The Whalley Arms King Street, Whalley, Lancashire: Assessment of Heritage Significance March 2017 STEPHEN HAIGH Buildings Archaeologist 11 Browcliff Silsden Keighley West Yorkshire BD20 9PN Tel: 01535 658925 Mobile: 07986 612548 www.stephenhaigh.co.uk [email protected] The Whalley Arms, King Street, Whalley, Lancashire: Assessment of Heritage Significance page 1 THE WHALLEY ARMS, KING STREET, WHALLEY, LANCASHIRE: ASSESSMENT OF HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE 1 Introduction 1.1 This report was commissioned by Edgeplan, acting as agents for the Cooperative Group, to provide supporting information for its applications for planning and listed building consent, currently under consideration by Ribble Valley Borough Council (refs: 3/2016/0522 & /0523). This information was requested at a relatively late stage within the application process, with the principal objective being a greater understanding of the building’s interior. 1.2 The Whalley Arms is a disused public house in the centre of Whalley, standing at the junction of King Street with Accrington Road (NGR: SD 73354 36145). It is listed, grade II, and lies within the Whalley conservation area. 1.3 The earliest part of the Whalley Arms appears to be the west end, which fronts onto King Street. This block is dated 1781, and appears to have been purpose- built as an inn. To the rear (east), the building continues as a range of various structures and dates, of which the largest part was originally agricultural and equestrian in function. 2 Planning context 2.1 The Whalley Arms has been grade II listed since 19861, and lies within the Whalley conservation area (designated in 1972). 2.2 The present applications are for “Change of use of premises from use class A4 to use class A1, internal and external alterations and works to public car park area with associated works” and “Listed Building Consent for change of use of premises from use class A4 to use class A1, internal and external alterations and works to public car park area with associated works”. 2.3 A full history of planning applications at the site has not been undertaken, but previous applications relevant to an understanding of the building’s history include 3/1990/0356 and /0361, described as “alterations to existing dis-used wine bar to form first floor retail shop and ground floor bottle/crate store”. 1 https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1072044 Stephen Haigh Buildings Archaeologist March 2017 page 2 The Whalley Arms, King Street, Whalley, Lancashire: Assessment of Heritage Significance 3 Historical background 3.1 The village of Whalley grew up around its Abbey, founded in the late 13th century, but in the centuries following its dissolution, it failed to develop in the same way as comparable settlements, partly as a consequence of the manner in which the Abbey’s land was acquired and held, and by the early 19th century remained a small village with rural, rather than urban characteristics. 3.2 One way in which the village did grow in significance during this period is attributable to increasing road transport and the development of the road system during the early part of the industrial revolution. The Whalley Arms (perhaps then known by a different name) was located at the junction of the Blackburn and Clitheroe turnpike (enacted in 1776) with the Bury to Blackburn and Whalley turnpike (enacted in 1789). As an inn, the establishment would have provided food, drink, and accommodation for travellers and their horses, but it is also thought to have been run as a farm, as was usual for rural inns at that date. There were three other similar establishments in the village around the end of the 18th century2. 3.3 It is believed that the earliest map to show the public house is the Ordnance Survey 1:10560 map, surveyed in the 1840s (figure 1). At this date the premises comprised two distinct buildings: the main west end, which adjoined other buildings to the south along King Street, and a separate, rectilinear building to the east, along Accrington Road. To the south were rear yards or gardens. 1: OS 1:10560 map, 18483 3.4 In 1897 the premises were put up for sale, as Lot 4, in an auction which also included Whalley’s Dog Inn, the De Lacy Arms and the Swan Hotel4. It was then in the occupation of William John Whittaker. A significant aspect of the 1897 sale particulars is a ground floor plan showing the arrangement of all parts of the premises (figure 3). Two main points can be gleaned from this plan: by 1897, 2 The Conservation Studio 2005 Whalley Conservation Area Appraisal 3 Lancashire, sheet 55, surveyed 1844 to 1846 (enlarged here) 4 John Ricketts Reddish, Solicitors 1897 Particulars and Plans of Four Valuable Freehold Fully- Licenced Public Houses… in Whalley which will be sold by auction by Messrs Wm Salisbury & Hamer… Monday 13th December 1897 (held at Clitheroe Library) March 2017 Stephen Haigh Buildings Archaeologist The Whalley Arms, King Street, Whalley, Lancashire: Assessment of Heritage Significance page 3 new buildings served to conjoin the two parts of the premises; and the long structure at the east end (C on figure 4) was then divided into six rooms, the majority used for stabling or associated functions. 