Lamb and Fountain Inn

Details

ST 7748 SW
4/132

CASTLE STREET (south-east side)
No 57 (Lamb and Fountain Inn)

31.1.74

II

Public house. Late C17 or early C18, with C18 additions and later alterations.

MATERIALS: coursed local limestone rubble with freestone dressings. Interlocking clay tiled roofs and chimneystacks of stone and brick.

PLAN: accretional L-shaped plan consisting of the main two and a half storey gabled block fronting onto Castle Street, with cellars below. Attached C18 north east range of double depth and a cross wing aligned north west-south east. These additions may have originally been used for stabling and for storage but were subsequently converted to a maltings and are now vacant. The ground falls away steeply to the rear where the cellars are accessed at ground level.

EXTERIOR: the principal façade has three-light windows to each gable end with hood moulds to both ground floor openings and to the first floor window in the left hand gable. The left hand attic window has been blocked, whilst that to the right has a chamfered C19 casement. The main entrance is set in the left hand gable and has a c.1700 studded door set in a later surround. To the left (north east), C18 range is of one and half storeys with a basement and has an irregular pattern of fenestration and door openings. A mullioned opening with block surround, but now blocked, at lower level originally lit the cellar area. The cross wing to the left has a two-light timber casement and doorway to ground floor, both with timber lintels, and an enlarged opening in the gable.

The west elevation is blind save for a window at the north end of the ground floor. The rear is partially obscured by later extensions: a raised addition to the back parlour supported on cast iron columns, timber posts and metal poles, and a C20 toilet block resting on a base of blockwork. Most of the window openings have been altered, though there is a three-light ovolo mullion beneath the eaves, and an attic dormer. To the right, some of the window openings in the C18 range and the gabled cross wing have been replaced or altered.

INTERIOR: the entrance from Castle Street leads to a through passage with the public rooms situated to the left and private accommodation to the right. It has an off-sales hatch that retains some C18 joinery, while to the rear are stairs to the upper floors, and to the toilet block and cellars. The two public rooms are divided by a central bar facility. The front bar has a fireplace with C20 surround; the back parlour, which was extended at the rear in the C19, retains a late-C19 carved stone fireplace and a serving hatch to the bar service area. The room retains evidence for some C18 panelling although re-sited. The former lounge, now a pool room, is located off the back parlour in the rear part of the C18 range. The upper floors of the main range were not inspected. Beneath the inn is a complex series of cellars and sub-cellars; in the latter is an ice house that has been built into the void. It is a cup and dome structure and may date from the time of the building's construction. A further cellar, or tunnel lined with limestone rubble has been located beneath the left hand half of the inn building.

The north east range, added in the C18, is double depth in plan and the northern half, fronting onto Castle Street, may have been used for stabling and storage but was converted to a maltings in the C18. It retains a malt kiln; an ashlar-built tank or trough, probably for steeping the grain; and a large barrel-vaulted cellar. The roof structure appears to have been replaced in the late C19, but some earlier, steeply pitched timbers do survive, including the purlins and the timbers that previously supported a louvred cowl for a vent above the kiln. The rear half of the C18 range was not inspected internally but photographs indicate that it retains a late-C17 or early-C18 winder staircase with moulded risers. It probably once provided additional domestic accommodation. The interior of the gabled cross wing retains little evidence for historic fittings; the first floor timbers and the roof structure appear to be late-C19 replacements.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: there is a boundary wall at the rear of the property. It is built of limestone rubble with coping stones.

HISTORY: during the latter half of the C17, due mainly to the prosperity of the wool trade, Frome experienced a rapid increase in population; and by the early 1700s the town was an important commercial centre and was said to be larger than Bath. This new-found prosperity resulted in a need for many workers; the subsequent rapid growth in population led in its turn to a great increase in the demand for new housing. The result was a period of intense urban growth, including the area around Castle Street. The Lamb and Fountain is documented as a public house from at least as early as 1785 and formed part of the estate of a John Moore in 1829. At this time the north eastern part of Castle Street on which the pub is located was known as Fountain Lane, after the inn.

REASON FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: The Lamb and Fountain is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* It survives well: the principal elevations are largely unchanged, although some of the windows have been replaced
* It preserves historic fabric in a range of local vernacular building materials and much of its plan form remains legible
* The presence of a small-scale C18 maltings and an ice house beneath the inn which are both distinctive in character and appearance
* Group value with a number of listed buildings, including The Keep, No. 23 Castle Street (Grade II*), within a Conservation Area.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

266083

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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