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Picture source: Darkstar

The King William IV was situated at 29 Lynn Road. This grade-II listed building is now in residential use.

Listed building details:

A former timber-framed house of probable C17 date, altered and subdivided into two cottages in the late-C18/early-C19, with later-C19 alterations as a public house. It was converted into a single dwelling in the late C20. MATERIALS: of painted brick and stone with brick gable end stacks and a roof of clay tiles. PLAN: it is aligned north to south with a rectangular plan. EXTERIOR: the building stands at the corner of Lynn Road and Egremont Street and is of one-and-a-half storeys. Its principal elevation to Lynn Road is of late-C18/early-C19 brick with a double cogged eaves between corbelled brackets, a deep plinth and five six-over-six sashes in flush cased frames. The central window is wider and is possibly set within a former C17 doorway while the two flanking windows are set within former segmental-headed doorways of late-C18/early-C19 date. To the attic there are two gabled dormers with two-light casements with square-paned glazing. The north gable end to Egremont Street is comprised of uncoursed stone rubble to the lower section with brick above. A date stone in the apex of the gable is inscribed 'DB / 1987' and records the partial rebuilding of the gable in the late C20. Adjoining the right-hand side is the northern end of an outshut addition which was built against the west side in the later C19. It has a vertical-rectangular casement with square-paned glazing and a plank and batten door, both late C20. The west face of the C19 addition has a central doorway containing a late-C20 panelled door. It is flanked on its right-hand side by two, small, square casement windows and on its left by two rectangular casements, one vertically aligned and one horizontally aligned. All have square-paned glazing. The attic has a gabled dormer at the centre with a uPVC three-light mullion window. All the windows are late-C20 replacements. INTERIOR: the ground floor of the C17 range, which was originally of three bays, comprises an off-centre staircase passage with a large room on the south side and a smaller room on the north. It is believed that the north-side room and staircase passage occupy the original northern bay while the larger southern room occupies the former central and southern bays of the C17 building. A spine beam, comprised of at least three large pieces of timber, runs through the centre of the ground floor in a north-south alignment. It is transversed by three centrally placed cross beams of which the central and northern beams, which are unchamfered and roughly finished, are partly concealed by the later partition walling which forms the staircase passage. Both of these beams are supported by late-C20 salvaged timber posts. The spine beam in the southern room is comprised of at least two pieces of timber. In the northern part of the room (the former central bay), the spine beam is roughly chamfered and is unstopped where its south end meets the southernmost cross beam. The southern spine beam, which runs from the southern cross beam to a bracket set within the late-C18/early-C19 chimney stack in the south gable wall, is also roughly chamfered with no stops at either end. Both spine beams have joists extending east and west of them. These are irregularly spaced and sized, and roughly finished. In the central bay there is a further beam running parallel with the spine beam in the centre of the east side. Also roughly finished with no evidence of a chamfer, its exact function is unknown. A series of residual lap joints on the south side of the southernmost cross beam probably indicate the position of a former partition. Built against the south gable wall is a late-C18/early-C19 fireplace and chimney stack. It has a large opening formed of brick with a timber bressumer with residual mortises on its the outer face indicating that it is a piece of salvaged timber. Within the fireplace, on the rear wall, there are two niches, while the north side contains a bread oven. To the left-hand side of the fireplace is a cupboard with a plank and batten door. A shallow scoop in the outer wall of the building indicates that this was possibly the position of a former staircase. In the northern room the spine beam is largely boxed in and is supported on a boxed in post sitting against the north gable wall. At the northernmost end a section of the boxing has been removed to reveal a chamfered beam with run out stops. On the east side of the beam there are residual mortises for the former ceiling joists; two joists from this ceiling bay still survive in the staircase passage. To the west wall there is a former C19 serving hatch, now blocked up, while the former fireplace which stood against the north gable wall was removed in the late C20. The C19 outshut on the west side, added when the building was converted into a public house, comprises a late-C20 kitchen (the former servery) on the north side and a late-C20 bathroom (the former toilets) on the south. Both these rooms, along with the attic storey, which was largely reconfigured in the late C20, retain no historic fixtures and fittings of interest. The roof structure, which is concealed by late-C20 plasterboard, is a late-C20 replacement, and is therefore of considerably less interest.

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