319 High Street

Summary

Former public house, constructed during the early C19.

History

Lincoln High Street is part of the major Roman road, Ermine Street, linking London to York. It has served as the principal route into the city from the south since the first century when a legionary fortress was established on what is now ‘Uphill’ Lincoln (the vicinity of the cathedral and castle). The fortress was later transformed into a civilian settlement, taking the name Colonia Lindum, from which its modern name is derived. The Roman town gradually expanded south along Ermine Street beyond the River Witham. This development pattern was largely re-established after the Vikings resettled the city during the C9. By the time of the Norman Conquest, both sides of Ermine Street appear to have been developed for some distance south of the river, but as late as the C18, development to the east and west of the High Street was mostly limited to the areas of the castle and cathedral in ‘Uphill’ Lincoln and along the riverfront in ‘Downhill’ Lincoln.

The land south of the River Witham witnessed considerable industrial and commercial growth during the late C18 and C19. The land to the east and west of the High Street was transformed into a network of workshops, factories and yards, a trend reinforced by the arrival of the Midland Railway in 1846, followed by the Great Northern Railway in 1848, which transformed a large swathe of the area into a complex of railway buildings, storehouses and sidings. The High Street witnessed gradual redevelopment throughout this period, creating the largely C19 streetscape seen today, although a significant number of pre-industrial buildings have survived, often hidden behind later facades.

319 High Street is a former public house constructed during the early C19, probably on the site of an earlier building. The establishment was trading as the Black Swan as early as 1826 when it is first listed in a local street directory. It operated as a pub until the early 1970s. The building has a late-C20 timber shopfront. There are four square-headed pattress plates on the principal façade, possibly of the C20. The overall form of the building appears to have changed little since construction, the only substantive addition to the building footprint being a single-storey, flat-roofed extension to the rear, east range during the mid- to late C20. The building is now in use as a shop.

Details

Former public house, constructed during the early C19.

MATERIALS: the building is of painted and exposed red brick with a timber shopfront and a roof covering of slate.

PLAN: square on plan, the building’s principal elevation faces north.

EXTERIOR: the principal range is of three storeys across two bays onto the High Street, under a pitched roof sloping towards the primary, west façade. The ground floor contains a late-C20 timber shopfront in an early-C20 style. The first and second floors are of painted white brickwork. Each floor contains a pair of historic sash windows under painted, flat-arched heads, those on the first floor are six-over-six sashes and those on the second floor are three-over-three sashes. Between the two sets of windows is a moulded panel bearing the raised lettering: BLACK SWAN. At the roof junction is a late C20 or C21 timber soffit supported on stucco or stone corbels arranged in three pairs. There are four square-headed pattress plates in line with the first-floor window heads. The southern gable wall, visible from the High Street, is of white painted render. A passageway in the ground floor of the adjacent property (320 High Street) leads to a rear range running east from the principal, western range of number 319. This rear range steps down in stages from three storeys to one storey. The two westernmost elements, of three storeys and two storeys are of the mid- to late C19 and of matching design, constructed in red brick with timber sash windows and pitched, slate roofs. The easternmost range is a single-storey, flat-roofed element, probably of the mid- to late C20.

Listing NGR: SK9750171025

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

486035

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Harris, J, Antram, N, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, (1989), 523

Websites
Historic street directory entries for the Black Swan Inn, 319 High Street Lincoln, accessed 8 February 2021 from [https://pubwiki.co.uk/Lincolnshire/Lincoln/BlackSwanInn.shtml]2856/020

Other
Padley, J S, Map of Lincoln (1842), accessed 8 February 2021 at [http://www.heritageconnectlincoln.com/character-area/high-street/104/maps-and-photos?tab=map]
OS 1:500 Town Plan of Lincoln(surveyed 1888, accessed 22 January 2021at [https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/497563/371042/13/100257]
OS 25” Lincolnshire LXX.7(Canwick; Lincoln) (revised 1904-05, published 1907), accessed 22 January 2021 at [https://maps.nls.uk/view/114649050]OS 25” Lincolnshire LXX.7 (Canwick; Lincoln) (revised 1930, published 1932), accessed 22 January 2021 at [https://maps.nls.uk/view/114649053]
OS 1:1250 Map of Lincoln(surveyed 1967), accessed 22 January 2021 at [https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/497563/371042/13/101329]
Photograph of Lincoln High Street (1970), Historic England Archive, accessed 8 February 2021 at [https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/englands-places/gallery/7215?place=Lincoln%2c+Lincolnshire+(Place)&terms=lincoln&searchtype=englandsplaces&i=0&wm=1&bc=0|57|58]

End of official list entry

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