The Bell Inn and freestanding signpost

Summary

A public house of 18th century origins, enlarged in around 1800, with later 20th century alterations.

Reasons for Designation

The Bell Inn, Iden, East Sussex is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the mid-C18 and early C19 building phases survive well, despite later alterations, incorporating a small C18 cellar and retaining elements of the timber frame and roof structure;
* for the phased evolution from a small mid-C18 inn to a larger building of around 1800, illustrated by the legible plan-form and historic fixtures including an inglenook fireplace and two-panelled doors.

Group value:

* for its historical relationship with eight Grade II-listed buildings at the centre of Iden Village comprising Bell Cottage Lyncroft (National Heritage List for England (NHLE) entry 1234926), Iden Stores and Post Office (NHLE entry 1234927), the Old Bakery (NHLE entry 1234757), 1 and 2 Weavers (NHLE entry 1234749), Church Cottage (NHLE entry 1234928), Iden War Memorial (NHLE entry 1419974) and a K6 Telephone Kiosk (NHLE entry 1393161), which contributes to the character of a historic village townscape.

History

A building on the site of the Bell Inn is referred to as a ‘messuage and garden’ near Iden Cross in local court records in 1591 (Martin and Martin, 1993-2005, p20). The Bell was previously known as The Anchor and a reference is made to it in subsequent court records of 1736. An inventory of 1751 mentions that the building contained a brewhouse. The Bell Inn features in early-C19 court records and in the Iden Tithe Award of 1843. The Tithe Map shows that, in 1843, the Bell Inn occupied a large site which included a large garden to the east, an area of pasture to the south and an adjoining cottage and yard to the west. Both the Tithe Map and subsequent Ordnance Survey maps indicate that, up until the mid-C20, there was a linked ancillary range which continued southwards along Main Street which was subsequently demolished.

The inn’s historic core comprises a two-phase, three-cell building which originated in the mid-C18. Its timber frame has been underbuilt in brick and is concealed beneath cladding on the first floor. The smaller, western section is the oldest part of the inn and has lower ceiling heights, a fireplace at the gable end with large inglenook and a pitched roof with slender rafters, now reinforced. The building was enlarged to the east around 1800 with a double-pile arrangement, most likely incorporating parts of the earlier building which had a smaller footprint. Evidence for this is provided by the small, three-bay cellar with chamfered ceiling beams which lies beneath the north-eastern corner.

Prior to 1939, a two-storey rear extension was erected to provide a kitchen and bathroom above. By this time the garden to the east had been truncated to facilitate road widening. A number of alterations were carried out in the second half of the C20 including replacing the weatherboard cladding at first floor level, constructing an entrance lobby, reconfiguring the fenestration and replacing the entrance door externally. Internally, the stairs were repositioned and the plan modified in the public areas. In 2007, planning permission was granted and implemented for the erection of two dwellings on the south portion of the inn’s garden.

Details

A public house of mid-C18 origins, enlarged in around 1800, with later C20 alterations.

MATERIALS: the building is primarily of brick, with a mixture of weatherboarding and hanging tile at first-floor level. The roof coverings are clay tile and the windows are timber sashes.

PLAN: the Bell Inn has a rectangular plan of two principal phases. It comprises a single pile plan to the west dating to the mid-C18 and a double pile plan to the east of around 1800, with an earlier C18 cellar below. There are C20 extensions to the north, south and west.

EXTERIOR: the building is of two storeys, partly cellared, with pitched roofs and tall, end stacks. The 1800 phase has parallel gabled roofs, the mid-C18 phase western section has a steeper gable roof with lower eaves and ridge, with tile-hanging and weatherboarding. The fenestration is varied across the elevations.

The front elevation is painted brick on the ground floor and the first floor is tile-hung. The double-pile phase of 1800 has three two-over-two pane sash windows on the ground floor and three sash windows with six-over-six panes above. The double-gabled east return is weatherboarded at first floor-level, with a tall projecting end stack rebuilt in the C20. There are two late C19 or early C20 three-over-three pane sash windows and a late C20 sash window at this elevation. At the front, the C18 phase has a large window opening with C20 sashes on the ground floor and two mid-C20 casement windows above. The west elevation is rendered with some tile-hanging at first-floor level; there is a large projecting end stack with a rebuilt upper section.

The south (rear) elevation has numerous extensions. The C18 phase is weatherboarded at first-floor level and has a tall lateral stack and a two-storey, gabled, inter-war extension projecting from the south wall with steel casement windows. The latter has been further extended in the mid-C20 with a flat-roofed, single-storey addition to the east. There is a mid-C20 flat-roofed extension for the first-floor stairs. The 1800 phase is partially concealed by a mid-C20 outshut which has been further extended to the south with a single-storey, pitched-roof extension added in the late C20.

INTERIOR: at the ground floor the C18 phase has a large inglenook with a timber bressummer at its west end, containing a remodelled early-C20 brick fireplace. An opening has been created in the southern wall to enable access into the outshut.

The 1800 phase has a three-bay cellar with two chamfered transverse ceiling beams and is accessed via a ladder-style stair from the servery above. There is also a hatch for barrels from street level. At the ground floor, transverse and axial bridging beams are exposed. The dividing wall between the front and rear piles has been knocked through to form an open plan area; wall studs and post indicate the original layout. There is a late-C20 curved bar with a historic moulded doorcase in the servery behind and dado matchboard panelling.

The stair is located at the rear within an early-C20 rear extension. On the first floor the wall plates and tie beams are exposed in places, along with lath and plaster partitions and C19 fireplaces. The room in the C18 phase has a substantially lower floor level and is accessed via a small stair off a central corridor. There are two two-panelled doors in the 1800 phase, where the bedroom in the front pile has been subdivided into two rooms and a corridor.

The mid- C18 phase has a coupled rafter roof with a ridge board, reinforced with larger, newer timbers. Several struts beneath a pair of principal rafters survive at the west end of the roof to the front pile. Machine-cut timbers indicate that the remainder of the roof members within the front pile are of later construction. The roof within the rear pile was not inspected.

The single-storey toilet block extension that wraps around the north-west corner of the building and the open timber structure attached to the west elevation are later C20 additions and are not of special interest. These are formally excluded from the listing under S1 (5A) (a) of the 1990 Act, as reflected in the associated mapping.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: there is a freestanding early-C20 inn signpost to the front, with a timber post and wrought-iron fixture.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

410797

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Other
Iden Tithe Map (1843)
Martin, D and Martin, B, ‘Tenement Analysis – Iden’, 1993-2005, pp20-22 (East Sussex Record Office HBR 9/27)

End of official list entry

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