Church House Inn

This is a public house, believed to be the former Church House, dating probably to the late 15th or early 16th century. It has undergone additions in the 20th century, particularly at the west end and rear. The building is constructed of painted stone, with a slated front roof slope and a corrugated iron rear slope. It follows a 4-room and cross-passage ground plan, originally encompassing a hall and inner room, both heated, to the right of the passage, and a buttery and kitchen to the left. A notable original feature is the unrestored front door to the kitchen, possibly indicating a specialised building function. The main doorway to the cross-passage has a chamfered lintel and a canopy with a slated pent roof, and appears to have been narrowed. To the right is a projecting chimney stack with set-offs and a tapered top, belonging to the former hall. The doorway to the kitchen, now blocked internally, has a chamfered lintel with step-stops; the moulded timber doorframe has durn-jambs and a Tudor arch head within a rectangular moulded surround. The original plank door retains its original iron hinges, with the base jambs now mortar-covered. The windows are irregular in their placement. There are two windows to the right of the hall stack, and one to the left of each ground-floor window. The second storey has one window to the right of the stack and three to the left. Most windows have 19th or early 20th-century wood casements, except for the window to the left of the main doorway, which has a thin-glazed barred sash with 8 panes per sash. Each gable has a stone chimney stack with weathering and a tapered top. Inside, the former hall features a moulded ceiling beam that is slightly charred. The fireplace has a chamfered wood lintel with run-out stops, designed for a wider opening. A stud-and-panel screen with ogee mouldings and convex stops, set high enough to accommodate a bench, divides the hall from the inner room; the head-beam is also charred. The studs are plain towards the inner room. The former kitchen has a wide gable fireplace with a chamfered wood lintel and run-out stops, one of which extends past the edge of the opening, and a large oven, now relined in brick. A projecting staircase extends along the rear wall of the hall, canted at the west end, with the upper section corbelled at the east end to avoid the rear of the cross-passage, although there is no visible door at this point. The roof has 18th or early 19th-century roof-trusses with collars pegged to the principals. A charred purlin at the east end suggests the original roof was damaged in a fire.