The Brewery Shades is a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

on the High Street in Crawley, a town and

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

, England. The building, which stands on a corner site at the point where the town's ancient High Street meets the commercial developments of the postwar New Town, has been altered and extended several times; but at its centre is a 15th-century

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...

open hall-house of a type common in the Crawley area in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. Few now survive, and the Brewery Shades has been protected as a Grade II

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

building.

History

Crawley was granted a charter for a weekly

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

in 1202. Thereafter, what had been a village, on the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

– Brighton road halfway between the two places, slowly grew into a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

and a centre for agriculture and

ironwork Ironwork is any weapon, artwork, utensil, or architectural feature made of iron, especially one used for decoration. There are two main types of ironwork: wrought iron and cast iron. While the use of iron dates as far back as 4000BC, it was the ...

ing. As the area became more prosperous, several

open hall-houses were built on both sides of the High Street (the name given to the part of the London–Brighton Road running through the town centre). These " Wealden hall-houses"—the design of which allowed smoke from open fires to rise through the hall and disperse readily—were common in the

Weald The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...

of Kent and Sussex, and five have been documented in Crawley. One such building was the ''Shades'' (perhaps its original name), which was built in the 15th century. Estimates of the date range from "1450 or a little earlier" to 1500. After chimneys were invented, the open hall-house design fell out of favour, and many such buildings had chimneys and fireplaces inserted. This happened at the Brewery Shades in the 17th century. At the same time, another storey was added internally and the façade was given two

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

ends. Further changes were made over the next two centuries, such that the external appearance of the building was completely changed. The ground floor was affected most by the alterations. Crawley was designated a New Town in the 1940s, and a new shopping area was built east of the High Street. One of the first projects was the creation of a pedestrian precinct, Broadwalk, between the main square (Queen's Square) and the High Street immediately south of the Brewery Shades. This opened in 1954, and the inn now occupied a prominent corner position. Buildings demolished to make way for this pedestrian link included Crawley's former post office and a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

's forge. The inn had subterranean passages leading to the George Hotel opposite, and cells where prisoners would be kept before being

hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...

at the

gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...

which stood outside the George for several centuries. The cells and passageways were not built at the same time as the inn, but were added soon afterwards. Reputed hauntings are a common feature of Sussex inns, and a wide variety of alleged paranormal activities at the Brewery Shades have been documented: a woman and child (a boy) associated in particular with one room in which a bed was once found alight for no reason; a doorbell ringing by itself during the night; and a man haunting the ladies' toilet. Historically, the word "shade" meant "ghost"—a possible explanation for the inn's name. The Brewery Shades was designated a Grade II

Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

on 21 June 1948.

Architecture

Although the medieval origins are now obscured behind a modern façade, substantial parts of the timber-framed original open hall-house layout remain inside. The oldest part of the building is the north–south range, parallel to the High Street. This has a gigantic tie-beam holding up a

king post A king post (or king-post or kingpost) is a central vertical post used in architectural or bridge designs, working in tension to support a beam below from a truss apex above (whereas a crown post, though visually similar, supports items above f ...

ceiling. The king post's structure includes

purlin A purlin (or historically purline, purloyne, purling, perling) is a longitudinal, horizontal, structural member in a roof. In traditional timber framing there are three basic types of purlin: purlin plate, principal purlin, and common purlin. Pu ...

s, chamfers and decorative mouldings. This façade has three modern gable ends and a tiled upper storey. Around the corner, facing Broadwalk, there is a twin-gabled modern façade, again with a tile-hung first floor and a stucco-faced ground floor. This part is a modern extension. At the northern end, there is another original wing running west to east: it has substantial timberwork with chamfering, visible from one of the bars.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Crawley Commercial buildings completed in the 15th century Grade II listed pubs in West Sussex Buildings and structures in Crawley