The Knowl is a Grade II* listed building in the Vale of White Horse local planning authority area, England. First listed on 19 January 1951. House. 6 related planning applications.

The Knowl

WRENN ID
moated-span-nettle
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Vale of White Horse
Constituency
Oxford West and Abingdon MP: Layla Moran (LD)
Country
England
Date first listed
19 January 1951
Type
House
Address
The Knowl, 52, Stert Street, Abingdon on Thames, OX14 3JU
OS grid reference
SU 497 972
Coordinates
51.672, -1.2818
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Knowl is a 16th-century house with a front elevation dating from the 17th or early 18th century. It is two storeys high with attics and features a stuccoed main elevation and a tiled roof. The building has three gabled dormers with modern leaded casements. The main front has five windows beneath a coved eaves cornice, featuring early glazing bars and double-hung sash windows with moulded frames. On the ground floor, there are four windows with a bolection moulded frieze and a moulded cornice. The central door is flanked by grooved pilasters and is topped with a triglyph and guttae frieze adorned with four trophies of arms, leading to a semi-circular pediment with an ornamented cornice.

On the Stert Street elevation, the building has a two-storey overhang supported by carved brackets. The plinth features ornamental lozenge patterns in rough rendering. There is one window on the second floor, which is a casement with modern leaded panes and a small cornice. The first floor has one flush framed sash window with glazing bars.

To the left of the main elevation is a two-storey former stable block with a slate roof. This section has four casement windows on the ground floor, with a brick ground floor and an upper storey that is rendered. It includes one door, one carriage door, and a three-light window on the ground floor. This stable block is now part of the house premises.

Historically, The Knowl was one of the locations where Royal Proclamations were read.

Local climate

The Knowl sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 730 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 78% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 69% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 32 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 59% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 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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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • Sale history — 1 transaction since 2020
  • Related listed building consents — 6 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
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Nearby listed buildings

  1. 67, Stert Street Grade II 19 m
  2. 65, Stert Street Grade II 21 m
  3. 2, Broad Street Grade II 44 m
  4. 4 and 6, Broad Street Grade II 44 m
  5. 8, Broad Street Grade II 46 m
  6. Former Beehive Public House Grade II 49 m
  7. 36, Stert Street Grade II 75 m
  8. 34, Stert Street Grade II 84 m
  9. 47A, STERT STREET (See details for further address information) Grade II 85 m
  10. 35, 37 and 39, Stert Street Grade II 99 m