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Summary

16th century or earlier public house, heightened and remodelled in 19th century. Solid rendered walls and slated roof. Two rooms wide, one room deep, originally with central through-passage. Rear storage wing to right, now incorporated into 20th century extension. Converted to residential / commercial use around 2014-15.

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II) 1200984: RED LION INN

Other References/Statuses

• Old Listed Building Ref (II): 376041

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• INN (Constructed, XV to XXI - 1500 AD? to 2014 AD (Between))

Full description

Department of National Heritage, 1992, Ashburton, 57 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV337041.

Ashburton - East Street (south side) No.56 Red Lion Inn - GV II
Public House. 16th century or earlier, heightened and remodelled in 19th century. Solid rendered walls. Slated roof. Two old rendered chimneys with tapered caps on rear wall. Two rooms wide, one room deep, originally with central through-passage. Rear storage wing to right, now incorporated into 20th century extension.
Three-storeyed front range (probably two storeys originally). Single storeyed wing. Three windows wide. Doorways in centre and at left-hand end of ground storey; two sash windows of 3 lights each. Upper storey windows also of 3 lights; that to right of second storey has small-paned sashes; remainder small-paned wood casements. Interior: ground floor of front range converted to a single bar. In rear wall of former left-hand room a stone chimneypiece (probably 16th century) with roughly shaped lintel on double rounded corbels. 17th century ovolo-moulded beam over former passage. Between 1st and 2nd floors a winding wood staircase (probably early 18th century) with flat sinuous balusters and square newel with beaded corners.

Quick, T., 1992, Dartmoor Inns, 88-9 (Monograph). SDV359976.

The Red Lion was built in the 18th century and was formerly connected to the Golden Lion. The original, much smaller inn, consisted of just the two rooms at the front; the landlord lived in the rooms on the left, with the bar on the right side. These have since been converted into the small lounge bar and part of the larger public bar. Said to be haunted. Since 1944, the inn has run annual club outings to various parts of the South West; thought to be the longest continuous run of its kind. Images from the trips decorate the public bar.

Webb, P., 1995, The Pubs and Inns of Ashburton, 33-35 (Monograph). SDV347208.

Red Lion, East Street.
18th century inn, known by locals as the Red Dog. Formerly connected to the Golden Lion by the Golden Lion Tap. Acquired in the 1920s, it has been a Heavitree House since that time and has undergone major refurbishment in recent years.

Ordnance Survey, 2011, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV346129.

Building depicted on the modern mapping.

English Heritage, 2011, National Heritage List for England (National Heritage List for England). SDV347072.

No.56 East Street, Ashburton (Red Lion Inn) Public House. 16th century or earlier, heightened and remodelled in 19th century. Solid rendered walls. Slated roof. Two old rendered chimneys with tapered caps on rear wall. Two rooms wide, one room deep, originally with central through-passage. Rear storage wing to right, now incorporated into 20th century extension.
Three-storeyed front range (probably two storeys originally). Single storeyed wing. Three windows wide. Doorways in centre and at left-hand end of ground storey; two sash windows of 3 lights each. Upper storey windows also of 3 lights; that to right of second storey has small-paned sashes; remainder small-paned wood casements. Interior: ground floor of front range converted to a single bar. In rear wall of former left-hand room a stone chimneypiece (probably 16th century) with roughly shaped lintel on double rounded corbels. 17th century ovolo-moulded beam over former passage. Between 1st and 2nd floors a winding wood staircase (probably early 18th century) with flat sinuous balusters and square newel with beaded corners (Listed 1992). Other details: LB UID: 376041.

Walls, S. + Bampton, J. + Laing-Trengove, D., 2014, The Red Lion, 56 East Street, Ashburton, Devon. Historic Building Recording & Archaeological Monitoring, 1-14 (Report - Survey). SDV357634.

No. 56 East Street; the former Red Lion public house, appears to date from the 14th or 15th century. The building was significantly altered during the 18th and 19th centuries with much of the north elevation, and parts of the south, rebuilt or raised in brick and the structure reroofed. The corbelled fireplace in the eastern room of the main north range (G2) is not unique within Ashburton, it is probably 16th century in date, and may have had a decorative plaster overmantle added in the 17th century. The former opening in the back of the fireplace may date from the 18th or 19th century and relate to the construction of a large oven to the south, in the present position of the kitchen. To the south of the main range, there may have been a rear wing or detached block to the west suggested by changes in build in the west wall and a rubble stone wall to the east of the modern toilet block.
A substantial level of truncation and made-ground was revealed within the excavated services and footing trenches. Two significant features were identified within the footing trench; a pit and a wall. The pit produced no dateable evidence but it respected and is most-likely approximately contemporary of the medieval south wall of the main range. The buried wall was probably part of a post-medieval (17th century?) phase to The Red Lion removed during the 19th and 20th century modifications to the layout of the building.
Dating discussion:
Close examination of some of the buildings of East Street and North Street has shown the preservation of earlier fabric. For example, at Number 65 East Street, which is almost opposite the Red Lion, the roof-structure suggests construction or reconstruction in the 14th/15th century (R.Waterhouse,pers.comm.). Comprehensive building recording of two demolished buildings in North Street (Laithwaite 1971) clearly illustrated the extent of preservation of often previously unknown medieval building fabric, beneath 18thand 19thcentury facades. Laithwaite’s work also emphasises a commonality of layout of many of the older structures in the town (see also Thorp1998).
Based on this work 56 East Street would appear to be of a two room and cross-passage/opposed entry plan form which was probably a single storey structure originally, dating from the late 14thor the15thcentury. This was subsequently ceiled and a first floor added. Similar arrangements of rooms were identified at 5 East Street (The Royal Oak Inn), with a two room and cross passage plan of late medieval date (Thorp1998). The Royal Oak Inn however included a first floor, with an open hall at one end and a solar at the other (Thorp 1998), and it is plausible that a similar arrangement had once existed in the Red Lion, but no evidence of this was seen during these works.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6644 - Historic building recording and archaeological monitoring at The Red Lion, 56 East Street (Ref: ARL12)

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