White Hart Inn (Crawley)

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View of the building from the southwest

The White Hart Inn , also known as the White Hart Hotel , is a former coaching inn at 65, High Street in Crawley , a town in West Sussex , England . It was built in the late 18th century to replace an older building, also known as the White Hart Inn . For most of the 19th century, this was the town's post office . At the beginning of the 21st century it is still a pub . The building is partly built in half-timbered construction and includes parts of a house from the beginning of the 17th century and is characteristic of the area. English Heritage classifies the building as Grade II because of its architectural and historical importance .

history

Crawley was a slow market town and center of iron making in the Weald from the 13th century onwards , especially along the north-south running High Street. This road was a section of the main route from London to the increasingly popular seaside resort of Brighton . After the road was developed as a toll road in stages between the end of the 17th century and the middle of the 18th century , Crawley was almost exactly in the middle between the two cities. This enabled the new function as a convenient stopover for travelers on the stagecoach . By the end of the 18th century, Crawley had become the main post office in Sussex for travel to and from London, as the neighboring towns of Horsham and East Grinstead were no longer preferred.

The sale of the Ancient Priors allowed the construction of the larger, new White Hart Inn.

To accomplish this task, Crawley needed not only ample opportunity for travelers to pass the time during layovers, but also rooms for overnight stays and facilities for changing horses and coachmen. Several buildings that arose on the High Street in the Middle Ages, such as the George Inn, Ancient Priors and the Old Punch Bowl , were able to partially meet these requirements, but none of the buildings was built for this purpose. All of these buildings had been rebuilt, but previously served completely different purposes. The Ancient Priors was originally a small farm, the Old Punch Bowl was a larger farm, and although the George Inn was an inn, it had to be expanded several times and spanned several neighboring buildings. The Ancient Priors in particular were decidedly too poor to meet the requirements. In 1753, when it was operating under the name The White Hart , it was sold and soon became a working farm. The proceeds from the sale were used to build a new White Hart Inn about 65 meters north on the High Street. This space was big enough to erect a larger building as well as to have enough space behind the building for the supply of the horses and the stables. Most sources agree that the new White Hart Inn opened in 1770, although there is also an indication of 1790. Studies of the building's architecture, which were carried out in 1995 and 2003, showed that the southern part of the building was built around 1600, so that the new building was probably built around the core of an older house.

The post station was immediately successful and met the requirements of the heavily swollen stagecoach traffic. While there was only one daily carriage connection in 1756, there were five in 1790 and 30 in 1815. 180 horses could be looked after in the stables. It was here that Crawley developed one of the centers of commerce and industry during the 19th century: the town's post office was located from 1810 - when the daily stagecoach service between London and Brighton began - and 1895; a grain exchange existed between 1800 and 1883. The post office was added to the north side and was demolished in the 1950s to make way for a sidewalk that became an integral part of a modern shopping mall. Crawley's oldest insurance company was founded in 1827 at the White Hart Inn, which was also the venue for Crawley Feast Day . This annual gathering of the city's businessmen was common in the 19th century. Mark Lemon , the founder of Punch magazine, was a resident of Crawley. He organized celebrations in the Inn after the wedding of the future King Edward VII to Alexandra of Denmark .

Stagecoach traffic declined towards the end of the 19th century when trains, buses and automobiles gained importance in transport, but some connections continued into the 1940s. The White Hart Inn adapted to the circumstances and became an ordinary pub. In 2009 it still had its original name but belongs to Harveys Brewery in Lewes , East Sussex . It is therefore a brewery restaurant . Harveys say it is the top-selling pub they own.

The White Hart Inn was rated II by English Heritage on February 23, 1983 ; it is therefore a “nationally important” building of “special interest”. It is one of 85 Grade II structures in the Borough of Crawley.

architecture

The White Hart Inn is a half-timbered building, the north-south aligned three in Jochen is. The outer walls are made of plastered bricks and there are three brick chimneys on the roof. The southern part is the remainder of a half-timbered house that was built around 1600. This had a turret at the back with a staircase to the top floor, but only the top steps of it have been preserved. The attic still exists today as two rooms with a window to the outside under the south gable . The building was later expanded at the rear. The extension to the north was built around 1830; this has two floors, but is a little higher and has its own eaves. This part of the building is made of bricks without a framework. Nowadays, the half-timbered construction of the lower floor of the older part of the building is not visible.

literature

  • Roger Bastable: Crawley: A Pictorial History . Phillimore & Co, Chichester 1983, ISBN 0-85033-503-5 .
  • Roger Bastable: Crawley: The Making of a New Town . Phillimore & Co, Chichester 1986, ISBN 0-85033-613-9 .
  • Michael Goldsmith: Crawley and District in Old Picture Postcards . European Library, Zaltbommel 1987, ISBN 90-288-4525-9 .
  • Peter Gwynne: A History of Crawley , 1st. Edition, Phillimore & Co, Chichester 1990, ISBN 0-85033-718-6 .
  • Nâdine Hygate: 49, High Street, Crawley . Performance Publications, Horsham 1994.
  • Nâdine Hygate, Hughes, Annabella: Ye Olde Punch Bowle, 101, High Street, Crawley . Performance Publications, Horsham 1995.
  • Jean Shelley: Early Houses on Crawley High Street . Crawley High Street Conservation Committee and Crawley Museum Society, Crawley 1995.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Shelley, 1995. p. 12
  2. ↑ a b c d Roland B. Harris: Crawley Historic Character Assessment Report (PDF) In: Sussex Extensive Urban Survey (EUS) . English Heritage in partnership with Crawley Borough Council. December 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  3. ↑ Gwynne, 1990. pp. 37, 70
  4. ↑ Gwynne, 1990. pp. 86, 98
  5. ↑ Gwynne, 1990. pp. 94, 98
  6. ↑ Gwynne, 1990. p. 85
  7. ↑ Hygate, 1994. p. 3
  8. ↑ Hygate, Hughes, S. 1993. 7
  9. ↑ Gwynne, 1990. p. 86
  10. ↑ Hygate, 1994. p. 12
  11. ↑ Goldsmith, 1987. §28
  12. ↑ a b Gwynne, 1990. p. 99
  13. ↑ a b Roland B. Harris: Crawley Historic Character Assessment Report (PDF) In: Sussex Extensive Urban Survey (EUS) . English Heritage with the Crawley Borough Council. December 2008. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
  14. ↑ a b c Bastable, 1986. §5
  15. ↑ a b c d Goldsmith, 1987. §27
  16. ↑ Gwynne, 1990. p. 101
  17. ↑ Gwynne, 1990. p. 113
  18. ↑ Bastable, 1983. §27
  19. ↑ Gwynne, 1990. pp. 118-119
  20. ↑ Bastable, 1983. §32
  21. ↑ Hop Around Our Pubs . Harvey & Son (Lewes) Ltd . 2009. Archived from the original on December 15, 2009. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 4, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.harveys.org.uk
  22. ↑ Harvey's Pubs . Harvey & Son (Lewes) Ltd . 2009. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 4, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.harveys.org.uk
  23. ↑ a b c d Detailed record: White Hart Hotel, 65 High Street (east side), Crawley, West Sussex . In: Images of England . English Heritage . 2007. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
  24. ↑ Listed Buildings: Listing and Other Types of Designation . English Heritage . 2008. Retrieved October 14, 2009.
  25. ↑ Listed Buildings in Crawley (PDF) In: Crawley Borough Council Planning and Development website . Crawley Borough Council. 2008. Retrieved November 4, 2009.

Coordinates: 51 ° 6 ′ 54.4 "  N , 0 ° 11 ′ 23.6"  W.