Description

WINFORD

1816/0/10036 STANSHALLS LANE
06-JUL-06 THE GEORGE & DRAGON PUBLIC HOUSE

II
Formerly cross passage house, an inn since the early C17. Mid C16, rear wing added in C17. The building was again refashioned in the early C19 with further late C19 alterations. It is constructed of random stone rubble with freestone dressings, stacks of stone and brick and a clay tile pitched roof.
PLAN: L-shaped plan. Two room and through passage plan house of single depth (lower end to right, north) with floors inserted in phases and a large fireplace in a stack was also inserted, backing onto the through passage, in the late C16 or early C17. In the early C17 a rear wing was added behind the high end of the house and in the early C19 the building was refashioned, most of the windows to the roadside elevations were replaced and a porch was added.
EXTERIOR: Two storeys with attics to C16 range. Asymmetrical 8 window east front with early and late C19 sash windows; through passage to left of centre, partially obscured by projecting entrance porch with C20 door. The rear (west) elevation has through passage cambered opening, partially infilled by later stair well to right; C17 3-light ovolo mullioned window. The rear wing is one and a half storeys. Its south elevation has scattered fenestration of various types and dates. The north elevation, facing onto the courtyard, retains three 3-light ovolo mullion windows, some infilled or removed but remaining visible, with relieving arches above. Towards the east end is an early C17 chamfered 4-centred arch-headed stone doorway. The C19 open-ended store in the courtyard and the C20 toilet block extension to the rear are not of special interest.
INTERIOR: Contains features from all the main phases of construction and refurbishment. The left hand (south) room in the C16 range, now the dining room, has chamfered cross-beams and a large fireplace with timber bressumer and a bread oven, partly rebuilt in brick, which has a C19 iron door. A C16 four-centred arch from the screens passage, which now provides access behind the bar, originally linked through to the service end (north). The latter is now the public bar and retains chamfered cross-beams with run out stops and a plank and batten door. The rear wing has a roof structure of pegged trusses with dove-tailed tie beams and threaded purlins. It dates to the C17 although it has undergone subsequent repairs. This wing has a three room plan and retains an early C19 raised and fielded four panel door to the ground floor and several C17 door frames with cambered heads, although one appears to have been remodelled.
HISTORY: A mid C16 cross-passage house that was extended by the addition of a rear wing on a west-east alignment in the early to mid C17. Documentary sources indicate that the George and Dragon, formerly Felton's Inn, has been a public house since at least 1625. The building was refurbished in the early C19 when the east, entrance front was rebuilt and many of the windows replaced. It continues in use as a public house.
SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: The special interest of this building lies not only in it being a good example of a late medieval cross passage house that was used as an inn from at least the early C17, but that it also retains features from all the main phases of remodelling. It is most unusual for the evidence from such a complete sequence of phases: the mid C16, C17 and early C19 to have survived. The C17 rear wing and the Georgian refashioning of the building are interesting later developments relating to its use as an inn; the C17 additions in particular indicate that it was a building of some status. It is a rare example of a coaching inn on a principal route south out of Bristol.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• The George And Dragon Public House official website
• Wikidata Q26671049

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)