The George Inn, Abbots Leigh, North Somerset

Summary

A late-medieval church house, converted to an inn in the C18, and still functioning as a pub and restaurant.

Description

A former church house of late-C15/ early-C16 date, converted to an inn in the C18.

MATERIALS: constructed of local rubble stone with oak roof structure, clay pantile roof coverings and red brick end stacks. The cross wing has a truncated stone end stack.

PLAN: L plan with a five-bay main range fronting the road and a two-bay cross-wing to the south, which has been extended and has an external stair against the north wall.

EXTERIOR: the two-storey façade is of five bays with a central door and regular fenestration with modern sashes and casements. It is finished in cement render and the tall plinth has a batter at both ends. The steep roof has coped verges to the gable ends. At the north end is a single-bay, single-storey C20 extension*. At the south flank is an attached two-bay cross-wing with a two-leaf door to the right with three steps, an eight-over-eight sash to the left, and a six-over-six sash above. To the left is a later single bay, also of two-storeys, with an eight-over-eight sash above a stone lean-to, which has a shallow pitched roof and timber service doors with strap hinges facing Manor Road. The gable end of the cross-wing has a modern central opening. The north flank of the cross-wing has a door at upper level served by a stone external stair, and to the left is a door at lower level into the earlier part of the wing. There is a window to the right of the door in an opening filled in red brick, and the wall below has a batter. Parts of the rear wall of the main block are exposed rubble, and others clad in timber boards*.

INTERIOR: the main range is arranged as a single room to both floors with a modern inserted stair* at the south end. The first floor is supported on regularly-spaced stop-chamfered beams. The beam at the north end has mortices for a former close-stud partition. The fireplace in the north wall is at least partly rebuilt and a further fireplace at the south end may be concealed behind modern tiling and plaster. There is a modern servery in an opened out part of the west wall. The first floor is open to the roof, which has four complete open, collared trusses with carpenters marks (the trusses at the gable ends have been replaced or covered). Each roof slope has two sets of butt-purlins with run-out stops and three rows of curved wind braces, and at the apex is a diagonal ridge piece. The principals are pegged and chamfered. Steel ties* have been bolted to each truss and a few of the braces and rafters are replacements. At the north end is a stone fireplace* with mouldings, which appears to be a C20 insertion.

At the south end is a corridor into the cross-wing, which is ceiled and has a similar roof arrangement to the main range. There is a broad stone chimney in its gable end. The wing extends beyond the original gable with a further bar area to the first floor and kitchens below. On the first floor are C18/C19 cupboard and window joinery, and in the corridor is part of an exposed chamfered beam, possibly reused from the part of the floor of the main range that was opened up to insert the stair in the C21. To the ground floor, is a substantial stop-chamfered beam at the centre of the original two-bay cross-wing, and a large inglenook remains at the former end wall, partly encapsulated in modern partitions*. There is now access through the inglenook into the kitchens where there is a sealed window with deep reveals in the end wall.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: to the west, in part connected to the main building by a modern veranda*, are detached single-storey rubble stone structures* including the former stables. These have been re-roofed, partly demolished and otherwise altered.

* Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the modern fixtures and fittings, and additions and detached outbuildings, are not of special architectural or historic interest.

History

Settlement in the environs of Abbots Leigh has Iron Age origins, and a Roman road connects Abbots Leigh with Long Ashton to the south west, passing through the centre of the village by The George Inn. The village itself was probably founded in Saxon times and the Manor was granted to the Abbey of St Augustine, Bristol in 1140. The parish church is probably of C13 origin, although the chancel may be earlier.

In the late C15 or early C16, The George Inn was built by the churchwardens as a church house, an early form of village hall which also served as a meeting place for resident and visiting clergy. This was in response to widespread developing religious ideas about the sanctity of the parish church, which previously had hosted seasonal ‘church ales’, communal gatherings at Holy Day feasts and festivals. The festivities involved the consumption of beer and cider, which came to be considered inappropriate behaviour in the church nave. Therefore, church houses were constructed during the medieval period, commonly in the south west of England, and usually close to the church. Almost every Somerset parish had a church house by the C16.

Church houses usually incorporated baking and brewing facilities to supply the festivities. The term ‘church ale’ for events was linked to the brewing of beer and cider, and they took place on key dates such as harvest, lamb shearing, midsummer and weddings (‘bridal’ is a contraction of ‘bride ale’). The maintenance of the church nave was the responsibility of the parishioners, and its upkeep was paid in part by the proceeds of the ales (along with providing alms for the poor). Church ales were increasingly frowned upon following the English Reformation, and actively suppressed during the rise of Puritanism in the C17. The role of the church house for helping the poor was also diminished by the introduction of church rates and poor relief, and their number declined from the early C17. During the C17 and C18 other uses were generally found for them, as inns or dwellinghouses, and sometimes as almshouses.

The George Inn was recorded in 1719 as a 'church house and stables', but by the mid-C18 it was let as a public house with rent paid to the churchwardens. This arrangement continued until 1915, when Abbots Leigh village and estate was sold by auction and dispersed. The George Inn is shown on the Ordnance Survey Map of 1886.

The building has been the subject of refitting in the C20, during which time the first floor was used for staff accommodation. The openings to the façade were reordered in the 1970s. A former dwelling and other structures that was attached at the north end have been demolished and, in part, replaced. In the C21 the building was refurbished and the first-floor ceiling removed in the main range and the roof structure repaired and strengthened. The cross-wing remains ceiled over. The George Inn is one of a small number of church houses in Somerset to survive in a recognisable form.

Reasons for Listing

The George Inn, Abbots Leigh, North Somerset, a former late-C15/early-C16 church house and inn, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Historical interest: where they survive well, as here, church houses provide important evidence of the social and administrative role played by the Church in the medieval communities which it served;
* Rarity: church houses, especially those constructed before 1700, are comparatively rare. This example is of particular note as it has an intact contemporary service cross-wing with part of its inglenook;
* Architectural interest: the substantial roofs are excellent examples of high quality late-medieval craftsmanship;
* Intactness: a significant proportion of its C15/16 fabric remains, along with later fixtures and fittings associated with its later use as an inn.

External Links

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