The Masons Arms

The Masons Arms is a public house with origins in the 17th century, significantly altered in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is constructed of exposed local stone rubble with stone rubble stacks topped with 19th and 20th century brick, and has a slate roof, the majority or all of which was formerly thatch. The building has a four-room plan, comprising a public house and restaurant facing south. Several internal walls have been removed to increase floor space. The roofline suggests the building may have originally been three adjoining blocks, likely two-room cottages joined to form the present structure. The western block has a gable-end stack and an axial stack backing onto the left-hand room. The central block has an axial stack backing onto the right-hand block, and the right-hand block has a gable-end stack. There is limited evidence of joins between these blocks, and possible 17th or early 18th century fabric is discernible in all three. 20th century alterations to create the public house have obscured earlier layouts and structural development, and various 19th and 20th century service extensions are present to the rear. The main block and some of the rear extensions are two storeys high. The exterior has an irregular 7-window front with 20th century casement windows with glazing bars. Each block originally had a central doorway; the left-hand one is now blocked behind a stone rubble porch with a thatched roof. The central block has a late 19th century 9-panel door and the right-hand block has a late 19th - early 20th century plank door, contained within a 20th century hood that extends around a former woodshed. The roof is gable-ended, stepping down from the left block to the centre, and then changing pitch from the centre to the right block. The interior has largely been modernised in the 19th and 20th centuries, but features neatly chamfered ground floor beams, some of which may be 17th century, though not all are original to their locations. The bar, within the left-hand block, retains a definite 17th century stone fireplace with a chamfered oak lintel featuring run-out stops. The roof space was not inspected.