3.5 It is likely that the sale of the property in 1897 would have lead to some changes to the building, and these seem to have included the addition of a canted bay window to the King Street elevation, according to a 1902 photograph (figure 2). Ordnance Survey maps also show that between 1897 and 1910 a substantial two storey addition was built, against the south side of the kitchen and scullery at the rear of the inn (D on figure 4). 3.6 The Ordnance Survey recorded no further changes to the building between 1910 and 1929 (figures 5 and 6), but in the following decade, substantial demolition took place: the stables (block C) was shortened at the east end, by the removal of two of its six units, and the carriage shed, wash-house and other buildings within the yard were taken down (figure 7). 2: Photograph of King Street, 19025 new window 5 S T Taylor Taswell, J M Rawcliffe & J Hall (eds) 1902 Whalley in 1902 “King Street South”, photograph by R P Gregson Stephen Haigh Buildings Archaeologist March 2017 page 4 The Whalley Arms, King Street, Whalley, Lancashire: Assessment of Heritage Significance 3: Tracing of 1897 sale plan (adapted)6 6 (see note 4, above) March 2017 Stephen Haigh Buildings Archaeologist The Whalley Arms, King Street, Whalley, Lancashire: Assessment of Heritage Significance page 5 C 8 Annotations relate to references in text D B 7 4 5 E 3 6 A 2 1 4: Present ground floor plan7 7 by Archer Architects Stephen Haigh Buildings Archaeologist March 2017 page 6 The Whalley Arms, King Street, Whalley, Lancashire: Assessment of Heritage Significance 5: OS 1:2500 map, 19128 new block built between 1897 and 1910 6: OS 1:2500 map, 19329 7: OS 1:2500 map, 193910 4 The present building 4.1 The present building can be seen to comprise five principal components, all built of local sandstone of varying types, and with either blue slate or local stone slate roofs. 4.2 The earliest part (A on figure 3) is that on the corner of King Street and Accrington Road, and faces west onto the former. This is dated to 1781 by a 8 Lancashire, sheet 55.10, revised 1910 9 Lancashire, sheet 55.10, revised 1929 10 Lancashire, sheet 55.10, revised 1938 March 2017 Stephen Haigh Buildings Archaeologist The Whalley Arms, King Street, Whalley, Lancashire: Assessment of Heritage Significance page 7 stone in the north gable, and is reputed to have been built using stone from the demolished Portfield Hall, previously “robbed” from Whalley Abbey11. The arrangement and details of its elevations are very much in keeping with its Georgian date (with the exception of the later bay window to the south). Although the main entrance is in the west side, there was formerly a second doorway in the north gable. In plan, this block is wider at the east end than to the front, perhaps because the adjoining cottages to the south (demolished after the 1930s) pre-dated the inn. Photo 1: Block A, from the north-west Photo 2: North gable of block A 11 Fell, J 1979 Window on Whalley, p12 Stephen Haigh Buildings Archaeologist March 2017 page 8 The Whalley Arms, King Street, Whalley, Lancashire: Assessment of Heritage Significance 4.3 At the north-east corner of the 1781 inn is an addition, likely to be early 19th century (B on figure 3). It is set back slightly from the Accrington Road elevation and has two bays of different length, each under its own roof, with valleys between them and between the 1781 block. Photo 3: North elevation of block B 4.4 Block B was also built up to the long stable block range C to the east, which is broadly contemporary with the 1781 inn. As has been established from historic maps and plans, C was reduced from six units to four during the 1930s, no doubt due to the massive reduction in horse-drawn transport of the early 20th century, but also perhaps to improve access into the premises’ rear yard. It is plainer in form than the main accommodation, and has an infilled cart or carriage entrance in its north elevation (which must have been blocked before 1897 as it does not appear on the plan of that date). The south elevation includes a shop front, of very modern construction and believed to date from c.1990.