The Hautboy Hotel

The Hautboy Hotel is a hotel dating from 1864, built by the first Earl of Lovelace, with later 20th-century additions. It is constructed of red and brown brick in a Rat-trap bond, with extensions in similar materials, and has blue slate roofs. The building is cruciform in plan, situated on an island site at the junction of two roads. The north-east and west wings are three and two storeys high, while the south wing is two storeys high. Decorative terracotta bands are present, featuring oval panels and dentilled billets above each floor, as well as machicolations to the eaves. Decorative panels depicting the Lovelace Coat of Arms are on the stacks. The north-east and west wings are five-sided, with a tall centre stack above each centre side. The windows are metal-framed, arched, and leaded, set under label mouldings in chamfered edge surrounds. There are four windows to the north wing, and two windows to the east and west wings. The south wing has four bays with giant buttresses; a large hall window is on the east side, alongside a 20th-century extension across the ground floor. A 20th-century gabled wood and glass porch is located on the east side, set in the angle between the hall and the east wing. A Baronial hall is within the south wing, featuring a minstrels' gallery at the north end, inspired by a building the Earl of Lovelace saw during his travels on the Continent.