Building record MDR23177 - Former Coach House, Rear of Bath Street, Ilkeston

Former coach house, to rear of Bath Street, Ilkeston, a mid 19th century building. The building was shown on Sanderson's map of 1835, where it appeared to have been part of the Poplar Inn, and was subject to a historic building survey in 2019, in advance of its proposed conversion into a private dwelling: 'Of three bays and two storeys the former coach-house is orientated with its long axis extending from north to south. It is brick built beneath a gable tile roof. Access to the upper floor is via an external flight of stairs on the north gable. The east elevation is the principal frontage of the building with a pair of sliding sash windows to the upper floor and three sets of large double doors and a narrow door on the ground floor. The ground floor comprises three rooms, the southernmost can only be accessed through the double doors in the east elevation but has access to the first floor through a trap door in the ceiling. The central room retains a number of original fixtures and fittings comprising a row of timber hooks extending along the west wall, a cupboard on the east wall, a fireplace in the north-west corner and a water supply running below the hooks. Much remodelled, the large northern room may originally have been open-fronted. The three bay roof of the first floor is carried by two softwood trusses supported by the wall plate and a brick corbels. Of note the floor is of tight-fitting lapped softwood boards. The former coach-house comprised room for two coaches or carts, a tack room and lock-up on the ground floor with a granary on the first floor, a typical arrangement during the Victorian period. A precise date for its construction could not be established. Detailed dimensions are given to a number of buildings associated with the public house in a copyhold in 1849 though none match those of the former coach-house. A local news report of 1858 describes the roof of the corn building collapsing and it is tempting to think it is referring to the former coach-house.' (1)