Metcalfe Almshouses is a Grade II listed building in the West Suffolk local planning authority area, England. First listed on 14 July 1955. Almshouse.
Metcalfe Almshouses
- WRENN ID
- second-trefoil-ebony
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- West Suffolk
- Constituency
- West Suffolk MP: Nick Timothy (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 14 July 1955
- Type
- Almshouse
- Address
- Metcalfe Almshouses, 1-4, the Pound, Hawstead
- OS grid reference
- TL 859 591
- Coordinates
- 52.19948, 0.71995
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Metcalfe Almshouses, built in 1811 for P. Metcalfe, are a group of four almshouses arranged in an A-B-A layout, with the central bay set slightly back. Designed in the Gothic style, the structure is two storeys high and features two windows for each cottage. The building is constructed of gault brick, with brick parapets, a moulded cornice, and limestone crenellations that have merlons arched at the central bay. The hipped roof is slated, and there are rendered brick axial chimneys.
The windows have two-centred arched heads made of gauged brick and are fitted with sliding small-pane sashes, where the upper glazing bars follow the arch shape of the window heads. A dummy window is located in the central bay on the first floor. The entrance doors are battened and boarded, also with arched heads. The two central doorways are connected under an ogee arch made of gauged brick, with a square limestone hoodmould above. Beneath the cornice in the central bay, a frieze bears the inscription: "These Alms Houses were erected and endowed, for the benefit of the Aged, and Deserving, Poor, Anno 1811, by PHILIP METCALFE, Esqr."
Local climate
Metcalfe Almshouses 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 85% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 87% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 36 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 62% of listed buildings. Of these, 19 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
Sign in or create a free account to unlock:
- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- 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.
Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
this building 1 similar nearby listed buildings