Dolphin Hotel

The Dolphin Hotel is a coaching inn dating from the mid-18th century, likely designed by Nathaniel Ireson. It is constructed from local stone rubble with ashlar dressings, all painted, and has a plain clay tile roof with simple gables and abutments. Brick chimney stacks are also present. The building is two storeys with an attic, arranged over six bays. It features a plinth and rusticated pilasters. The first floor has four-pane sash windows in architraved surrounds. On the ground floor, bays 1, 4 and 5 have similar sashes in Gibbsian surrounds with triple keystones. To the left of bay 1 is a former doorway, now blocked, with a matching surround, and a matching surviving door bay 3. Bay 2 incorporates a wide six-pane window with Gibbsian jambs and a plain architraved segmental arch with a single keystone. Bay 4 has a large segmental coaching access archway, with a rusticated surround and single keystone, retaining what are probably the original heavy boarded gates. A hanging sign is positioned on wrought iron brackets between bays 4 and 5 on the first floor. The inn has been much altered to the side, rear, and internally. The building’s date is not precisely known; it was recorded as the Rainbow Inn in 1774, with its name changing to the Dolphin in 1794.