White Lion Royal Hotel, Including Former Stable Range and Associated Wall Adjoining to the Rear

White Lion Royal Hotel

This is a large inn of irregular plan, principally of three storeys with a dormer floor above. It is constructed principally of whitened brick and rubble with applied decorative timber framing to the added upper floors. The roofs are slate with simple moulded bargeboards and a Victorian brick chimney to the right.

The primary range comprises six bays set back from the street-line, with plain four-pane sashes to the upper floors. Between the first and second floors is an applied stone cartouche bearing the date 1759 and the initials WRM.

An L-shaped mid-18th-century range projects to the left at right-angles. Each arm of this range has three windows at first-floor level with sashes as before. The ground floor facing the High Street features two wooden canted bay windows. The right-hand bay of this section has a large gable to the attic floor with deep verges, containing a four-light transmullioned oriel window with applied quatrefoil decoration below.

To the right of the primary block is a two-storey late Georgian addition with a shallow bowed front and hipped roof. This has tripartite sash windows to both floors, with 12-pane unhorned central sashes flanked by similar 8-pane sections. The ground-floor window has a segmental head. Between this projection and the L-shaped addition is a single-storey glazed and slated early 20th-century infill section advanced in front of the primary block, featuring a central gabled porch.

The attic floors have hipped dormers with cross windows, and a large gabled dormer occupies the centre of the primary block, fitted with paired cross windows and a surmounting weathervane. The rear elevation is plain white stuccoed with four-pane segmentally-headed sashes. A low-storey Victorian gabled service addition projects to the right, and a taller contemporary block projects similarly to the left, linked by a modern flat-roofed single-storey infill block.

Adjoining to the rear, following the lane which links High Street with Arenig Street, is the former stable block. This is a long one-and-a-half-storey range of rubble construction with corrugated asbestos roof, appearing to belong to the primary period. The lane-facing side has a modern entrance with eight-panel double doors to the left, two blocked openings to the right, and a two-light window with exposed timber lintel. The loft floor has two vent slits and two boarded windows with pegged oak frames. The inner side has three later stable entrances with boarded doors; the right-hand entrance has a modern garage entrance to its left and a modern window to its right, together with further blocked openings. The northern corner of this block is canted where the gable faces Arenig Street.

Adjoining this block to the southwest and running parallel with Arenig Street is a rubble wall approximately two metres high, probably of mid-18th-century origin, which partly encloses the inn's rear courtyard. It runs for approximately ten metres before terminating.

Interior

The right-hand bar on the ground floor retains its primary beamed ceiling of circa 1700, with a stopped-chamfered main beam and plain joists. A large inglenook fireplace features a flat stopped-chamfered bressummer and modern shelf. The central staircase is essentially primary and of dog-leg type, extending to the second (originally attic) floor; a further flight in similar style leads to the upper floor and is a circa 1900 addition. The staircase is of oak with turned balusters and square newels fitted with flat pyramidal cappings. The moulded rail has 19th-century carving to the first flight, with similar carving to the lower strings.

On the first floor, two two-panel fielded doors survive, together with three pegged oak doorcases, all apparently primary. The remainder are of Victorian four-panel type. A boarded cellar door with pegged frame and original iron strap hinges is present. To the left of the stairwell is a small panelled parlour with oak panelling of circa 1900.