Elsdon : Buildings Around The Green (P F Ryder)

Towards the north end of the west side is the single-storey Old Rector's School, with a projecting porch with the inscription 'THE RECTOR'S SCHOOL / T 1835 S' and above that, in the pediment, 'GOD IS LIGHT ANDS IN HIM IS NO DARKNESS AT ALL'; to the right is a later 19th-century cross-gabled block.

Picture: Old School House

Further to the south, on the junction with the road to Otterburn, the Bird and Bush Inn is an early 18th century building, with an old mounting block outside. The oldest part is of three bays; the north end, facing the Otterburn Road, only has one window, to the attic; this has a chamfered surround and, even at this height above the ground, sockets for vertical iron bars, proof of concern for security.

To the right here is a rear wing, probably of the early 19th century, that has a Gothic-arched stair window, later altered to a square headed form. The front has chamfered jambs to its doorway, but the present windows, 4-pane sashes, are set in openings that have probably been enlarged; their sills are clearly 19th century. The age of the building is however given away by its steep roof pitch and shaped kneelers to its gables. To the south is a two-bay extension, probably of the later 18th century.

The buildings to the south of the Green are largely of 20th-century date, although there is one 19th-century single-storeyed cottage. On the Green is the 18th century Pinfold, a circular enclosure with a square headed doorway.

The best range of buildings is towards the north end of the west side of the Green. At its south end is the former Bacchus Inn, which has a three-bay main block with a taller hip-roofed cross wing at its north end. The main block of early to mid-18th century date is of coursed squared stone and has a central segmental-arched doorway with a chamfered surround with keystone, above which a corbel in the form of a cherub supports a rustic figure of Bacchus sitting his barrel and holding a flask.

The windows of the block may have been enlarged. Linking the block to the wing is a half bay containing a round-arched doorway with fanlight; the wing has a plinth, sill and first floor bands, and tripartite sash windows, the upper of Venetian form a radial-glazed head. The half bay and wing are probably of the later 18th century; the north side of the wing has 19th-century openings.

The next block was a stable block or coach house to the Crown Inn. It is now of two storeys and three bays; the windows on either side of the central door are set in blocked elliptical-headed arches. There is a band above; the upper floor may possibly be an addition.

This is followed by the former Crown Inn, a range with a more steeply-pitched roof, with rendered walls and a doorway in an architrave surround, with its head inscribed 'JOHN GALLON ANNO 1729' and a moulded cornice on bold console brackets. The windows have probably been altered; adjacent to the north-west corner is an old mounting block.

The adjacent single-storeyed range, of good quality squared stone, is probably of the early 19th century, and consists of a  three bay cottage and then, as the ground drops away, a slightly lower cart shed with an elliptical arched entrance and small windows.