51 Tickford Street, Newport Pagnell, Milton Keynes

Summary

A house, perhaps originally of late-medieval date, with a C16 or C17 inserted floor and smoke bays and C18 and C19 and C20 additions and alterations.

Description

A house, converted to a public house in the C19, perhaps of late-medieval date, with a C16 or C17 inserted floor and smoke bays and C18, C19 and C20 additions and alterations.

MATERIALS: timber framed with wattle and daub infill and a brick and rubble-stone skin, apparently added in the C18 or C19. The roof covering is of corrugated metal, under which are remnants of the original thatch.

PLAN: single storey with attic. The eastern end of the building is wider than the western end. The present plan reflects the use of the building as a public house in the C19 and has two bar rooms at ground floor level with three rooms to the first floor or attic. The original plan, the outline of which can still be traced by opposed doors, may have had a cross passage to the west of centre, marking a service end, but this western end was later opened out to create one large bar room. The eastern ground floor has an L-shaped passage, running along the east and north sides and entered from doors at the east end, which borders a snug bar with fixed settles. The wide corridor on the north side forms an entrance hall and gives access to the enclosed staircase.

EXTERIOR: the road front has colourwashed brick walling and three, C19 windows of three and four casement lights at ground floor level. The steeply pitched roof has two, gabled dormer windows, each of two casement lights. The ridge chimney stack is of C19 bricks and marks the division between the eastern roof which has a higher ridge than that above the western side. There is a blocked doorway to left of centre and a blocked window to the right.

The western end of the building abuts 49 Tickford Street (Grade II, National Heritage List for England entry: 1125453). The eastern gable end has painted brickwork to the ground floor, with a half-glazed C20 door with cambered head to the right. The first floor appears to have wattle and daub infill with a single, two-light C19 casement to the right of centre. A central king post is flanked by queen posts which connect with the collar beam and there areC19 bargeboards. A single-storey, flat-roofed extension adjoins at right and recessed behind this is the eastern flank of a gabled wing which projects to the north and has window with six panes and exposed sash boxes.

The north side, or rear, has the C20 flat-roofed extension at left and to the right of it is the C19 gabled extension which has a single, sash window with cambered head to the ground floor at left and blank walling to the first floor with a chimney to the gable apex. At right again is a single, C19 bay which appears to be a later addition and has a shallow-pitched slate roof. A range of C19 former stables abuts and extends to the north.

INTERIOR: the building is entered through the door in the eastern gable end which leads to the L-shaped corridor that has square, clay tiles to the floor. Ground floor walls are panelled with vertical boarding and panelled C19 doors lead to the eastern, snug bar, the enclosed staircase on the north side and the eastern bar. There is a long, internal window to the snug bar in the upper, southern wall of the passage with a horizontal sliding light.

The eastern, snug bar has a tiled floor, as in the passageway and fitted benches with panelled backs and moulded bench ends to its northern and angled north-eastern walls. The northern bench back has a small hatch with shelf which opens onto the passageway and allows the serving of beer. The lower walls of the room are also panelled with vertical boards. The western wall has the fireplace which has a C19 or C20 surround set within the smoke bay, giving the appearance of an ingle nook. The smoke bay hood has been panelled with vertical boards.

The western, ground-floor room has been opened out to create one larger space. A series of posts stand proud of the northern wall and support cross-axial beams that in turn support the first floor. A heavy axial beam connects with the smoke bay, of which the framing is set at an angle, giving it the appearance of a smoke hood. As in the snug bar, a later fire surround and brick chimney has been inserted into the space of the smoke bay. Lower walls around the room are panelled with vertical boards, as before.

At first-floor level there are three interconnected rooms. The ceiling has been panelled and boarded. A single purlin projects on either side. Dilapidation has opened holes in the boarded ceilings and parts of the thatch and the common rafters can be seen, as well as the timber-framed structure of the smoke bays. There is evidence of possible soot blackening, and this may have been caused by an open hall arrangement before a floor was inserted, or be the result of a leaking chimney or smoke bay.

History

The timber-framed southern range may be late medieval and possibly have been a modest, open-hall house into which a first floor and back-to-back smoke bays were inserted in the C16 or C17. Brick chimneys were added inside the smoke bays in the C18 or C19, and much of the external walling was clad with a brick and coursed rubble stone skin which is now colourwashed. The building was recorded as a pub called The Two Wrestlers in a list of victualers dated 1753. The Todd family owned the pub throughout the later C18 and the C19 and probably benefited from passing trade, on the route between London and the East Midlands and North. Its name, The Two Wrestlers, apparently refers to two of the earliest landlords. William Todd was recorded in 1781 as a victualler and breeches maker and his fire insurance recorded the thatched building as his dwelling house, cellar and brewhouse, coal house and stables. The name changed to The Wrestlers shortly after 1847.

The building appears to have been re-ordered in the C19 and the vertical panelling in the ground floor rooms, the fitted benches and serving hatch in the snug bar and the terracotta floor tiles all date from this period, as do the casement windows. At roughly the same time a parallel range was added to the north which would have allowed further space for barrel storage and accommodation. The Peverill, the Bruce and Manchester mail coaches all stopped at the inn. At some date after 1908 the thatched roof was covered by corrugated metal sheeting, perhaps to protect the thatch from sparks from the carriage works adjacent, which was later converted to the Aston Martin car factory. The building ceased to be a pub in August 1956 after which it became a private house and then a garage.

From the 1930s onwards the site was owned by the Cole family who ran the pub. The building ceased to be a pub in August 1956 after which it became a private house. In 1972, a garage was set up on the site and most of the south range ceased to be occupied, although the property continued to be owned by a member of the Cole family. The building continues (2019) to be part of a garage under different ownership.

Reasons for Listing

51 Tickford Street, Newport Pagnall is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it retains evidence in its fabric and form of its early origins as a possible hall-house, with later additions representing the evolution of the building which add to its architectural interest;
* the C19 public house fittings inside the building give a clear idea of the plan and functioning of the building at that phase.

Historic interest:

* the inclusion of two, back-to-back smoke hoods, which appear to be a later addition, is a relatively rare survival, as are the modest, C19 public house fittings, particularly in the snug bar.

Group value:

* with other listed buildings in the Newport Pagnall Conservation area, including numbers 45, 47 and 49 Tickford Street (all Grade II).

External Links

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