Napoleon Inn

The Napoleon Inn is a public house, likely dating from the early 17th century, situated on Forrabury and High Street in Boscastle. The building is constructed of rendered and painted slate stone rubble, with a slate roof. The structure comprises a higher range on the left with gabled ends and a lower range on the right with a hipped end. A rear wing has a gabled end. Several stacks are present: a stone rubble front lateral stack with a brick shaft on the left, a brick axial stack to the rear of the right-hand range, and a projecting stone rubble stack on the gable end of the rear wing.

The original layout is uncertain, but it may have had a two-room and through-passage plan with a large room on the left, heated by a front lateral stack, and a lower room on the right, possibly originally heated by a rear lateral stack which later became axial with the addition of the rear wing. The service wing was probably added around the mid-17th century, creating an overall ‘L’ shaped plan and being heated by a gable end stack. Subsequent internal partitions have been altered, the left-hand range has been partly rebuilt, and the roof raised. 20th-century extensions have been added to the rear of the left-hand range. Straight joints in the masonry indicate alterations, and two blocked openings are visible in the right-hand range. A circa 19th-century single-storey outbuilding sits to the rear.

The front facade is asymmetrical, with three windows and a ground level sloping to the left. The left side has a horned sash in a blocked opening and a blocked inserted opening within the front lateral stack. A circa 19th-century stone rubble entrance porch is located in the lower range on the right, with a lean-to, stone rubble, 19th-century extension adjoining. The upper floor has a 12-pane sash to the right of the front lateral stack, a two-light casement, and a further 12-pane sash.

Internally, slate flag floors are present. A roughly cut granite lintel is visible over the fireplace in the rear wing. The roof structure over the higher left-hand range was renewed in the 20th century. The lower right-hand range retains one circa 17th-century truss with a morticed apex and diagonal set ridge; the collar has been renewed and bolted. The roof structure over the rear service wing was not inspected.