The Golden Lion

The Golden Lion is a coaching inn that has been converted into a hotel. It was built in the mid-18th century and has undergone some alterations since then. The exterior is roughcast with a pantile roof and features a complex layout, including a central rear range and a long wing to the rear left, behind the main three-storey, ten-bay structure.

On the ground floor, the third bay has a door made of six fielded panels beneath a fanlight with Gothick glazing bars, all set in an ashlar surround with panelled pilasters and beaded consoles that support an open pediment. This entrance is protected by a projecting open porch, which has a canopy held up by fluted Doric columns. A golden lion statue sits on a plinth on the flat roof of the porch, which is edged with a low railing. In the tenth bay, there are leaved board doors leading to a carriageway. The building also features large canted bay windows with 20-pane sashes and flat lead roofs in the first to second, third to fourth, and fifth to sixth bays, along with sash windows with glazing bars in the eighth and ninth bays.

The first floor has sash windows with thick glazing bars, flush exposed sash boxes, and projecting ashlar sills. The second floor features nine-pane unequally-hung sash windows, also with flush exposed sash boxes and projecting ashlar sills. A cornice runs along the top of the building. There are brick stacks located between the third and fourth bays, the seventh and eighth bays, and at the right end, with another stack visible on the rear left wing. Historically, this was the leading coaching house in the town, capable of stabling 30 horses.

Inside, there is a central dog-leg staircase with turned balusters that leads up to the second floor, and some doors feature six fielded panels.