Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Former Assembly Hall, Billiards Room and Stables at the Cranbrook Engineering Works

Monument Types

• BUILDING (Post Medieval to Unknown - 1575 AD?)
• ASSEMBLY HALL (Post Medieval to Unknown - 1800 AD?)
• BILLIARD HALL (Post Medieval to Unknown - 1800 AD?)
• STABLE (Post Medieval to Unknown - 1800 AD?)

Full description

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From a Historic England Designation report (it was decided not to designate the building as a listed building):

" Documentary evidence records that the White Hart Inn was in operation in 1610. In the late C17 it was used as a butcher's shop and possibly a slaughterhouse, and by 1755 had returned to use as a pub, with its name changed to the Bull Inn. It operated as such until it ceased trade in the early C20, and was demolished in the 1930s.

There were a number of ancillary buildings to the rear of the inn ranging in date from the late C16 or early C17 to the C20, and these survive in varying states of completeness, having been altered and adapted as the site developed and to suit the changing uses: it became a mechanics workshop and later a shop. The earliest of these buildings is the range on the northern boundary of the site, orientated roughly west to east, which originally abutted a rear wing of the former inn, and dates from the late C16 or early C17 (Grade II). In the C19 the building was modified to accommodate the later assembly hall.
Stables were added to the site in the first half of the C19; they abut the late C16-early C17 range, with access via the first floor. The door openings of the building have been altered, the windows replaced and historic interior fittings removed.

The assembly hall was built to the rear of the Bull in c1834-35, abutting the late C16-early C17 range. It
appears initially to have had a vertical gable on the north end, and that the roof was then extended to adjoin that of the late C16-early C17 range. The ground floor, latterly in use as a shop, does not retain historic fittings. The first-floor hall of the assembly hall has partial survival of historic features, and has a lowered ceiling and many replacement windows.

A billiards room was added in c1873. There is some fabric surviving in the form of ceiling joists to the rear of the shop suggesting it was built upon an earlier structure. Maps show that its footprint initially extended further southwest.

Following the closure of the inn in 1923 the group of buildings were leased and then sold to a mechanic, and for the remainder of the C20 the site was an engineering works. The inn was demolished in 1936 to make way for a garage forecourt. A new, single-storey garage building was added to the front of the site, abutting the gable end of the late C16-early C17 range, and the north corner of the assembly hall. The most recent use of the site was as a shop; this ceased trading at the end of 2014.

Details

An assembly hall, stables and billiards room ancillary to the White Horse Inn, latterly the Bull Inn
(demolished), dating from the C19 and C20.

MATERIALS: all of the buildings use brick as the principal structural material. The assembly hall and billiards room use hung tile and weatherboarding. The roofs of the billiards room and stables are tiled, and the assembly hall is roofed in slate.

PLAN: the buildings are grouped towards the east of a large, irregular plot on the south side of Stone Street.
The site of the former inn is an open forecourt behind which the buildings are set back from the street. The assembly hall follows the line of the street, and the C20 garage projects onto the north of the forecourt. A late C16-early C17 range (listed, Grade II) runs roughly west-east along the northern boundary of the site, behind the C20 garage and perpendicular to the assembly hall. The stables abuts the late C16-early C17 range on the west gable end. The billiards room stands to the south west side of the assembly hall, both of which bridge a long carriageway entrance leading from Stone Street. There are other utilitarian, late-C20 structures to the west, around the rear courtyard.

EXTERIOR: the Stone Street elevation consists of the assembly hall on the left, and the C20 garage on the right, behind which is tile-hung apex of the gable of the late C16-early C17 range.

The ASSEMBLY HALL has modern glazing to the shopfront on the ground floor, and the first floor is entirely
clad in hung tiles and has modern windows in irregular openings. The carriageway entrance is to the left, and
to the right is a late-C20 metal stair leading to the first floor, where a corridor projects from the main elevation
beneath a lean-to roof. Most of the rear elevation is obscured by the later billiards room but the accessible
part of the ground floor elevation has modern doors and windows. Three large windows light the first floor;
one two-over-two pane sash survives, other windows are modern.

The STABLES is roughly square on plan and is a two-storey, two-bay building with a pitched roof. The brick is
laid in Flemish bond and the building is plainly detailed. Two relieving arches can be seen at impost height on
the ground floor; former openings have been altered to accommodate later large doors and windows. There
are two inserted window openings on the first floor with modern fittings.

The BILLIARDS ROOM is roughly square on plan. On the ground floor the carriageway opens on the
south-west, and there is a C20 inserted window. The first floor is entirely blind, and the south-west elevation
is tile hung. The hipped roof terminates in a flat plane with a lantern. To the south-east is a two-storey outshut
with a shallow monopitched roof; it continues the use of brick on the ground floor and tile on the first. The
north-west elevation has a deep outshut in brick and with weatherboarding.

INTERIOR: the ground floor of the ASSEMBLY HALL is a single open space with modern finishes and
partitions. The first-floor hall is a single room with a gallery at the south end. Some decorative features typical
of the period survive: one of two fireplaces with a moulded chimneypiece, and simple dado panelling and later
matchboarding. The gallery retains most of its cast iron railings that incorporate anthemion and spiral rosette
motifs.

The STABLES retain little evidence of their original use. The ground floor has C20 fittings related to the use of the building as a workshop. On the first floor the king post roof is exposed.
The ground floor ceiling of the BILLIARDS ROOM incorporates timbers that are likely to relate to an earlier structure. On the first floor is a single large room entirely clad in matchboarding, with the ceiling sloping up to the lantern. On the south-east side is a low dais with timber posts and iron brackets. The fireplace contains modern plant." (1)

An overview of the buildings at the site is given in a 2015 Canterbury Archaeological Trust building Survey. (2)

Following the Grade II Listing of the principal outbuilding (TQ 73 NE 343; Building C), a heritage statement was prepared in 2015 relating to a proposal to demolish all of the surrounding ancillary buildings (3). These buildings are described as "not critical to appreciating the heritage interests of Building C or what it represents". The former assembly hall and billiards room (Building A) are described as "reduced by its unsympathetic alterations, including replacement of the entire ground floor and upper floor windows". "Its significantly altered form and appearance and its separation from the Inn to which it was once associated greatly reduce its overall value and accordingly the demolition will result in a less than substantial harm to the character and appearance of the conservation area overall."

The conclusion is that "The benefits of the proposal outweigh the slight harm resulting from the demolition of Building A". (3)

<1> historic england, 2015, Historic England advice report: Former Assembly Hall, Billiards Room and Stables at the Cranbrook Engineering Works (Unpublished document). SKE30903.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2015, Former Cranbrook Engineering Works, Cranbrook, Kent, Interim report on the standing buildings (Unpublished document). SKE30900.

<3> Heritage Collective, 2015, Heritage Statement, Cranbrook Engineering and Wilkes Field, Stone Street, Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 3HB (Unpublished document). SKE32037.

Sources and further reading