3 and 5 Grantham Road, former Red Lion Inn, Bottesford, Leicestershire

Summary

A former roadside inn (now two dwellings: numbers 3 and 5 Grantham Road), with a C15 core and C17 and C18 additions.

Description

A former roadside inn (now two dwellings: numbers 3 and 5 Grantham Road), with a C15 core and C17, C18, C20 and C21 additions.

MATERIALS: external walls are mostly brick, but in Blue Lias stone to the south wall of 5 Grantham Road. All external walls are rendered. Most internal walls are brick or concrete blockwork, some are timber framing with plaster infill. Clay pantiles cover the roof.

PLAN: roughly rectangular, facing south to Grantham Road with additions to the north.

EXTERIOR: the principal elevation faces south to Grantham Road. The dominant element is the C18 two-storey block towards its east end. Easternmost is a single-storey, late-C20 extension set back from the line of the rest of the elevation. Adjoining the main block to the west is the oldest part of the building, again two stories, but narrower and with a lower ridge height than the main block. The west end is single-storey but with a half-basement and attic. All are under pantile roofs with gables to east and west. A large chimney rises through the centre of the ridge of the main block, with another lower stack through the western gable of the block adjoining to the west. The two front porches, rear single-storey extensions and all doors and windows date to the C21 conversion.

The main block is symmetrical with a central porch over a re-instated central doorway and a window either side of the doorway at ground floor level, with a further two windows above those in the first floor. The element adjoining to the west loses this symmetry; it has a porch to its right, with a window left of the porch and a first-floor window further left. Below the eaves, to this block only, is a double brick dentil course. The western block is solid to the front.

The west, gable end, elevation of the western block has a low window close to the ground lighting the basement, and two windows at ground floor level. From eaves level to the apex of the gable is an exposed, C21 oak frame, north of this is the west side of the C21 rear extension. The north, rear elevation is enclosed by the C21 extension at ground floor level, with a few first-floor windows above. The eastern side elevation has the late-C20 extension to the south and C21 extension to the north.

INTERIOR:

3 Grantham Road (western and central blocks)

Entry is through a C21 porch and door into a lounge, formerly the public bar of the pub and the central of the building’s three externally visible older sections. The eastern wall of this lounge is the party wall with the eastern, C18 section, which is now 5 Grantham Road. This party wall has been extended in concrete blockwork to partition the two new properties. A section of this party wall is exposed to show a stone base with timber (oak) framing above, with the timber posts in the wall joined into two chamfered beams supporting exposed joists, all in what appear to be their original locations. North of the lounge, and open to it, is a dining area within the C21 rear extension containing a stone lined well, originally external to the building. A brick fireplace is in the west wall of the lounge. At the north end of the lounge are steps down to the former beer cellar, now a snug, and C21 steps up to the first floor.

On the first floor are bedrooms to the west and east (western and central blocks of the building). The western room has remnants of a stone fireplace exposed in the base of its eastern wall, with a timber post above joined into a chamfered beam supporting joists as in the lounge below. The eastern room has exposed timber framing in its eastern wall, above the party wall section exposed in the lounge below and likely contiguous with it. It is from these first-floor wall timbers that tree-ring analysis provided a mid-C15 date.

The stairs continue up to the attic level where there is another bedroom west of a small landing (in the lower roofed western block), and bathroom (in the slightly higher central block) to the east. It is understood that a lime-ash gypsum floor was inserted to create this usable attic space, probably in the C18. The roof timbers in the bedroom have been tree-ring dated to the early to mid-C17 with large diameter purlins which are left exposed. The roof over the landing and bathroom dates to around 1750 and is of simple construction with rafters over single purlins with curved tie beams.

5 Grantham Road (eastern C18 block and late-C20 addition)

Entry is through a C21 porch and door in a reinstated doorway into a small hallway. Here C21 stairs have been inserted, cutting through existing floors following the large central stone chimney up to attic level. Turning right from the hall is entry to an open plan kitchen and dining room; the southern dining section is the former main lounge of the pub (the eastern half of this mid-C18 building). The dining area is under a ceiling with an exposed spine beam and joists. The kitchen to the north of the dining area is the C21 replacement of the late-C20 extension to the pub’s lounge. The western half of the mid-C18 building (formerly the snug bar of the pub), is now a living room with a similar ceiling to the dining area; it shares a party wall with the living room in 3 Grantham Road to the west. The late-C20 extension to the east of the dining room has been partitioned of from the former pub lounge to form a study.

Upstairs, to the west is a bedroom with a stone fireplace in the exposed chimney. The stairs to the attic floor pass a second stone fireplace in the chimney before arriving at a small landing with bedroom to the west and bathroom to the east.

History

The former Red Lion Inn is located east of the centre of Bottesford, on the north side of the Grantham to Nottingham road. The inn is thought to have served as a public house in Bottesford since at least the early-C18, and its external appearance would support this time as likely for the building’s construction. However, recent research and tree-ring dating has revealed its earliest phase to have been in the C15 with it then being extended in the mid-C17, and again in the mid-C18.

The earliest map to show the Red Lion in detail is the 1824 Ordnance Survey, where in addition to the main building, outbuildings are shown to the east. These housed stabling, a wheelwright and smithy. The smithy is noted on the 1883 Ordnance Survey Map, this map also shows a new outbuilding attached to the north-west corner to the rear. By the time of the 1904 map, the outbuildings have extended south to the roadside, enclosing a yard east of the inn. The 1972 map shows that the eastern outbuildings have been cleared, and that there are small additions attached to the north side of the main building. In the late-C20, a single storey addition was added to the inn’s north-eastern corner.

This evidence shows what was probably a house expanding to become an inn, then, through the C18 and C19, developing accommodation and ancillary services for horses and coaches. As well as providing food and drink and rooms for travellers, the inn had a bake house, and possibly brewing facilities; a photograph from the late-C19 shows what could be vents in the roof of the eastern block for drying hops in the attic. Newspaper articles from the C19 tell of the inn being a stop for horse riding events, as well as fulfilling the usual roles such inns played in small towns as a public building for holding meetings, auctions and social events.

The Red Lion ceased trading as a pub in 2019, and was empty until 2023 when the pub was converted into two dwellings. During the conversion the C19 and mid-C20 rear additions were removed and replaced, and a new porch was added to the front of each house.

Reasons for Listing

Numbers 3 and 5 Grantham Road, Bottesford (former Red Lion Public House), are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest:
* for its special interest as a vernacular structure which has evolved over time, with evidence of its multiple phases clearly legible;
* for the good survival of historic fabric;
* internally a phase of the building in timber framing is visible and this has been tree-ring dated to the C15.

Historic Interest:

* as an inn and public house, the building has played a part in the public and social life of Bottesford since at least the C18.

External Links

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