Building record NYW 112 - The White Hart Inn

The White Hart is an important timber-framed medieval inn with an unusual original layout. Built at the beginning of the 15th century in a highly conspicuous location on the market place opposite the parish church it consisted of an open hall flanked by a narrow cross-wing on the south and a large gateway to the north. This gateway represents one of the finest examples of its kind in the region. The narrow wing adjoins an early-16th century religious guildhall that appears to have been reached via the inn’s gate, and the two buildings are likely to have been closely linked. A substantial additional wing with at least one and probably two finely moulded ceilings was added to the rear around the time of the guildhall’s construction. The rear bays of this wing are curiously sooted or smoke-blackened on both storeys and it may have been converted into a brewhouse or maltings in later years. The present facade and main roof date from the 18th century when the projecting medieval jetties were cut off, and the resulting new first-floor front wall of the narrow wing bears two rare, naive wall paintings of the same period. A local belief in a connection with John Gainsborough, brother of the Sudbury artist, is likely to be apocryphal. The property then formed the town’s principal coaching inn and a three-storied brick structure was built behind the medieval hall around the same time. Much of the early fabric is now concealed by late-20th century plaster ceilings and partitions which could be removed to reinstate something of the building’s historic integrity and reveal further details of its original layout. A fire in circa 1920 damaged the stables in the rear yard which ironically housed Nayland’s fire engine and were subsequently replaced by a large function room that lacks any obvious architectural or historic significance (S1)