Building record 745/5 - The White Horse

Public house. Mid C18 with late C17 origins. Datestone of 1684

{1} Public house. Mid C18 with late C17 origins. Coursed limestone rubble, slate roof, stone end stacks raised in red brick. 2-unit plan. 2-storey, 3-window range. Central 6-pane double-leaf door with moulded wood surround and timber lintel flanked by canted bays with one roof extending over door. Dentilled and moulded timber cornice. 2-light casement windows to first floor with stone lintels and keyblocks, datestone to right inscribed C/IE/1684 with moulded sill, and wrought-iron bracket for sign above. Plinth and quoins. One-window, 2-storey extension to left with bay window, a one-storey extension to far left. Large 2-storey extension to right is not of special architectural interest. Interior has stop-chamfered spine beams.

{3} Plan & analysis. Each front main room has a 20th century large canted bay window, and internally, a chamfered spine beam, with bold ogee stops, only one end now visible. Attached to the northern of the two rooms, a narrower bay at right angles, with a spine beam. The service bay on the north has a lowered floor level. The first floor repeats the two main rooms, but each has a single chamfered cross beam with ogee stops. The present stair replaces a stair the location of which cannot now be ascertained. The roof comprises three trusses, all reconstructed from earlier timbers to a lower pitch to take a slate roof covering. There is no evidence of the position of the original stacks- there may well have been stacks at both gable ends. The roof timbers, particularly of Truss 1, have a number of large well-formed mortices. These do not convincingly illustrate their former function.

The identity of the builder has not yet been established. There is no-one in the 1643 muster list with the family initial C, yet the presentation of the datestone is unusually grandiose.

{4} Undated photo, also photo dated 21.10.1993;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 13/68 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F07 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<3> Woodfield P., 2005, The Whittlewood Project: Historic Buildings Survey, Silverstone (Report). SNN105035.

<4> Photographs of buildings in Silverstone (Photographs). SNN113232.

<5> Woodfield, P, 2003, The Whittlewood Project: Phase 1 rapid survey of all buildings within the 12 parishes of the survey, identifying buildings that have, or are likely to have, fabric dating from before 1700 (Report). SNN116636.

Record last edited

Mar 25 2025 10:55AM