Listed Building record MDO19113 - Antelope Hotel, Cornhill, Dorchester

The Antelope Hotel, on the west side of Cornhill, is of two and three storeys with walls of coursed stone, brick and some stucco and is built round four sides of a courtyard with a carriageway through from east to west. The south and west ranges comprise an L-shaped coaching inn of the late 16th or early 17th century but the south range has been much altered and heightened subsequently. The other two ranges are mainly of the early 19th century. The street front is divided into three bays by stone pilasters and also dates from the 19th century. The east to west carriageway is now known as Antelope Walk and houses a series of specialist shops which have been converted from the hotels outbuildings.

The Antelope Hotel, on the west side of Cornhill, is of two and three storeys with walls of coursed stone, brick and some stucco and is built round four sides of an open yard with a carriageway through from east to west. The south and west ranges comprise an L-shaped building of the late 16th or early 17th century but the south range has been much altered and heightened subsequently. The other two ranges are mainly of the 19th century. The street front is divided into three bays by stone pilasters and also dates from the 19th century. <1>

No change: name confirmed. See ground photograph. <3>

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 1, 126 (Monograph). SDO148.

'(93) Antelope Hotel is of two and three storeys (Plate 98); the walls are of coursed local stone and brick with some stucco and the roofs are slate-covered. It is built round four sides of an open yard with a carriageway through from E. to W.; the S. and W. ranges comprise an L-shaped building of the late 16th or early 17th century but the S. range has been much altered and heightened subsequently. The other two ranges are mainly of the 19th century.

The design of the street front is notably individualistic.

The W. range has a moulded stone string at first-floor level and the walls above and the first floor of the S. range are faced with brick; the stone S. gable-end of the W. range is a subsequent rebuilding and has a stone string across the base and a shaped W. kneeler. The windows in the external walls, excepting two of the 18th century on the first floor of the W. range, are original and of two and three lights with stone mullions. The 19th-century street front is divided into three bays by stucco pilaster-strips on rusticated pedestals with a crowning frieze, cornice and parapet of the same material breaking forward over the pilasters; in the middle bay is a rectangular opening to the carriageway, hung with original lattice-work gates of wood and iron, and a window on each floor above; in the full width of each side bay is a segmental projection two storeys in height containing windows on each floor. A balcony with wrought-iron balustrade returns across the whole front at first-floor level; the windows opening on it are lofty and fitted with french casements. All the windows have plain rectangular openings excepting those above the bays; both these, lighting the top floor, are semicircular lunettes fitted with casements.

The interior of the first floor of the W. range, originally all one room but now divided, retains the following original fittings. Panelling in two rooms, partly rearranged to fit round the 18th-century windows, has moulded framing, an enriched frieze and moulded cornice and is divided into bays by pilasters. The S. fireplace has a four-centred head and moulded stone reveals in a timber surround comprising flanking columns supporting an enriched cornice-shelf and an overmantel divided into bays by coupled columns supporting an entablature with arabesque enrichment on the frieze, the bays containing blind semicircular arches springing from small turned columns and with enriched archivolts and jewelled spandrels. The N. fireplace has moulded stone reveals with plain stops and a flat four-centred head with sunk spandrels; the timber surround has coupled side columns on pedestals supporting a moulded cornice-shelf and an overmantel generally similar in arrangement to that just described, with pendants at the apex of the arches and a deep entablature with foliated consoles, carving on the frieze and shaped dentils.

An Outbuilding and a Barn to the N.W. and W. respectively are both probably of the early 17th century. The original walls are of stone. The former has a roof with raised jointed-cruck trusses, each with a collar beam. The roof of the latter, of six bays, is of similar construction.'

<2> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey 1 to 25 inch scale map, 1971 (Map). SDO18020.

(SY 69249067) Hotel (NAT)

<3> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 10-OCT-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<4> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BF107816 (Index). SDO14738.

The Antelope Hotel, Cornhill, Dorchester

<5> Dicker, V, and Ashford, D, 2002, Antelope Hotel, Cornhill, Dorchester (Unpublished document). SDO9959.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 453509 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:36PM