2131

24  

II  

Designated  

01/04/1974  

30/04/2004  

The Cross Keys Inn  

24 Bridge Street  

Monmouthshire  

Usk  

Usk  

Usk  

337525  

200803  

 

Towards the W end of the N range of Bridge Street.  

Commercial  

 

Built close to the line of the medieval W defences. Bradney suggests that this was the site of the Priory hospital, possibly as early as C14, but already disused by the time of the Dissolution.  

Inn with C17 features. Of stone rendered in roughcast and painted; slate roof with rendered end stacks and corniced chimneys, brick to right, roughcast to left. Two storeys and cellar. Three-window range of 4-pane horned sashes to first floor; ground floor has diamond leaded quarries to bar casement windows, small rectangular light adjacent to central doorway which has C20 gabled hood and boarded door. Shutters, plinth. Former mounting steps at end right. To rear mullioned first floor windows of 2 and 4 lights. Lower cross wing with 6-pane sashes.  

Interior to bar right has one large cross beam and joists, not chamfered. Open fireplace with unusual wooden mantelpiece with decoration of recessed round-arches and suggestion of a Tudor arch, reputedly from a Tudor door-case. Stairs rise beside fireplace through an arched doorway with studded boarded door. Beam in front of fireplace has empty mortices. Left bar has grid of spine beams and joists. On first floor is reported the remains of a moulded plaster ceiling with cherubs and Tudor roses, possibly created by craftsmen working at the Castle and Gatehouse, and spiral stairs leading to attic.  

Listed as a historic inn retaining its character and historic fabric. Group value with other listed buildings in Bridge Street.