Description

WITHAM FRIARY

294/0/10007 Seymour Arms public house
16-AUG-04

GV II
Public house. 1866; for the Duke of Somerset; Hardwick and Co. builders. Coursed local limestone with red brick dressings. Hipped clay plain tile roof with bands of shaped tiles and crested ridge tiles. Brick axial stacks.
PLAN: Double-depth plan with central entrance hall with servery at the back, public bar to left with hatch to cellar behind; room on right of entrance probably the parlour and with private rooms behind and short service wing at back. C20 lavatory outshut on left [NW] side.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys. Symmetrical south west front. Large 16-pane sashes in brick surrounds with small keystones in flat brick arches and stone cills; central wide stone pilastered portico with entablature, flush-panel double doors and rectangular overlight. Wrought-iron public house sign on right hand corner in the form of an ornate scrolled bracket with a small bunch of grapes hanging from the end and a banner sign underneath, inscribed Seymour Arms. Right hand return [SE] symmetrical 3-bays with similar sashes and with rear wing set back on right with half-hipped roof and large axial stack. Left hand return [NW side] three symmetrical bays, right hand blind, 16-pane sashes and with C20 single-storey lavatory outshut at centre with lean-to roof.
INTERIOR: Central entrance hall with stone flag floor and servery at the back with a glazed screen, a counter and a serving hatch. To the left is the public bar, also with a stone floor, simple benches around the walls with matchboard backs, a stone chimneypiece with a bracketed shelf and a serving hatch to the cellar at the back. To the right of the entrance hall there is what was the publican's parlour with a fireplace with a chimneypiece with console brackets to the mantel shelf.
The Seymour Arms is a rare survival of a simple rural public house with an unaltered interior complete with fittings.
SOURCE: CAMRA's National Inventory of Pub Interiors of Outstanding Historic Interest; 104.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26670336

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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