Summary
Public house, late C18, remodelled in the inter-war period. The attached and modified agricultural range and the rear extension are not included in the listing.
Reasons for Designation
Ye Horns Inn, of C18 date, remodelled in the early C20, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: a good example of the evolution of a simple wayside inn to an improved early-C20 public house that retains significant fabric of both phases and reflects the changing tastes of public house design;
* Interior survival: the interior has not undergone significant change since the early C20 and is especially notable for the retention of increasingly rare early-C20 fixtures and fittings including a bar counter, chimney pieces and fixed seating;
* Rarity: the retention of a bar counter with functioning sliding screens is a rare survival, and the presence of a snug behind and accessed through the servery is one of only three examples known to survive in England.
History
This is a wayside inn of at least late-C18 date, which is thought to have originally been part of a working farm. The earliest section fronting Horns Lane, possibly the farmhouse, has a date stone inscribed 1782, which might represent a re-fronting of an earlier building. Subsequently, a slightly lower extension was added to the NE end. This extended building is depicted on the first edition 1:10560 Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1844 (published 1847), annotated ‘Buck House Inn’. Also depicted on this map is a linear range parallel to Ingleside Road. The two ranges abut but are depicted as separate buildings. The footprint of both ranges are unchanged on the Second edition 1:2500 map surveyed in 1891-2 (published in 1893), annotated ‘Horns Inn’. On the third edition Ordnance Survey map revised in 1910 (published in 1913) there is a suggestion that the range fronting Inglewhite Road has been partitioned at its E end, and it may have been incorporated into the public house at this time.
During the inter-war period, the interior was partially refitted, which probably coincided with render and mock timber being applied to the exterior. This and the creation of dining rooms is thought to be an attempt to provide an ‘improved’ pub, popular at the time and stemming from a desire to cut back on the amount of drunkenness associated with conventional Victorian and Edwardian public houses. Improved pubs were generally more spacious than their predecessors, often with restaurant facilities, function rooms and gardens, and consciously appealed to families and to a mix of incomes and classes. In the mid-1950s a partition forming a passage in front of the servery was removed to enlarge the main bar, but with that exception there has been no significant changes to the interior since the early C20.
Details
Public house, late C18, remodelled in the inter-war period.
MATERIALS: local sandstone, rendered with applied mock timber; slate roof coverings.
PLAN: situated at the junction of Inglewhite Road and Horns Lane forming a linear range parallel to Horns Lane, with a short, projecting return along Inglewhite Lane.
EXTERIOR: two storeys plus attics under pitched roofs of graduated slate, with coped gables and end stacks to the earliest section and a right gable stack to the addition. The exterior is characterised throughout by prominent mock timbering. All window frames to the principal elevations are C20 replacement timber sliding sash windows, with uPVC frames to the side and rear.
The SE elevation fronting Horns Lane has a slightly projecting, double-fronted section to the left with a central entrance and canopied hood. There are rectangular windows with projecting stone sills to ground and first floor and a large centrally placed date stone to the latter inscribed 1782, bearing the initials W W E. Attached to the right is a slightly lower section, which is blind. The left return has a single first floor window and a small square light to the attic. The NE elevation fronting Inglewhite Road has a canted bay window and a side entrance immediately to the right, the latter fitted with a boarded and studded door with strap hinges and a rectangular fanlight over. To the first floor there is a pair of rectangular windows, and the original pitch of the roof has visibly been altered by the insertion of a staircase. To the right is a projecting bay with scattered fenestration.
The attached former agricultural range, now converted to hotel accommodation and the rear C20 extension are not of special interest and are not included in the listing.
INTERIOR: there are waney ceiling beams throughout, which could have been added during the inter-war refit, but appear to be original C18 elements as they are found across the building, and not only in the public areas, and are all of similar dimensions.
To the right of the passage from the entrance on Horns Lane, is a small hatch with leaded folding doors for service from the side of the adjacent snug or parlour bar. To the left of the passage are two small dining rooms: that to the front has the figure four on the door and has lost its fireplace, while the rear one has the figure five on the wide-plank door, a baffle at the entrance and a 1950s brick fireplace. The small main bar is entered at the end of the passage on the right. It has a panelled dado, fixed corner seating with curved ends, and a corbel-headed stone fireplace, whose form is consistent with an C18 date; the inserted brick fireplace is of later-C20 date. Immediately to the left of the fireplace is a small inset cupboard with a panelled door. The servery has an intact, screened front of timber and glass that retains three rising panels, two of which are locked in an open position; behind the screen is contemporary bar shelving. The counter front is of brick in three sections separated by wooden strips and is thought to date to the 1930s. The snug room (or parlour bar) behind the servery is entered through a door within the screen, and has a baffle at the entrance, a panelled dado and an inter-war carved timber chimney piece with a brick insert; above and to either side there is contemporary bar back shelving. The survival of a snug room where customers and serving staff share the same space, is considered to be an exceptionally rare survival nationally. A door from the main bar with the figure three on the back of it gives entry to a passage leading from the side door on Inglewhite Lane and off this is another small dining room which has the figure one on the door; this room retains a curvilinear plaster work ceiling and an inter-war carved wooden chimney piece with a glazed tile insert. Off this passage to the left access is gained to the kitchen and service areas, and there is an inserted stair giving access to a pair of small first floor rooms.
At the far end of the entrance passage from Horns Lane, a dog-leg stair of C19 form with stick balusters leads to a large first floor dining room with an inter-war carved timber chimney piece and a 1950s tiled fireplace, and also another small dining room. The stair continues to a pair of small attic rooms which retain original, exposed double purlins of similar size and form to the ceiling beams.
Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the interiors of the ground-floor kitchen and service areas are not of special architectural or historic interest.
