The Lion Hotel

The Lion Hotel, located on Farningham High Street, is a building that dates from the 16th century, with early and late 19th-century alterations. It has a half H-shaped layout, with wings of unequal length. The north-west wing is timber-framed with a plastered front, featuring a first floor that oversails on a moulded bressumer and a tiled roof. This section has two storeys and five casement windows.

The main block, which forms an L shape with the north-west wing, is also timber-framed and plastered. Its first floor, originally oversailing, has been underbuilt in painted brick. This part has a large gable and a smaller gable, with an oriel window on the first floor beneath the large gable, featuring a cove below and a small gable above. It has a tiled roof and two casement windows.

The early 19th-century L-wing includes the south-east front and the shorter south-west arm of the half H. The south-east front has three storeys and five windows, built of red brick. The three central window bays project slightly and feature an iron balcony on the first floor. There is a painted modillion cornice above the first floor, with a cornice and parapet made of Roman cement. The second floor retains intact glazing bars. The ground floor has two Venetian windows and a later 19th-century round-headed iron porch between them, along with a large curved bay at the south end of the first floor that has a tent-shaped canopy above.

The south-west and north-west walls of this wing are made of buff brick and have two storeys, each featuring a large bow window on the upper floor. Most of the window spaces on the south-west front are blind, except for the centre of the first floor, which has an iron balcony above a round-headed doorway. There is a late 19th-century addition in the north-east corner. Historically, this building served as a coaching inn along Watling Street. The interior includes early 19th-century panelling up to dado level in the bar, with painted shields, an early 19th-century glazed and panelled bar, and an early 19th-century staircase.