NHER 54081 (Building record) - 191 King Street (former Ferry Boat Inn)

No 191 King Street (former Ferry Boat Inn).

This was probably an inn since it was built in the 17th century. It was called the Steam Packet in the 1820's but became the Ferry during WWI when Boulton and Paul opened their works on the other side of the river and a ferry operated to take the workers across.
See report (S1) for further information of the history of the site.
P. Watkins (HES), 23 October 2017.

1972. Listed Grade II.
Listing Description Excerpt:
"Public house. 17th century with 19th-century and 20th-century alterations. Rendered and pantile roof. Three storeys. Three bays. Central door with 19th-century 'Tudor' surround. Small canted oriel window on brackets above door at first floor. Casement windows throughout. Triple dormer gables."
Information from (S2).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S2) for the current listing details.
P. Watkins (HES), 23 October 2017. Amended by J. Cullis (HES), 21 January 2020.

September 1977. Building Survey.
Examined as part of Norwich Survey.
Two storeys with attics and has walls of flint rubble and brick. Roof is pantiled and has triple dormers to front and back. The detail is 'Jacobean', but none is original. Inside a partition has been removed on the ground floor to form a single room. An original fireplace sited west of the axis survives at the north end. The adjoining stair in the north-east corner of the range is probably therefore in its original position. A blocked door off it led into what, judging by the remains in the cellar, may have been a garderobe.
The rear premises include a large 19th-century wing adjoining the northern part of the main range. It has a cellar which communicates with a smaller one of the north end of the street range.
The lack of windows on the east wall of the main range, coupled with its narrowness, suggest that an original rear outshut may have been replaced by the later buildings.
Analogies encourage the conclusion that the building, which is of the mid to late 17th century, was an inn from the outset.
See record forms (S3) for further details, sketch plan and drawings of architectural elements.
P. Watkins (HES), 23 October 2017.

This building is amongst those mentioned in thesis (S4), which considers the 13th- to 17th-century buildings of Norwich. It is described as a 17th-century building with evidence for an outshut against the rear wall. It is noted that there is a chimney stack against each gable, although the southern stack is a later insertion.
P. Watkins (HES), 23 October 2017.

15 December 2010. Planning Application.
Alterations and extensions to the listed building and removal of curtilage buildings to provide a 150 - 200 bed backpackers' hostel.
See (S5) for further details
Z. Dack (HES), 30 June 2012.

There are the remains of a 16th-century arch of chamfered brick in an outbuilding next to the inn but in the same ownership (TG 23717 07891). There is an intention to demolish the outbuilding. The arch is visible on the north side of the internal transverse dividing wall between the two adjoining buildings. It is associated with only a section of this wall as can be seen by the change of alignment. The archway is blocked and there is a suggestion of a door jamb on one side but not the other. The wall is painted with an oil-based product except for the voussoirs. The arch is incomplete and the simple chamfered voussoirs have been re-pointed with cement mortar. The shape of the arch is of two centres but does not come to a defined point. It is in situ but insignificant in itself. However the existence of a 16th-century wall in this position needs to be recorded. The wall corresponds to some thin brick quoins on the exterior which may be part of the wall or not. From the interior it is uncertain. The quoins form a straight joint with the adjoining outbuilding to the south and it seems that the dividing wall with the arch corresponds to the northern outbuilding which was independently built. The NAU have been engaged by the owner to photograph and possibly further record the arch. The owner wishes to demolish the buildings and re-use the arch elsewhere on the site.
S. Heywood (HES), 15 July 2011.