Site Event/Activity record EEM14102 - 2011: HBS - High Society

The building was subject to rapid survey as part of the Dig Dulverton 2011 project. The building may preserve parts of a 15th or 16th Century structure which has been heavily altered and partially obscured by later accretions. The building was probably constructed in the middle of a former open market place and could have originated as a free-standing structure. The addition of a loggia or portico at one end of the building and its proximity to a property formerly known from c.1720 as 'The Cage' or 'The Bastille' raises the interesting possibility that the former White Hart might have originated as a public building such as a Market House or even a Guildhall; a predecessor of the present Town Hall, with a lock-up jail in close proximity.