Monument record 3629/0/12 - The Ten O'Clock Public House, Main Street

An early 19th century building. Now demolished

{1} The building was built as two separate low-status cottages between 1817 and 1885. They were subsequently
joined together and for most, if not all, of the 20th century, removed most historic fabric and almost all historic detail; photographs & plans;

{3} CONTEXT English Heritage has been asked to assess the Ten o’clock public house in Little Harrowden, Wellingborough, for listing. In November 2014, a planning application was submitted to demolish the pub and to erect 9 houses on the site. The application was withdrawn, and a proposal was made by the planning applicants that they would examine other options, including retaining the vernacular façade of the pub.

HISTORY AND DETAILS The Ten o’clock public house consists of two buildings, attached to each other but of apparently different date. Both are of local ironstone; the west half has a modern pantiled roof, the east is of slate. The building to the east appears to date to the mid-late C19, although this appearance may be due to refurbishment, and has windows with segmental brick arches and a dentilled brick cornice below the eaves. The stonework is shaped and laid to course. Historic Ordnance Survey maps from 1885 to 1926 show this building as square with a rear wing to the east, but it is now rectangular in plan, the south parts apparently replaced by a flat roofed extension slightly larger than the original footprint. On the north, street side elevation the windows have central casements, and are the same as those shown on a photograph of 1911, except for the central ground-floor window which is a replacement for the original front door.

The main street-side entrance to the pub has been moved to the building to the west. This is constructed of stone rubble, roughly coursed, and may date to the C18. It is rectangular in plan, and has tripartite windows with central casements with timber sills; the ground-floor windows also have long timber lintels. Inside the pub there is evidently now access between the buildings, and photographs supplied by the applicant indicate that internal walls have been removed to create more open space. No historic detail is visible, and although there are beams, these appear to be machine cut rather than hand hewn.

ASSESSMENT Based on the information provided by the applicant, and with reference to the Principles of Selection for Listing Buildings (March 2010) and to English Heritage's Listing Selection Guides the Ten o’clock public house is not recommended for listing for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural and historic interest: these two buildings have been very much altered in the later C20. Although they retain external fabric, the removal of the main entrance from its original position has been detrimental to the appearance of both buildings, unbalancing the historical symmetry of the east building, and introducing an incongruously modern door to the west. The flat roofed extension to the rear is also detrimental to the architectural interest of the building; * Internal alteration: the interior has evidently undergone significant alteration to plan form, with no evidence of the spatial arrangement of the C19 public house surviving. Historic detail has evidently also been lost.

CONCLUSION The Ten o’clock public house is of local historical interest, and is a distinctive presence in the streetscape, but based on the information provided it is not of special interest in the national context and does not meet the criteria for designation.

<1> Soden, I and Prentice, J., 2015, Buildings Recording and analysis of the former 10 o’clock Public House, 42 High Street, Little Harrowden, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN110961.

<2> Horne, B (editor), 2016, South Midlands Archaeology (46), p. 35-6 (Journal). SNN111326.

<3> English Heritage, Designation Advice Report, The Ten O'clock, 42 Main Street (Report). SNN113190.

Record last edited

Apr 1 2022 1:29PM