Bell Hotel and Kings Head is a Grade II listed building in the Vale of White Horse local planning authority area, England. First listed on 19 January 1951. Hotel. 6 related planning applications.
Bell Hotel and Kings Head
- WRENN ID
- lapsed-tracery-mint
- 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
- Hotel
- Address
- Bell Hotel and Kings Head, 10, East St Helen Street, Abingdon on Thames, OX14 5EA
- OS grid reference
- SU 497 969
- Coordinates
- 51.66957, -1.28154
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Bell Hotel and King's Head is a building located on East St Helen Street, primarily dating from the 18th century, with some possible elements from the 17th century. The structure is timber framed and features a gallery at the rear, topped with a tiled roof. The main elevation is four storeys high and gabled towards the road, with a stucco finish.
At the gable end, there is a three-light window above a dentil cornice and frieze, which is supported by four two-storey Ionic pilasters. The second floor has two double-hung sash windows with replaced glazing bars, while the central cartouche displays fruit, scroll, and mask ornamentation along with the hotel's name. On the first floor, there are three windows; the two outer ones resemble those on the second floor, and the central window is a three-light sash, all featuring replaced glazing bars and wood cornices. The ground floor includes a three-light canted bay window with original glazing bars and a flat-arched carriage entrance to the left, along with a fascia displaying the hotel's name and a plinth.
To the right of the main section, there is a two-storey stuccoed section with a hipped roof and a plinth. This is adjoined by a three-storey gabled section, each with one double-hung sash window featuring glazing bars beneath a frieze and cornice. A wood bressumer on brackets is present above the ground floor, which also has a three-light double-hung sash window with later glazing bars. The building has historical significance, as Charles I held several councils of war at the then Bell Inn.
The Bell Hotel and King's Head is part of a group that includes Nos. 2 to 60 (even).
Local climate
Bell Hotel and Kings Head 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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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2019
- 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
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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