3 houses and public house. Early C18, late C18, early and mid C19, with late C19 and early C20 additions and alterations. (1)
The hotel comprised three C18 ‘cottages’, merged and extended during the C18-C20 to create a large two-storey hotel, with four cellars. An access road, row of garages and car park bordered the building to the west and south. The three houses that form the Lombard Street façade of the Robin Hood Hotel are of C18 date. It is first recorded as a public house in 1781. A C19 plan prepared for the sale of the hotel not long before 1879 shows the site to have been heavily developed with stables, outbuildings and malt kilns. The building has a complex history of alteration and rebuilding. The oldest building in the complex, was probably C18 in date and had been originally thatched. Then followed a building which retained part of an upper cruck blade in its roof. A similar roof construction found at Potterdyke House on the same street was tree-ring dated to 1740 and this building is likely to be of a similar date. The third building was a C18 cottage which may be later than the cruck building. While retaining their distinct identities on the street frontage the three buildings that comprise the earliest component of the Robin Hood have been so much altered internally it is difficult…to appreciate where the footprint of one building begins and the other ends. At ground level the rear walls of all three buildings have been almost completely removed. The west wall of the C18 cottage has gone, most of the west wall of the cruck building and all of its east wall. The original cellars beneath the first 2 buildings survive intact. The remainder of the 13 buildings or extensions were of C19 and C20 construction. There were large schemes of remodelling in the 1920s, 1950s and 1970s. Facilities included the large ballroom. (2)
The easternmost building of the Lombard street façade: A three-bay two-storey brick-built ‘cottage’ with inserted modern shop front at ground floor level (boarded up). The roof is of clay tiles with a brick chimney on the eastern gable. Windows have depressed arches and vertical brick lintel. A stone plinth extends to the modern shop front. Brick string courses are present above ground floor and first floor windows and a cogged and dentillated cornice lies below the eaves. The ground floor string course in interrupted by the modern shop front. The windows are off centre to the building which may suggest they replace original windows although no other evidence of earlier window arrangements are noted. A basement light was noted. (3)
The central building on the Lombard Street façade is a five-bay, two storey property with slate roof and a brick-built ridge stack between the 2nd and 3rd bays. The house is in brick with ashlar effect render. Windows are square headed with 5 at first floor level and four at ground floor. The central doorway at ground floor has been blocked and air conditioning vent inserted to both sides of the former doorway. A stone plinth is present at the base of the front wall and a brick string course is placed above the ground floor window. (3)
The west end building on the Lombard Street façade: A three-bay two-storey house in brick with a slate roof. The central bay at ground floor occupied by a double door with moulded stucco surround with keystone design and Ionic pillars again in stucco to either side. A modern sign tops the doorway and overlays the string course above the ground floor windows. Windows to ground and first floor have depressed brick arch lintels and stone cills. The bracket for the former public house sign is located to the west of the building. A stone plinth is at the base of the wall and the roof is finished with ridge tiles. The corner of Building C appears to have been rebuilt. Cast iron downpipes and rain hoppers have floral fixings. (3)
(Partly Demolished – northernmost 5 bays remaining in 2018). The westernmost building (at a right angle to Lombard Street). Two storey brick-built 11-bay extension with parapet in front of a flat roof supporting a modern neon sign. A stone plinth is present at the base and a string course sits above the ground floor windows. The main ground floor windows have keystone decoration although four smaller windows are undecorated. The windows have segmental heads. The parapet sits on top of a projecting sandstone cornice. A blocked ground floor doorway has the same keystone decoration and segmented brick lintel as the windows. (3)
(Demolished) At the south end of the 11-bay building was the ballroom, a two-storey brick building with three windows at first floor and a hipped slate roof supporting clerestory windows also topped by a hipped slate roof. The first floor windows are additions. The ground floor has entrances at both northern and southern ends of the building but to the south where this had originally been in a single storey section to the building an upper floor with windows has been added and moulded eaves. (3)
(Demolished) A single storey brick structure with tripartite carriage door to the south and a parapet with railings providing a balcony overlooking the crossroads. Chamfered quoins are present on the northern corner of the carriageway doors. A stone plinth is present and a string course but this differs from that seen elsewhere on the hotel, a narrow projecting string with moulded banding. Over the carriageway the string course is timber as opposed to the more normal stone and this appears to reflect alterations to the opening. A two-storey flat-roofed section is visible to the rear with blocked double doors onto the balcony. (3)
(Demolished) A two-storey brick building with a flat roof and parapet (between the balconied building and the easternmost building of the Lombard street façade). Chamfered quoins are present on the corners and at first floor level. A modern shop front has been inserted at the western end of the ground floor and is continuous with that in Building A. A moulded decorative band sits at the base of the parapet. A moulded ‘cross’ design is present at the top of the parapet. Narrow string course are present above the shop front and above the first floor windows. A further string course is aligned with the first floor window cills. The stone plinth is continuous with the adjoining building to the east. The first floor windows are narrow with stone surrounds. A neon sign is located on the parapet above the balcony. (3)

Recording of below-ground oval domed structure possibly a water cistern was revealed during the watching brief. The cellar beneath Building B was recorded in more detail prior to its preservation in situ. This cellar probably belonged to a building that predated Building B. Realignment of Lombard Street many have resulted in its demolition. Roof timbers were examined on the ground after dismantling of the roofs. Thirteen samples were taken for tree ring dating of which 10 were successful. Many of the common rafters were replacements but purlins wall plates and trusses were older. One of the trusses in Building A incorporated two reused crucks. These were not cut from the same timber and both were undatable. A felling date of after 1702 was established for 6 of the timbers from Building B suggesting an approximate date for construction. Only three timbers from building A were dated but indicate that it was likely to have been built in the middle of the 18th century. Building C timbers were not included in the tree ring dating . The source of the timber was local. (4)

Listed buildings slides, (Photograph). SNT2648.

<1> DOE, Listed Building Description (Published document). SNT228.

<2> Prospect Archaeology, 2011, Building Survey of 'Robin Hood Hotel, Newark, Nottinghamshire' by TPAT (Unpublished document). SNT4846.

<3> Prospect Archaeology, 2010, Robin Hood Hotel, Newark Archaeological Building Recording (Unpublished document). SNT4847.

<4> Prospect Archaeology, 2021, Travelodge Site of Robin Hood Hotel, 1-3 Lombard Street, Newark (Unpublished document). SNT5321.