Attached outbuildings to the Red Lion Inn

Attached Outbuildings to the Red Lion Inn

These outbuildings form a complex of farm and inn structures dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, arranged in an L-plan to the south of the town hall around the inn's yard. They are constructed in buff sandstone (some whitewashed or painted) with stone-slate roofs.

The complex comprises three main elements: a long barn aligned north-south, a short barn aligned east-west at the southern end of the long barn, and a western lean-to that connects the short barn to the separately-listed inn's rear outshut, with the lean-to and outshut forming parts of a single phase.

Long Barn

The long barn is built in squared rubble. Its western façade features quoins at the north end rising to three-quarter height, above which the angle is rendered. Between two of the lower quoins sits a small blocked window. To the right are a blocked window with stone sill and lintel and quoined jambs; a doorway with quoined jambs and deep lintel with shaped door head; the scar of external steps; an inserted hayloft doorway; a ground-floor doorway with quoined jambs and deep lintel with segmental door head; and a cart entrance with quoined left jamb and segmental-arched lintel, topped by a square pitching eye. The right jamb of the cart entrance is obscured by the abutting link to the short barn. The barn is abutted to the east and south by a 21st-century mixed-use development.

The north face is of brick and render infill between the stone outer walls (all painted), with quoins to both angles rising to three-quarter height. Both floors have bar-hung timber doors, and the gable contains a boarded square pitching hole; above this the cut purlin ends are visible. A very short return of the eastern façade shows the quoins of the north-east angle. The roof is of graduated stone flags, with four rooflights to each pitch.

Internally, only the eastern cart entrance bay was accessible. This bay is divided from the rest of the barn by a full-height cross wall. The space is open to the roof with historic plaster to eaves height, and retains hewn wall-plates and a truss with tie beam, collar and struts. The rest of the roof structure is modern.

Short Barn

The short barn is built in coursed rubble and is abutted to the east by the long barn and to the south by modern buildings in the former Thanet's Yard. To the west it is abutted at ground floor by the western lean-to.

The north façade comprises two bays: the left bay is a set-back link to the long barn with stacked doorways in square surrounds. The wide bay to the right is quoined to the angles and has central stacked doorways, flanking ground-floor windows with modern joinery, and a square pitching door below the eaves offset to the left; all with square surrounds. The gutter has scrolled iron stays. The western gable contains a square pitching door. The roof is of graduated stone flags.

Only the ground floor of the main bay was accessible internally. This retains a ceiling beam, though all surfaces have been overlaid with modern materials.

Western Lean-To

The western lean-to is abutted to the south by modern buildings in the former Thanet's Yard, and to the east and west by the short barn and the inn's rear outshut respectively. Its northern façade (formerly whitewashed) is of random squared stone with modern strap pointing. There are three unevenly-spaced doorways, the left of which is blocked. The roof is of graduated stone flags with one rooflight. In the south-west corner stands a modern small square chimney stack.

Internally, the lean-to has been lined with modern blockwork and plasterboard ceilings. The roof retains a chamfered wall-plate and hewn purlins and rafters. A cross-wall between the two extant doorways rises to the roof, and put-logs indicate the original ceiling arrangement.