Building record MDR24193 - The Soldier Dick Public House, Buxton Road, Whaley Bridge

The Soldier Dick Public House, Buxton Road, Whaley Bridge, built c1804. The building was considered for adding to the National Heritage List for England in 2022 but was rejected. The report on the building and the reasons for its rejection is available. (1) 'HISTORY AND DETAILS The Soldier Dick public house is understood to have been constructed in around 1804, probably built in response to a new turnpike road which ran through Furness Vale, completed in 1803. The 1849 tithe map depicts the public house as a linear range fronting the road to the south. From the early to mid-C19 the second floor of the public house was used by the local branch of the Oddfellows Society. In 1840 the society commissioned artist F W Roche to paint five murals depicting historic battle scenes including the Civil and Napoleonic Wars. Little is known about the artist who is likely to have been a journeyman painter with the paintings possibly copied from popular C19 prints. The building complex was advertised for sale in 1885 with the advert describing the public house with stabling and outbuildings ‘fronting the highway from Manchester to Buxton’. By the early C20 the neighbouring attached cottage had been subsumed into the public house with the ground floor of the buildings knocked through. An additional mural of the eponymous Soldier Dick was painted on the first floor by local art teacher Len Burgess in the 1970s. In the late C20 the public house was modernised with a new bar inserted and an additional canted bay window added to the left-hand bay of the principal façade, to match the C19 bay to the east. During the 1990s the second floor of the building was altered to create lodging for guests; it is understood that the mid-C19 murals were retained and covered as part of these works. It is not known whether the late C20 mural on the first floor has been retained. The public house has a principal range of three bays and stands at three storeys, with the former cottage attached to the right (east). The 1804 public house has a symmetrical principal facade with brick end stacks and is rendered with a slate roof. There is a central entrance door with fanlight under a semi-circular arch with imposts and a keystone. The entrance has stone steps and railings and is flanked to either side by a canted bay window. The upper storeys have window openings to each bay with the exception of the central bay on the first floor. To the right, the former cottage contains a further entrance to the right of centre with a window opening to either side on both floors. All windows are early C21 uPVC. The interior of the building was modernised in the late C20, including a timber bar. Some C19 ceiling beams have been retained in both the public house and former cottage, all other fixtures and fittings appear to date to the late C20. The upper floors of the building were altered and modernised in the late C20 and it is not known that any historic fittings survive. The C19 and C20 murals may still be retained under modern plasterboard. DISCUSSION The Principles of Selection for Listed Buildings (DCMS, November 2018) states that buildings dating from 1700 to 1850 which retain a significant proportion of their original fabric are likely to be regarded of special interest, though some selection is necessary; due to the number of buildings constructed after 1850, progressively greater selectivity is needed. The Historic England Listing Selection Guide for Commerce and Exchange Buildings (December 2017) provides further context for the assessment of this specific building type. Judged against the criteria, the Soldier Dick public house does not meet the criteria for listing for the following principal reasons: Degree of Architectural interest: * the building is legible as an early-C19 public house with attached former cottage but is architecturally modest, without ornamentation, and has seen the alteration of the exterior with the insertion of C21 uPVC windows; * the interior of the public house is predominately late-C20 in character, with a replacement bar and modern fittings throughout, the upper floors have also been modernised and altered to create lodgings for guests. Degree of Historic interest: * while the current state of the murals on the upper floors is not known, their survival, while unusual, does not raise the interest of the public house sufficiently to merit statutory listing. CONCLUSION The Soldier Dick public house is of clear local interest as an early-C19 public house constructed in response to a new turnpike road through the village, but it lacks the special interest required for statutory listing.' (1)