Dovehouse at Obourne's Farm is a Grade II listed building in the Braintree local planning authority area, England. First listed on 17 May 1985. Dovehouse.

Dovehouse at Obourne's Farm

WRENN ID
ragged-parapet-holly
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Braintree
Constituency
Braintree MP: Sir James Cleverly (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
17 May 1985
Type
Dovehouse
Address
Dovehouse at Obourne's Farm, Howe Street, Finchingfield
OS grid reference
TL 693 345
Coordinates
51.98395, 0.46443
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Dovehouse at Obourne's Farm is a late 16th-century structure built from red brick in English bond, featuring a square plan. It has a brick plinth with a chamfered top that stands approximately 0.5 metres high. The building includes high 2-light windows on the west, south, and east sides, which have hollow-moulded jambs, a mullion, and flat heads supported by iron bars, along with moulded labels. There are traces of plaster that suggest the windows were originally plastered. The head of the west window has collapsed, while the south window is blocked but appears intact, and there is no glazing present.

On the west side, there is a doorway that has been enlarged for use as a stable. At half-height, there are moulded bricks and tiles that form two projecting bands of ovolo profile all around, separated by two courses of bricks, which still retain traces of plaster, although the pattern has been worn away by the weather. The building has no roof. Inside, broken square pegs and pegholes at regular intervals indicate where former nestboxes, likely made of wood, were attached. The roof and lantern were documented by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments in 1916. There are no associated house remains, and only 19th and 20th-century farm buildings are present nearby.

Local climate

Dovehouse at Obourne's Farm sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 90% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 77% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 32 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 58% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 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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