The Dolphin Public House

The Dolphin Public House is an early 18th-century public house with 19th- and 20th-century additions and alterations. It is constructed of limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, and some large ashlar blocks, with earlier ranges rendered. The roofs are pantiled. The building comprises substantial ranges running parallel, with the section closest to the canal being the oldest. A lower stable block is attached to the left of the roadside frontage.

The public house is two and three storeys high, with mainly plain sash windows. The front elevation has two large tripartite sash windows in flush stone surrounds with broad plain mullions. On the ground floor, there are 20th-century four- and five-light stone mullioned casements in recessed ovolo mould surrounds; a square light occupies the former door opening to the right. A flat-roofed 20th-century porch shelters the central entrance doors. The front has coped gables, each with a stack. The left-hand bay projects slightly forward under a swept-down roof. To the left of this is the low stable block, featuring a small casement at eaves and a garage door below, as well as a rebuilt end gable. The return to the right, by the lane leading to the canal bridge, features two gables. One gable is constructed of large, plain ashlar blocks, with a large plain sash above a twelve-pane early 19th-century sash; the other gable has two plain sashes above similar twelve-pane windows. The rear block is taller than the front and is believed to be the original pub, extended by one bay to the left. It has three small plain sashes above two, with a blank central bay. The ground floor is mainly covered by later lean-to units, with a glazed door to the right. A continuous string course runs to the first and second floor levels, below which is a blocking course with a parapet. Coped gables and a raised coped party wall feature, along with two stacks. The interior has not been inspected.

The pub was likely constructed when the canal was brought through in the early 18th century (opened in 1727), originally accessed from the canal side, although it has since been reoriented to the road. An engraving by W. Giller, 'near BATH', published on 21 August 1821 by P. Salmoni in Bath, and an undated mid-18th-century view ‘A View of Twiverton Locks, on the River Avon, near Bath’, both held at Bath Reference Library, illustrate the building.