Fleur-de-lys public house

Fleur-de-lys Public House

This public house comprises a central block of late 16th or early 17th-century origin, extended eastward by an additional bay and outbuilding in the 18th century, and westward by a further bay in the early 20th century. Later 20th-century extensions to the south are not of special architectural interest.

The building is constructed primarily of brick laid in English bond, now painted, though stone rubble remains visible internally. The roof is thatched with three ridge brick chimneys.

The structure follows a two-bay end chimneystack plan, subsequently enlarged to the east by an additional bay and outbuilding, and to the west by a further bay.

The north-facing front elevation features four eyebrow dormers, the two western dormers equipped with horizontally-sliding sash windows and the others with casement windows. Ground-floor windows are late 19th or early 20th-century wooden casements. Two iron ties run between the lower and upper floors, one of which is S-shaped. The main entrance is positioned below the penultimate dormer to the east, comprising a wide half-glazed door beneath a late 19th-century gabled wooden porch with a thatched roof, flanked by diagonal buttresses. The western bay contains an early 20th-century entrance with a half-glazed door flanked by side-lights, set beneath a flat moulded wooden weather hood supported on curved wooden brackets. The east gable elevation displays a casement window, while the west elevation has one casement on both ground and attic floors, with two further ground-floor casements in the late 20th-century toilet extension. The south or rear elevation is wider than the north side towards the east where an outshot remains, though a 20th-century flat-roofed extension has been added. To the west, the toilet block is thatched and features three 20th-century windows.

Internally, the original eastern entrance opens into a passage with a stone flagged floor, thin wall framing dividing an internal partition, and two older close-studded timbers embedded in a wooden soleplate. The western wall follows a formerly external chimneystack, with a curved section retaining a stoke hole near the floor, probably for fuelling a bread oven. The large central bar contains a substantial open fireplace with a cambered wooden bressumer featuring a two-inch chamfer with a lamb's tongue stop at the southern end, the hearth laid in English bond brickwork of which some dates to the 16th century. Immediately west of this fireplace is an axial beam with a two-inch chamfer and lamb's tongue stops. Other ceiling beams in this bar are of 20th-century date but may contain earlier beams boxed in. Stone rubble is visible in the north wall. A 20th-century straight flight staircase ascends by the original south external wall, and a 20th-century bar counter has been inserted into the original south wall. Behind the central bar stands a former lean-to outshot with a raking strut and several thick rafters visible, along with a ledged plank door in the south wall.

The eastern bar contains a further open fireplace of 18th-century date with a wooden bressumer featuring a run-out stop and one-inch chamfer, though some brickwork was renewed in the 20th century. Immediately north of the fireplace is a cupboard door accessing a wooden half-winder staircase, with a ledged plank door on the upper floor. The western bar has a boarded ceiling with beaded edge and central spine beam, while the western wall features a partition of thin scantling. The western bar also contains a 20th-century bar counter and an imported spine beam. The cellar, at ground level, occupies the former outbuilding to the east.