The Blue Ship

The Blue Ship is a public house converted from a farmstead cottage around 1855, with a timber-framed core dating to approximately 1540-1600. The building was substantially remodelled between 1884 and 1891 with the addition of a new western domestic range and a detached stable block.

The main three-bay range, which originally featured a smoke bay at its west end, runs parallel to the road. Its south-facing front elevation has a brick ground floor laid in Flemish bond with a square hung-tile upper storey. The diamond-leaded casement windows and pair of plank and batten doors were inserted during the 1884-1891 works. The eastern end of this range is marked by a gablet hipped roof meeting a single-storey toilet block built around 1910. To the east stands an early 19th-century timber-framed and weatherboarded barn on a brick plinth, set square to the main range with a later lean-to added to its south side. The walls are rendered in hung-tiles with a brick plinth and clay tile roof throughout.

The western domestic range, constructed 1884-1891, shows Queen Anne style influence. It comprises a broad gable-fronted bay to the south and a symmetrical three-bay principal frontage to the west. The ground floor is laid in Flemish bond brick, with alternating bands of square and bullnose hung-tiles above, divided by a decorative sawtooth or cogged brickwork band. All windows are diamond-leaded casements with chamfered mullions and transoms. Ground-floor windows have arched brick heads, while the upper windows are set within gabled dormers with shaped brackets supporting overhanging hung-tile canopies. Decorative scalloped bargeboards ornament the gable ends. The domestic entrance at the centre of the west elevation features a timber-constructed pitched-roof porch with run-out chamfer detailing and shaped brackets, set on a brick plinth with a diamond-set floor. The door is part-glazed with fielded panels of diagonally-set boards. The roof has a central brick chimney stack and ridge tiles. A single-storey kitchen block with a hipped roof and diamond-leaded casement windows adjoins to the north.

The detached brick stable block, also built 1884-1891, stands to the west of the plot. It has a double-storey, gable-fronted central bay with a taking-in door to a hay loft and a two-part stable door beneath. Single-storey bays flank the central section, with a broad carriage door to the south and a plank-and-batten door to the north. An original cast-iron water pump on a brick and stone base stands on the south side.

Internally, the main entrance leads directly into the east room, which retains substantial timber-frame elements including wall posts, a central spine beam, roughly-worked joists, simple door posts and a lintel. The room has an uneven brick floor of red and over-fired bricks, with settle and fixed-bench seating. An early 20th-century brick inglenook fireplace set in the centre of the east wall contains a central cast-iron wood burner flanked by fitted benches. Service to the room is from the north via a doorway-cum-hatch with a small counter, with a further small service hatch (now blocked) nearby. Mortise fillets on the underside of the central spine beam suggest the room may once have been divided into two equal sections.

West of the main room is a partially stone-flagged corridor with an east wall of timber braces and brick infill, potentially forming part of the narrow smoke bay of the original three-bay cottage. This corridor opens south and leads to a smaller room also served by a doorway-cum-hatch with counter. The south wall appears to have been the original rear wall of the three-bay cottage, retaining substantial timber wall posts, wall plate and mid-rails (mostly painted over but identifiable). At the north end is a brick hearth, an early 19th-century addition from when the cottage was extended. The combined servery and tap room/cellar store connecting both rooms is also part of the early 19th-century rear extension, retaining further timber-frame elements in its south wall including wall posts, mid-rails and part of the wall plate. This room features a tongue-and-groove panelled ceiling, a fixed stillage rack for casks to the east wall, and wooden shelving and counters of indeterminate but potentially mid to late 19th-century date.

The front western room, converted to public use around 1973, retains features possibly original to the 1884-1891 domestic range, including a cast-iron fireplace in a marble surround and fitted cupboards. The parquet floor and dado tongue-and-groove panelling are probably later additions. The rear west room, converted approximately 1986, is carpeted with a cast-iron fireplace with glazed cheek tiles and later dado panelling, plus two sections of built-in late 19th-century cupboards. Stairs to the upper floor are set between the front and rear western rooms. North of the rear room a doorway connects to the kitchen with quarry-tile floor. The separately accessed toilet block to the east of the central range was built around 1910 and was refitted in the later 20th century.

The interiors of the stable block, private upper-floor rooms and barn were not inspected. Additional elements of early timber frame are understood to be retained in the upper floors to the front of the central range, and the roof of this range is understood to be of clasped purlin structure.

A post-mounted signboard with wrought-iron work and modern pub sign stands at the entrance.