12-14 Gowthorpe

Summary

Three shops, formerly The George Hotel, early- to mid-C19 with C19, C20 and C21 alterations and extensions.

History

Selby 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.

An early to mid-C19 coaching inn originally known as the Petre’s Arms Inn. The building appears to have been substantially altered and transitioned into a hotel in the mid-C19, by the addition of a second floor and re-fronting. By 1890, the name had been changed to The George Hotel. Between the years 1800 and 1927, the hotel had a total of eight publicans, and it was recorded in 1901 that in addition to the publican, the hotel had a live-in staff of six. It was renovated around 1903 when the canted bay windows were added to the ground and first floors at its eastern end. By about 1910, the hotel was adapting itself to attracting new forms of trade and painted signs were added to the gables to attract commercial travellers, cyclists, and touring motor cars. During the mid- to late C20, the hotel was owned by Bentley’s Yorkshire Breweries Ltd and in 1968 it passed into the ownership of Whitbread Breweries, who operated it until it closed in the late 1970s. Following its closure, it was converted into three modern shop units with a stepped two-storey flat-roofed extension built to the rear, that has a T-plan second-floor.

Numbers 12-14 Gowthorpe were formerly listed as The George Hotel.
Details
Three shops, formerly The George Hotel, early- to mid-C19 with C19, C20 and C21 alterations and extensions.

MATERIALS: stuccoed brick, colour-washed front elevation and fair-faced brick rear elevation, with a gabled roof clad in Welsh slates.

PLAN: rectangular plan.

EXTERIOR: the front elevation is of three storeys and five bays. Changes in the brickwork to the rear elevation show that the second floor is an addition in red brick. The ground floor is occupied by three late-C20 shop units with modern C19-style shop fronts with glazed doors and oblong fanlights set in doorcases, Tuscan piers, entablature and moulded capitals supporting a plain fascia. Large plate-glass shop windows are set between the piers; the second bay from the left is occupied by a former three-centred early-C19 carriage arch, with finely chamfered moulded piers and imposts. The fifth bay to the right-hand end has canted modern shop windows set within Tuscan piers with a central glazed doorway occupying the base of an early- to mid-C19 two-storey canted bay with a moulded cornice on paired brackets and moulded scroll console brackets. The first floor has four two-light mid- to late-C19 sash windows with plain raised architraves on moulded brackets and moulded cornices on decorative scroll console brackets. The second floor has five identical windows beneath a stuccoed modillioned eaves cornice. The east and west gables are both colour-washed and have brick chimney stacks at their apex; the pitched slate roof also has two ridge chimneys, all have moulded brick cornices and a pair of yellow drawing chimney pots.

The right-hand pier of the carriage arch has a cast plaque attached to it, which reads: ‘YE FRATERNITIE OF / OLDE SELEBIANS / YE FRATERNITIE OF OLDE SELEBIANS WAS / FOUNDED ON THIS SITE, THE FORMER GEORGE HOTEL, / ON THE 10TH JANUARY 1821. / THE OBJECTIVES OF THE FOUNDERS WERE TO PROMOTE, / CULTIVATE AND DEVELOP THE WELFARE OF SELBY / AND ITS INHABITANTS, WHILST PRESERVING ITS / HERITAGE AND OLD AND VALUED FRIENDSHIPS. / THESE OBJECTIVES CONTINUE TO BE PRACTISED / BY THE FRANTERNITIE AND ITS MEMBERS / TO THIS DAY. / FLOREAT SELEBIA.’

Details

Three shops, formerly The George Hotel, early- to mid-C19 with C19, C20 and C21 alterations and extensions.

MATERIALS: stuccoed brick, colour-washed front elevation and fair-faced brick rear elevation, with a gabled roof clad in Welsh slates.

PLAN: rectangular plan.

EXTERIOR: the front elevation is of three storeys and five bays. Changes in the brickwork to the rear elevation show that the second floor is an addition in red brick. The ground floor is occupied by three late-C20 shop units with modern C19-style shop fronts with glazed doors and oblong fanlights set in doorcases, Tuscan piers, entablature and moulded capitals supporting a plain fascia. Large plate-glass shop windows are set between the piers; the second bay from the left is occupied by a former three-centred early-C19 carriage arch, with finely chamfered moulded piers and imposts. The fifth bay to the right-hand end has canted modern shop windows set within Tuscan piers with a central glazed doorway occupying the base of an early- to mid-C19 two-storey canted bay with a moulded cornice on paired brackets and moulded scroll console brackets. The first floor has four two-light mid- to late-C19 sash windows with plain raised architraves on moulded brackets and moulded cornices on decorative scroll console brackets. The second floor has five identical windows beneath a stuccoed modillioned eaves cornice. The east and west gables are both colour-washed and have brick chimney stacks at their apex; the pitched slate roof also has two ridge chimneys, all have moulded brick cornices and a pair of yellow drawing chimney pots.

The right-hand pier of the carriage arch has a cast plaque attached to it, which reads: ‘YE FRATERNITIE OF / OLDE SELEBIANS / YE FRATERNITIE OF OLDE SELEBIANS WAS / FOUNDED ON THIS SITE, THE FORMER GEORGE HOTEL, / ON THE 10TH JANUARY 1821. / THE OBJECTIVES OF THE FOUNDERS WERE TO PROMOTE, / CULTIVATE AND DEVELOP THE WELFARE OF SELBY / AND ITS INHABITANTS, WHILST PRESERVING ITS / HERITAGE AND OLD AND VALUED FRIENDSHIPS. / THESE OBJECTIVES CONTINUE TO BE PRACTISED / BY THE FRANTERNITIE AND ITS MEMBERS / TO THIS DAY. / FLOREAT SELEBIA.’

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

325760

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Morrell, WW, The History and Antiquities of Selby, (1867)
Chilvers, R, Selby Shops Past and Present, (2015)
Chrystal, P, Selby & Goole Through Time, (2012), 13

Other
1:1056 Town Map, 1849
1:500 Town Map, 1890-91

End of official list entry

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