The White Horse Inn, Milford on Sea

The White Horse Inn, Milford on Sea

A late 18th-century public house extended in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The inn is constructed of painted brickwork in Sussex bond beneath a clay-tiled roof. It is broadly rectangular in plan and faces north onto the roadway. The main entrance is positioned towards the centre of the building, with north and south entrances to a covered passageway at the east end, a side entrance to the west end, and a central rear entrance from the garden. Internally, the ground floor is largely open-plan to the west side, extending through the original rear wall into the 20th-century extension and toilets. A lobby off the main entrance leads to the stairs, and to the east side is a secondary bar room (former off-sales) with a function room and cellar behind, both located within the 20th-century extension. The first floor has a spine corridor serving bedrooms, bathrooms and a kitchen.

The inn is two-storey with a gable-ended roof to the east end where there is an external gable stack, and half-hipped to the west where there is a brick ridge stack. The principal north elevation comprises seven bays: a four-bay 18th-century building to the east side with a two-bay, two-storey 19th-century extension to the west, and a single-bay, single-storey 20th-century extension further to the east. The 18th-century section is characterised by regular, flush, multi-paned sash windows with timber cills and flat arches, beneath a brick eaves cornice. It has a tripartite, 20th-century, multi-paned window to the ground floor, replacing a pair of off-sales shop doors and flanking windows, standing between pilasters with applied decorative panels and under a moulded cornice. The main entrance is a solid timber door of around 19th-century date, patterned with nail studs and hung on decorative strapwork hinges, standing under a shallow flat hood and flanked by wall-mounted coach lamps. Above is a 20th-century pub sign fixed to the brickwork. The 19th-century extension is slightly set-back and has regular, recessed, multi-paned, horned sash windows on stone or moulded cills beneath a brick eaves cornice. The 20th-century, flat-roofed, single-storey extension to the east end has a 20th-century solid timber door which imitates the design of the main entrance door.

The western end of the 19th-century extension has two multi-paned, horned sash windows and a glazed timber entrance door under a flat hood. At ground floor level there is a truncated external stack and a 20th-century pub sign fixed to the brickwork above. A single storey late 19th or early 20th-century extension runs south from the rear of the west end of the 19th-century extension, initially with a pitched roof and casement windows, extending to a long, flat-roofed 20th-century section. The central element of the rear elevation is set back and is formed of flat-roofed, 20th-century ground-floor extensions with irregular glazing. The first floor of the earlier building is visible above and has irregular uPVC casement windows. The east end of the 18th-century building is blind.

Internally, the main entrance lobby has a flagstone floor. To the west side, the 20th-century timber bar-counter and bar-back, with brick detailing, are located to the east side of the open-plan, L-shaped main bar room. The original doors, architraves and fire surrounds have been removed. The western fireplace has a 20th-century brick surround and the walls and ceilings have faux timber framing. Two sections of the original rear wall of the 19th-century extension support the 20th-century rear extension. The former off-sales, located to the east of the lobby, has a 20th-century bar counter which incorporates earlier components—fielded paneling and console brackets that appear to date from the later 19th or early 20th century. The ceiling beams appear to have been replaced with steel, covered over with 20th-century timber fascia. The bar-back, cupboards and doors are all 20th-century, as is the brick-built fireplace surround. The rooms to the 20th-century rear extension are functional with faux timber framing. The dog-leg stairs are 20th-century and lead to a landing with access to three functional rooms to the east end and a spine corridor running west, giving access to bedrooms, bathrooms and a kitchen. A bathroom located in the 19th-century extension has an exposed brick wall in Sussex bond formed by the former external wall of the 18th-century building, which also shows evidence of the roof line of a former, lower extension. All first floor fixtures and fittings are late 20th-century, and the original doors, architraves and fire surrounds have been removed.

Within the roof, the common rafters are supported by purlins and collars with iron fixings and meet at a ridge-board. Most of the rafters are doubled-up and machine cut. Vestigial evidence of the former end wall of the 18th-century building is evident at its join with the 19th-century extension.