This is a view of the rear yard of the Catherine Wheel in Hart Street. The brick wall on the right belongs to the lodging range of the adjoining Old White Hart, built in 1530 and Grade II* listed. For reasons unknown to the writer a large section of this Tudor brick wall was painted on the Catherine Wheel side, perhaps in an unfortunate attempt to ‘brighten up’ the view from the hotel windows and out-door guest seating area?
At long last SODC conservation have achieved agreement on ‘removal of painted finishes and making good of boundary wall’. Let’s hope the almost 500 years old Tudor bricks of the Old White Hart will be treated with great care and the expertise they deserve, as getting cement masonry paint off bricks and the traditional lime mortar pointing is not an easy task!