Stag And Hounds Public House And Attached Gates

The Stag and Hounds public house, formerly a court, dates back to 1483, with significant rebuilding in the 18th century and further alterations in the 1960s and 1987. It's constructed of rendered rubble with limestone details, and has a pantile roof. Originally comprising a single front room with an open court to the rear (now infilled), the building is three storeys high, with an attic and basement, and has a four-window front. The front has a wide gable, with the first floor projecting forward and supported by four closely-chamfered stone Doric columns, above a moulded entablature. There are panelled clasping pilasters and moulded strings to each floor, along with bracketed eaves. The central doorway now has 20th-century double doors, flanked by a 19th-century two-light window on the left and a four-light window on the right. Upper floor windows are in bolection-moulded frames with 6/6-pane sashes. A 1988 section forms the right-hand return, while the rest of the side is also from the same period. The rear has narrow projecting sections on both the left and right sides.

The interior was extensively altered in 1987, although some original 18th-century panelling and cornices remain in the front ground-floor room. This room also features a stone fire surround with a pulvinated frieze and cornice. The front stairwell is early 18th century, with an uncut string, barleysugar balusters, square newels with pyramidal finials, and a moulded rail. A fully-panelled room on the first floor has a 6-panel door and a 20th-century fire surround. The former rear court contains a well with a 19th-century iron hand pump, featuring a fly wheel and pump rods. A stone vaulted basement has a barrel skid.

Attached timber fences flank the front doorway, with newels having spike finials, and gates provide access to the left-hand cellar hatch. The building originally served as the Pie-Poudre Court of the Market, which reputedly took place in the first-floor room. The gable was once truncated, and the right-hand return was rebuilt following the demolition of a neighbouring building due to the construction of the Inner Ring Road.