St Oswald'S And Attached Walls

St Oswald’s, now a school, is a villa with attached boundary walls, dating to approximately 1820, with later additions and alterations. The main part of the building is constructed of painted stucco over brick, with coped curvilinear end-gables featuring stucco stacks, and a further stack to the rear. A reddish-brown brick range extends to the right. The roof is slate covered. The boundary walls incorporate ashlar dressings. The building follows a double-depth plan, with a central hallway and later service wings to the rear and a further range to the rear right.

The front elevation has two storeys and an attic and features three first-floor windows. Stucco detailing includes a plinth, Tuscan pilasters to the ends and between windows, surmounted by a frieze, cornice and blocking course. Shell and fan motifs are present above the ground-floor windows. The first floor has 8/8 sashes and a central 6/6 sash window. Ground-floor windows are tall 8/12 sashes within round arched reveals. A flight of four roll-edged steps leads to a central Doric-style porch with two pairs of columns and engaged pilasters, crowned by an entablature and blocking course. The porch is accessed via a six-panel door with raised and fielded upper panels and flush lower panels, set within a fluted surround with fleurons to the 'capitals.' A fanlight with a circle and teardrop motif is above the door. The attic dormer has a 2/2 sash. The right return showcases a 6/9 sash window with radial glazing to the head, alongside a 6/6 sash in the gable and an 8/8 sash to the first floor. A range projecting at a right angle to the rear right includes a 6/6 sash window and a three-light window with flat arches of red rubbed brick, under a hipped slate roof. The left return mirrors the detailing of the front elevation, with pilasters and a 3/6 sash to the gable, plus further 6/6 and 8/8 sashes. The rear elevation incorporates a 10/15 sash and a tripartite window with 6/6 sashes between 2/2 sashes.

The interior retains original joinery, including panelled shutters.

Attached boundary walls extend to Upper Tything. Walls to the north-west side of the garden return along Back Walk for approximately 8 metres, abutting a service range, then continue along Back Walk for a further 8 metres, and return (with a curved angle) to Upper Tything for about 10 metres. Double plank gates are situated against the service range, with a pilaster to the left. A pedestrian entrance to the rear (Upper Tything) has a five-panel door with a fanlight featuring decorative radial glazing, within a Gibbs-type surround, a keystone with a corbel bracket, and a continuous dentil cornice. A wall approximately 2.5 metres high lines Upper Tything. The garden walls are also approximately 2.5 metres high with two pedestrian entrances featuring segmental arches. The rear walls to numbers 49–53 fronting Back Walk form a continuous original feature of the streetscape. The buildings in Britannia Square form a unified group, planned around a large green, commencing in 1820. The development is comparable to other similar, though smaller, developments in Worcester, such as Lansdowne Crescent, Lark Hill, and Rainbow Hill Terrace.