History

The Olde Bull is an old coaching inn which is reported to have medieval origins and the evidence of the Upper Hall roof does suggest the late medieval period ie. the earlier C16 and the Perpendicular windows also agree with this. The inn was given a considerable refurbishment in 1925 when the mock timber framing was applied and the windows and ceilings changed but photographs from earlier in the C20 show that the front door into the cross-passage had already gone before then.

Exterior

The building has a wholly rendered exterior, probably over local rubble stone, with mock timber framing on the upper floor, Welsh slate roofs. It has an L-shaped plan, with the main range facing the Market Place and the wing facing the High Street, but the angle between the two has also been infilled by a later wing.
The main elevation is to the Market Place, but it no longer has an entrance. The ground floor has three altered openings containing C20 cross-framed casements, the right hand one was the original entrance to the cross-passage. The upper floor has mock timber framing in square panels with a 2-light and two 3-light C16 windows with hollow chamfers, 4-centred heads and label moulds, plain glazing. Between the first and second windows is a wall stack which is entirely C20 brick above the eaves. The left hand return has a C20 cross-framed window on the ground floor and a corbelled stack above this, but the chimney above the roof is C20 brick. The rear wing has a 3-light C20 window below and a 3-light C16 one above. The wing has been extended by a lower two storey gabled wing in the C20. This hides the large external stack against the C16 gable end. This has two flues, but is truncated at eaves level and only one continues in C20 brick. Additional single storey gabled wing in the angle between the two wings.

Interior

The ground floor has been opened out into one interconnecting bar, but the different spaces can still be recognised. The main range has evidence of a cross-passage at the north end where it abuts No 1 Cross Street (qv). The street door has been converted to a window, but the rear door leading to the toilets is stone framed with a 4-centred head. This could well be the original front door moved to the back, or it could be in situ. Mortices in the beam to the north of the rear door show where a post-and-panel screen once was and this suggests that the Bull originally extended north by another room and that the dividing wall between it and No 1 Cross Street is a later insertion. Some of the beams and floor joists in the main range are stopped and chamfered but there has been much more alteration than in the rear wing where the ceiling is all original with stopped and chamfered beams and joists. There is a corbelled stack visible outside the rear door of the cross-pasage and this would have heated the room which extended into No 1. The staircase is a rather damaged early C18 dog-leg. The upper floor has no features visible other than the inside faces of the C16 windows, one beam with a run-out stop and one roll moulded principal rafter and its purlin. This is only partly visible, but strongly suggests a Great Room with a high ceiling intended to be seen, or, in the context of a late medieval house, an Upper Hall. According to the evidence of the corbelled stack this room would have stretched further north and could thus have been lit by three of the 3-light windows. There are now only two, and these each light a bedroom with a partition betweeen. It was not possible to see any other part of the roof structure.

Reasons for Listing

Included as a C16 house retaining significant historic character and having strong group value with the surrounding historic buildings in the centre of Caerleon.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29482916

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

• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability