late C18 and C19, built over early C14 (c.1320-5) vaulted undercroft. Brick; hipped tile roof. 3 storeys; regular 3-window range. Brick parapet with stone coping and cornice band. 2nd floor: 4-pane horned sash windows under flat rubbed brick arches. 1st floor: large Venetian window with 2:4:2 horned sashes. Late Victorian pub front with glazed brick plinth, central half-glazed double door with rectangular overlight; large side windows and blocked side doors. C18 rainwater head between this and No 37. Left return with fragmentary dentilled cornice. Modern boiler stack and some hornless sash windows. The building is notable for its early C14 undercroft (which gives Geroge Vaults its starred listing grade). Chalk ashlar and rubble; 4 bays; quadrapartite vaults with longitudinal rib; chamfered ribs with rubble infill; foliated bosses with various creatures. Moulded capitals to shaft with foliated necks and pyramid stops. The decorative detailing is much eroded. One pointed arch doorway (blocked) to E; other openings, also blocked, set high to W. Further arched doorways to the S (street-side) are obscured from view. The undercroft measures 54 feet x 16 ft 8½ ins and is 11 ft high. Drawings of the undercroft with details appear in George Payne, 'Medieval Crypts at Rochester'. Archaeolooia Cantiana XXIV (1900), 220-4.

Listing NGR: TQ7427268688