The Plough Inn

The Plough Inn is a public house, likely dating from the late 15th or early 16th century, with substantial remodelling and extensions in the 17th century and internal alterations in the 20th century. It is a framed building, with the ground floor plastered and the first floor tile-hung, covered by a peg-tile roof. Brick stacks are present.

The building’s layout is broadly a “T” shape, with the main block facing east and a rear wing set at right angles. The internal layout has been significantly altered, including the removal of partitions in the 20th century. The northern section of the main block appears to be the oldest part, originally a late medieval open hall with a smoke bay at the north end, later replaced by a stack that also serves an outshut. The southern end of the main block is probably a 17th-century remodelling, with an 18th or 19th-century stack at the end. The heated rear wing also appears to be of 17th-century origin.

The exterior has an asymmetrical three-window front with outshuts at each end. Modern timber doors provide access to the main block, and planked doors are set within single-light, modern windows in the outshuts. The windows are mainly 19th-century cast iron casements with sexagonal panes. The roof is gabled at the ends. The right-hand stack features a handmade brick triple shaft with a corbelled cornice.

Inside, the ground floor of the main block is now a single room. The southern end has a chamfered spine beam with run-out stops, exposed joists, and a probable 17th-century plank door with strap hinges in the west wall. To the north of this room, the ceiling carpentry is different, with a step-stopped longitudinal beam and exposed joists. Massive scantling joists flank the north end stack on the east side. The roof over the north end of the main block is a crown post and tie-beam construction with a plain crown post braced to both the collar purlin and the tie-beam, and evidence of a former smoke bay where the north end stack now sits. The roof over the south end is of the clasped purlin type. The roof construction of the rear wing was inaccessible during a 1988 survey, but jowled wall posts are visible. The building forms a group value with the barn to the south.