Summary
Inn, probably early C19, interior remodelled in early C20.
Reasons for Designation
This early C19 building, operating as a hotel in 1860, with an inserted early C20 pub interior, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Interior: the ground floor retains its original plan of three main rooms comprising a tap room, a domino room and a dining room, with a small cellar;
* Rarity: service is at the head of the cellar steps and this pub is considered to be one of fewer than twenty pubs nationally without a bar counter of the usual kind;
* Architectural: the building has an intact and symmetrical early C19 exterior, retaining mostly unhorned sash window frames;
* Historical: an estate pub named after the local Milbank family, which retains a dining room where the monthly rent collection took place and where the licencee served a cooked meal for the tenants.
History
This building was constructed in the early C19 on the site of an earlier coaching inn. It opened as the Milbank Hotel in 1860 and is named after the local land-owning family of that name who remain the owners. The present interior was inserted in the early C20. Since 1860 there have only ever been three names over the door, the present licensee taking over in 1987 from his father who had held the licence since 1939.
Details
Materials: squared stone with tooled-and-margined lintels, sills and door surround; graduated Lakeland slate roofs, the lower outbuilding having a tiled roof.
Plan: the inn has a linear plan with a rear outshut and is prominently sited within the village oriented east to west. The ground floor comprises three former public rooms accessed by an L-shaped corridor, with a central, rear staircase leading up to the domestic accommodation. A small cellar lies across the corridor accessed by a short flight of stone steps. There is a courtyard to the rear with a pair of outbuildings flanking the west side.
Exterior: the main (south) elevation is symmetrical with two storeys and 5 bays. It has a central six-panelled door with a plain overlight, in a raised stone surround. This is flanked by a pair of 16-pane unhorned sash windows (that to bay four is a replacement) and there are five identical windows to the first floor. Above and to the left of the door is an historic signboard with painted arms and the motto 'Resolute and Firm'. There are stepped-and-banded end and ridge chimney stacks. The rear elevation has an L-shaped outshut with an arched stair window, fitted with a 16-pane sash with intersecting glazing bars at the head, and there is a first floor 12-pane Yorkshire sash to its right.
Interior: entered into a vestibule with a stone flagged floor and through a timber glazed screen of small, coloured geometric panes with double doors into a corridor with a stone-flagged floor; the public part of the building consists of three rooms, only one of which, the tap room, is in regular use. Its doorway faces a short flight of stone stairs across the corridor down to the cellar. There is no bar counter and service now takes place at the head of these stairs; formerly service took place through a timber and glazed service hatch still in situ to the right. The Tap Room has a stone-flagged floor half-height panelling, a fireplace to the west wall, fixed seating with boarded backs to all sides and a baffle by the door. The Domino Room lies to the left (not inspected) and the Dining Room with a C20 fireplace lies to the right and was the location of the monthly rent collection on the 2nd Tuesday in January and where the licencee provided a cooked meal for the tenants.
Subsidiary features: a rectangular linear range with a lean-to roof at the north end is set to the west side of a courtyard; it comprises four rooms including a coal shed, stable and wash house, the latter with original flue and set pot.
