Martins Old Plough

The Martins Old Plough is a pair of houses, originally part of a coaching inn, located in Church Street, Hurstbourne Tarrant. The core of the building dates back to the 16th century and is timber-framed, but it was largely reclad in the late 18th century with a westward extension and a new front elevation added in the early 19th century. The building is constructed of brick, flint, slate, and tile.

The symmetrical, south-west front is two storeys high with four windows. It features a hipped slate roof with wide eaves supported by wrought-iron brackets. The brickwork is in a Flemish bond pattern, with rubbed flat arches and stone cills, set on a plinth. The windows are sash windows set in reveals. There are two doorways, one with a six-panelled door and the other (leading to Martins) with a four-panelled door, each with a thin canopy supported by carved brackets.

The eastern and upper walls form a screen on the side elevation of the original part of the building, which has a tile roof and flint walls - a mix of coursed knapped flint and horizontal flint panels – with brick dressings. An attached brick stack is dated 1835. One old upper casement window frame has been blocked, and there are two lower casement windows and a blocked doorway. The rear elevation has a tile roof, narrow horizontal flint panels, and casement windows.

The interior reveals part of the original timber frame, including an arch brace to one roof truss and a beam with diagonal sockets, which would have held mullions.