Seymour Arms Public House

WITHAM FRIARY

294/0/10007 Seymour Arms public house 16-AUG-04

GV II Public house. 1866; for the Duke of Somerset; Hardwick and Co. builders. Coursed local limestone with red brick dressings. Hipped clay plain tile roof with bands of shaped tiles and crested ridge tiles. Brick axial stacks. PLAN: Double-depth plan with central entrance hall with servery at the back, public bar to left with hatch to cellar behind; room on right of entrance probably the parlour and with private rooms behind and short service wing at back. C20 lavatory outshut on left [NW] side. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. Symmetrical south west front. Large 16-pane sashes in brick surrounds with small keystones in flat brick arches and stone cills; central wide stone pilastered portico with entablature, flush-panel double doors and rectangular overlight. Wrought-iron public house sign on right hand corner in the form of an ornate scrolled bracket with a small bunch of grapes hanging from the end and a banner sign underneath, inscribed Seymour Arms. Right hand return [SE] symmetrical 3-bays with similar sashes and with rear wing set back on right with half-hipped roof and large axial stack. Left hand return [NW side] three symmetrical bays, right hand blind, 16-pane sashes and with C20 single-storey lavatory outshut at centre with lean-to roof. INTERIOR: Central entrance hall with stone flag floor and servery at the back with a glazed screen, a counter and a serving hatch. To the left is the public bar, also with a stone floor, simple benches around the walls with matchboard backs, a stone chimneypiece with a bracketed shelf and a serving hatch to the cellar at the back. To the right of the entrance hall there is what was the publican's parlour with a fireplace with a chimneypiece with console brackets to the mantel shelf. The Seymour Arms is a rare survival of a simple rural public house with an unaltered interior complete with fittings. SOURCE: CAMRA's National Inventory of Pub Interiors of Outstanding Historic Interest; 104.