The Saracens Head Hotel
THE SARACENS HEAD HOTEL, 219, WATLING STREET WEST
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1040840
- Date first listed:
- 01-Dec-1951
- List Entry Name:
- The Saracens Head Hotel
- Statutory Address:
- THE SARACENS HEAD HOTEL, 219, WATLING STREET WEST
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2005-07-05
- Reference:
- IOE01/14284/10
- Rights:
- © Mr Alistair F Nisbet. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1040840
- Date first listed:
- 01-Dec-1951
- List Entry Name:
- The Saracens Head Hotel
- Statutory Address 1:
- THE SARACENS HEAD HOTEL, 219, WATLING STREET WEST
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- THE SARACENS HEAD HOTEL, 219, WATLING STREET WEST
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- West Northamptonshire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Towcester
- National Grid Reference:
- SP 69196 48805
Details
TOWCESTER WATLING STREET WEST SP6948 13/200 No.219 (The Saracens Head 01/12/51 Hotel)
- II
Hotel and public house, formerly coaching inn. Early C18 with older origins. Coursed squared ironstone, plain-tile roofs, brick ridge stacks. 2 storeys and attic; 7-window range. Central carriage arch with timber lintel and double-leaf panelled doors, that to left with wicket. 15-pane sash windows to left of arch and to right, with stone lintels and keyblocks. Canted bay window between windows to ground floor left, otherwise 12-pane sash windows to ground and first floors with stone lintels and keyblocks except for round-arched window above arch flanked by niches holding fine lead statuettes of Venus (left ) and Apollo with harp (right), reputed to have come from Easton Neston. Chamfered plinth, storey band and moulded stone eaves. Hipped roof dormers with diamond leaded windows. Single-storey extension to right, probably added as an assembly room. Interior: barrel-vaulted plaster ceiling to dining room. Recommended by Sam Weller in Pickwick Papers as a place where a 'very good little dinner' could be got ready in half an hour. (Charles Dickens, 'Pickwick Papers', 1837, Chapter 50, p.544).
Listing NGR: SP6919648805
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 235222
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Dickens, C, Pickwick Papers, (1837), 544
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 15:06:09.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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