Former Skittle Alley, The Old Inn

Former Skittle Alley, The Old Inn, Minety

A cottage with barn built in-line in the mid-17th century, later converted to stables in the late 18th century and adapted into a skittle alley in the mid-20th century. The building is constructed of coursed rubble with roughly dressed quoins and a pitched stone roof. It is gabled and carried on substantial upper cruck trusses with staggered trench purlins.

The north elevation includes two blocked windows, a doorway inserted in the mid-20th century, an original part-blocked doorway converted into a window, a hayloft doorway extending above the eaves, and a further window. The west gable has two windows, one of which may originally have been a doorway. The south elevation has two modern openings (a doorway and window) with timber lintels and a single window with a voussoired stone head. Timber framing is visible in the upper part of the wall, and stonework above indicates the raising of the roof-line. The east gable contains four tiers of pigeon holes in the apex, with a blocked window below (now obscured by a modern extension) and a slightly off-centre door with substantial stone lintel and three cut-off but protruding original floor beams.

Interior

The ground floor is divided into six bays by chamfered oak beams with run-out stops typical of the mid-17th century, except for the second bay from the east which is of pre-cast concrete. Most of the attached joists are original, although some, particularly towards the east end, have been replaced and one has been cut to create an access hole. The floor is concrete. Other features include a niche in the north-east corner indicating the position of the original staircase; recesses in the upper part of the wall and early truncated beams indicating that the roof has been raised; a series of four rectangular recesses in the south wall and a small recess in the north wall. Access to the first floor is via a modern flight of stairs.

The roof is framed in five bays with a double-width bay between the two east trusses and is supported by four upper cruck trusses with staggered trenched purlins. The east pair of trusses have halved and pegged heads. The west truss has had its head reinforced by a pair of ties and vertical post, whilst the remaining one has had its head removed and a flat reinforcement bar inserted. The secondary rafters are all modern. Other features include a blocked window at eaves height adjacent to the original stairwell, two other small windows also projecting into the eaves, and a hayloft door inserted into the roof.

The building retains a significant proportion of its 17th-century fabric including all the upper cruck trusses and purlins. Its development is legible and it retains features of both the 17th and 18th centuries. It has group value with the Old Inn, which is listed at Grade II.