A SCHEME to carry out remedial work on a town centre pub in St Austell has revealed some interesting historical details.

The Queens Head Inn on North Street has applied for listed building consent to Cornwall Council for strengthening a slate hung timber-framed wall.

To establish the scope of the remedial action needed at the grade II listed building, extensive opening up works have been carried out. Following this, temporary protection has been put in place on the wall

At present, the floors inside deflect significantly and there is bulging around the windows.

Experts who have visited the building say the pub is within the medieval core of the St Austell Conservation Area. It is located opposite the grade II* listed Old Manor House and at the meeting point of three Domesday manors which became the medieval churchtown.

The building was next to the original site of the Mengu Stone and is opposite Holy Trinity Church across what was probably the settlement’s marketplace until the area became more built up in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The experts say the timber frame they have inspected at the pub has substantial section sizes and carpenters’ marks using Roman numerals, probably from the late 17th century or early 18th century, making it of considerable historical interest.

The experts say the building has a complex floorplan and has been the subject of several phases of alteration and extension. Much of the interior has been modified but there are important features surviving such as the early 19th century staircase, decorative plaster cornices, and lath and plaster finishes beneath later coatings.

The pub wants to strengthen the wall and then use sheep’s wool insulation to improve the thermal performance of the building. The slates taken off the wall will be reinstated once the remedial work is approved and then completed.