The Lamb Arcade

The Lamb Arcade is a coaching inn, now comprising shops, with a complex development history spanning the 17th to 20th centuries. The rear sections date to the mid-17th century, while the front range was built in the early 18th century, with later 19th-century additions to the rear and 20th-century alterations. The construction incorporates a rendered brick plinth, grey brick with red brick dressings, an old plain-tile roof and brick end stacks. The building is arranged around a courtyard.

The front range, facing the High Street, is three storeys and five windows wide. It features a central basket-arched carriage opening with a stone dropped keystone, now containing 20th-century glazed doors forming a recessed porch. The ground and first floors have 12-pane unhorned sashes with segmental brick heads and keystones. A painted flat band runs between the ground and first floors. The second floor has 9-pane unhorned sashes also with segmental brick heads and keystones. A dentil course defines the eaves.

The left return includes a mid-17th-century section towards the centre, an early 18th-century range to the right, and a late 19th-century range to the left. The right-hand section shows red brickwork, the centre features render on timber framing, the left has 19th-century red brick, and the first floor is rendered, likely over brickwork. The end of the range to the right is three storeys high. A central section is two storeys and has an attic, with an eight-window range. It includes two angled bays with horizontal sashes on the right and a five-light wood ovolo mullioned window to the left of the centre. A three-light window is located to the left of the mullioned window. The first floor is jettied. The windows include 12-pane unhorned sashes and 4-light wood ovolo moulded windows. A pair of 16-pane unhorned sashes are located to the left of the centre, followed by two 4-light wood ovolo mullioned windows, and another pair of 16-pane unhorned sashes on the right. Jettied cross-gables with 4-light casements are present to the left and right of the centre. A 19th-century extension to the left is two storeys and two windows wide, with irregular fenestration.

The interior includes a 20th-century dog-leg staircase with landings, some visible timber framing, and some blocked fireplaces. An early 18th-century addition to the right of the High Street front—likely formerly part of an adjoining property, the National Westminster Bank—is three storeys and single-window wide, with tripartite sashes to each floor, and flat brick bands between the ground and first floors, and the first and second floors, with a cornice and parapet to the eaves.

According to historical records, the inn’s landlord, Silvanus Wiggins, entertained William of Orange in 1688 prior to his journey to London to assume the crown.