Symonds House is a Grade II listed building in the South Cambridgeshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 22 November 1967. Home for the aged, formerly the Union Workhouse. 3 related planning applications.
Symonds House
- WRENN ID
- rough-threshold-foxglove
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- South Cambridgeshire
- Constituency
- South Cambridgeshire MP: Pippa Heylings (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 22 November 1967
- Type
- Home for the aged, formerly the Union Workhouse
- Address
- Symonds House, 44, Symonds Lane, Linton, CB21 4HY
- OS grid reference
- TL 559 471
- Coordinates
- 52.10074, 0.27556
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Symonds House is a Grade II listed building located on Symonds Lane in Linton. Originally built in 1836 as a home for the aged and formerly known as the Union Workhouse, it was designed by Hallet and Newman of London, with construction overseen by contractor Woolacott of London. In 1913, stables were converted into new tramp cells by Edwards and Walden.
The building is constructed of red brick with flint side walls and red brick dressings, featuring internal walls made of unfired clay bat bricks. It has low-pitched hipped slate roofs and is mainly two storeys high, with cellars. The layout is cruciform, consisting of blocks and linking ranges that enclose three courts. The main facade on the southwest side includes a central block with a slightly projecting pedimented section, which features an elliptical arched main entrance and a similar arch above a large window. The pediment has a roundel, and a dentil brick eaves cornice is repeated on the two lower 'bays' on either side, each containing two ground floor and two first floor recessed twelve-paned hung sash windows set in segmental brick arches.
Originally, lower single-storey ranges linked the central block to the main side ranges, featuring three 'bays' with three round-headed windows with glazing bars. The left-hand range remains intact, while the right-hand range has been altered with an inserted floor and new windows. Each side range has two small ground floor recessed twelve-paned hung sash windows in segmental arches, topped by a large elliptical arched three-light window.
Inside, the plan has been altered but retains coherence, with some original details still visible, including original doors with bolts, features from the board room and chapel, and Newcastle glass in the original windows. The workhouse was built to accommodate 200 inmates at a cost of £3,823.11.3d, and the construction was a revised and less ambitious scheme. The flints and some bricks were collected and made by paupers from the parish, with the brick walls and gates completed in May 1837.
Local climate
Symonds House sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 710 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 87% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 73% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 33 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 54% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- Sale history — 2 transactions since 2006
- Related listed building consents — 3 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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