The Wheatsheaf public house
The date on the front of the building suggests it was built in 1792, but a brick dated 1779 with the builder’s initial NG is visible above one first floor window. The Gratton family were landlords at the time.
Inspection of the exterior of the building reveals several building phases. Although now a double pile building, the straight join in the gable wall brickwork shows the rear portion to have been a later addition. Similarly, even earlier, the change of brickwork in each gable end shows the original roof line as being lower and more steeply pitched, suggestive of a thatched roof. The date is consistent with the absence of a central chimney and the single plat band indicates that it was probably a two storey building. The addition of the third floor would have necessitated the building of the new roof.
The adjacent former school and coffee rooms (Long Acre Studios) next door to the Wheatsheaf might originally have been malt house and possibly have been of a similar age. On the other hand it might have been a little later. We do not know, so it has been omitted from this representation.
During the First World War the village was used as a dispersal post for cavalry units and at one time the Inn had stabling for up to seventy horses.