Summary
Public House, early- to mid-C19, with C20 alterations.
History
Selby as a settlement dates to the Anglo-Saxon period, when it was known as Seletun (old Scandinavian for ‘sallow tree settlement’) and was referred to by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of AD 779. A charter of about 1030 called it Seleby and about 1050 it was Selbi. King Henry I was born in Selby in 1068 and, a year later, Benedict, a French monk from Auxerre, obtained permission from King William to establish an Abbey. The Market Place has existed since the early C14. By the C15, Selby had developed thriving trade links along the East Coast and with the Low Countries. Selby Abbey succumbed to dissolution in 1539, and the core of the building became the parish church in 1618.
Selby’s commercial importance grew dramatically following the opening of the Selby Canal in 1778, becoming a notable inland port; however, after the building of Goole Docks in 1826, it suffered a very rapid decline. The town’s fortunes recovered in 1834, with the opening of the Leeds and Selby Railway, and by the early C20, witnessed a growth in several industries served by the railways and river traffic, including flour milling, malting, oilseed milling and cattle feed production. In 1983, coal production commenced from the Selby Coalfield. Shipbuilding ended ten years later, and coal mining ceased in 2004. Since then, there has been a gradual reduction in the traditional industries, although some remain.
Built close to the Market Cross, towards the western end of the Market Place, this public house was part of a single development that comprised number 17 (The Cricketers’ Arms), and 18 and 19 Market Place. The front facade was altered during the mid- to late C19, when a large public house frontage was installed, and the upper floors were stuccoed. As originally built, there was a rear range with an open courtyard, shared with numbers 18 and 19; however, by the late C19, the plan of the rear range had been altered and extended, leaving only a narrow yard accessed from Market Lane. The building was listed in December 1968. During the late C20, much of this space became occupied by a modern single-storey extension, and a late-C19 style public house frontage was installed, including a window and timber panelling that replaced the former half-glazed double door in the canted bay.
Details
Public House, early- to mid-C19, with late-C20 alterations.
PLAN: three-storey front range aligned east-west, with long rear range.
MATERIALS: stuccoed brick, slate roof with orange and grey clay ridge tiles.
EXTERIOR: facing north onto Market Place. Three storeys, and two bays plus a canted north-east corner bay. The ground floor has a replacement, C19-style panelled public house front with a full entablature, that occupies the east, north-east and the main (north) walls. The recessed entrance is approached by two steps; it has a four-panel door with an oblong fanlight, and has a conical hexagonal glazed C19 oil lamp, which has been converted to electric power and is suspended on a decorative wrought-iron bracket. The first floor has three four-pane sash windows with moulded architraves and modillioned cornice on consoles. The second floor has similar windows, without a glazing bar to the upper sash, and the consoles support a modillioned eaves cornice that supports an ogee rainwater gutter. The fair-faced brick-built east gable rises above the roof of the adjacent property and has an apex chimney stack. Most of the roof is pitched and has a central ridge chimney stack; however, the section above the canted corner is hipped.
