The
White Hart Inn, also known as the White Hart Hotel, was built in the late 18th
century to replace an older inn also under the sign of the White Hart. It also
served as Crawley's main post office for most of the 19th century, and still
operates as a public house today. Its partly timber-framed structure, which
incorporates part of an early 17th-century building, is characteristic of the area.
It is designated a Grade II Listed building.
Most
sources agree that the new White Hart Inn opened in 1770, although some
identify 1790 as the date. Architectural studies made in 1995 and 2003
attributed a date of around 1600 to the southern part of the building,
suggesting that the inn was built around the core of an older structure.
The
White Hart Inn is a timber-framed building consisting of three bays on a
north–south orientation. The exterior is clad in stuccoed brickwork, the roof
is tiled, and there are three brick chimneys. The southern section is the
remnants of a timber-framed house dating from about 1600 (original estimates
attributed an 18th-century date, in line with the actual opening of the inn).
This had a stair turret at the rear leading into the attic, but only the
topmost steps of this structure remain. The attic is still a separate space,
now two rooms with one external window under the roof gable at the south end.
Later, the building was extended to the rear. In about 1830, an extension was
built to the north; this is of two storeys, like the earlier part, but is
slightly taller and has a separate roofline. It is of brick and has no
timber-framing. Similarly, no timber is now visible on the lower storey of the
older section of the building.
All photos by Ian Mulcahy. E-mail crawleyoldtown@gmail.com
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