Angel Hotel Including Attached Medieval Arch

Overview

The Angel Hotel, also known as the Angel on the Bridge, is a historic inn of late 16th/17th century and circa 1800 date with later 19th-century additions. Its most significant feature is that it is supported by the westernmost arch of the medieval bridge over the River Thames. This arch forms part of the cellar and extends below ground beyond the street frontage to the north. The bridge was probably built by Henry II in the late 12th century.

Materials and Construction

The building is constructed of rendered and painted timber framing, brick and flint. The circa 1800 northern range is timber framed and rendered with applied framing on the north elevation, and part brick built. Roofs are tiled except for the later 19th-century wing which has a slate roof. At basement level the northern and central bays are of flint and brick, including early narrow brick. The faces of the medieval arch are of dressed stone, the soffits of the arch are of shuttered flint, and flanking walls are of flint and brick.

Plan Form

The building comprises a late 18th or early 19th-century single-pile range adjacent to the bridge, aligned east-west and facing north. Attached to the south and aligned north-south is a single bay of an earlier 16th/17th-century two-storey wing, which includes a large internal stack and stair. To the south is a lower, later 19th-century wing. The north wall of the north range is supported on the southern face of the westernmost stone arch of the medieval bridge, which is now subterranean and extends approximately three metres to the north of the pub, beneath the pavement and road and the stone facing wall of the 1786 bridge.

Exterior: North Range

The northern range is arranged on three storeys and a cellar at river level. The north elevation is symmetrical in three bays beneath a hipped roof. The door has four raised panels beneath an overlight and under a Tuscan porch with timber columns, which appear to have been reset on replaced bases. Windows are timber sashes: a single window of eight over eight panes on the ground floor, a pair each of six over six panes on the first floor, and three shallow upper floor windows of three over three panes. The hipped roof has deep eaves with paired brackets.

Exterior: East Elevation

The east elevation overlooking the river is in two bays divided by a substantial brick stack, with a lower later wing to the south. The east-facing bay of the northern range is of four storeys with a canted bay under a separate half-hipped roof. On the three upper floors each face has eight over eight pane timber sashes. At lower ground-floor level are cellars. The east elevation of the adjacent three storey bay has a steeply pitched tiled roof and an added late 18th or early 19th-century canted bay. The upper two storeys have timber windows of six over six pane sashes, and the lower ground-floor level has an entrance to former kitchens and cellars served by the stack, now a bar. To the south is a two-storey, two-bay wing, probably of mid- to late 19th-century date, with a shallow-pitched hipped slate roof and replaced timber casement windows. This wing now houses the dining room and kitchens.

Exterior: West Elevation

The west elevation has irregularly placed timber casement windows, an internal stack to the north range and external brick stack to the south range, and an entrance in the inner angle of the central bay at the foot of the stairs.

Interior: The Medieval Arch

The medieval arch which supports the north wall is a low, single-span segmental arch which may have supported a causeway approaching the bridge. The arch is approximately 4.5 metres wide internally at floor level and 3.87 metres in depth. On the north face is a single arch, on the south face a double arch with the inner arch set back approximately 40 centimetres from the outer face and approximately 25 centimetres lower. The voussoirs of the arches are of dressed stone on average of 40 by 25 by 18 centimetres, laid in alternating long and short work. The soffit of the arch is of shuttered flint. The internal arch is 1.75 metres in height above floor level at its maximum but is in part backfilled with the lower courses buried. The north opening is infilled in buff, yellow and red 2.5 inch brick. The cellar floor level of the north range of the pub is 0.6 metres higher than the ground level under the arch which is reached via 20th-century brick steps.

At basement level the west wall and north wall flanking the arch are predominately of flint with brick patching and are heavily painted. The latter may represent former abutments to the bridge. The foundations of the north wall of the building above are approximately 0.7 metres deep. Above the arch a stone corbel supports the spine beam of the cellar ceiling. Cellar floors are of stone flags.

Interior: North Range

The north range is of exposed light-scantling timber frame with chamfered ceiling beams. The plan form survives, albeit partially opened up at street level. There are mid-19th-century fireplaces with cast iron grates on the upper floors.

Interior: Central Bay

At ground floor level the central bay has a 20th-century stove in a partially rebuilt earlier stack with a slender chamfered bressumer. Ceiling beams are stop chamfered. At basement level walls are of brick and stone, part painted. The stack, which is of narrow red/brown brick of 17th-century type, is exposed and in part reworked. A framed stair with square section newels and balusters rises from basement to upper floor. Upper floor doors are of two plain panels.

Historical Context

The Angel Hotel has an important position at the end of the bridge forming, with the church, the visual entrance to the town from the east. The 12th-century bridge was probably built by Henry II in the 1170s; in 1179 he had bought land in Henley for 'making buildings'. The corresponding arch of the medieval bridge on the east bank is included in the listing for Henley Bridge. The bridge was rebuilt in 1786 adjacent to the medieval site, but the old bridge was portrayed by the Flemish artist Jan Siberechts circa 1690. The Angel Hotel was closely associated with the bridge from at least the 18th century and predates the circa 1800 extension or rebuilding of the north range, which may have been precipitated by the construction of the new bridge in 1786. Stone steps lead from the street to the river terrace.