Almshouses and Attached Front Garden Walls is a Grade II listed building in the West Oxfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 27 August 1957. Almshouses. 1 related planning application.
Almshouses and Attached Front Garden Walls
- WRENN ID
- veiled-cinder-heath
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- West Oxfordshire
- Constituency
- Banbury MP: Sean Woodcock (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 27 August 1957
- Type
- Almshouses
- Address
- Almshouses and Attached Front Garden Walls, 1, 2, 3 and 4, B4026, Spelsbury
- OS grid reference
- SP 350 217
- Coordinates
- 51.89346, -1.49279
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
This is a row of four almshouses and an attached front garden wall, built in 1688 for John Cary and extended in the 20th century. The structure is made of coursed squared limestone with ashlar dressings and features a Stonesfield-slate roof with ashlar ridge stacks. Each almshouse has a single-unit rear outshut plan with small rear extensions and stands one storey plus an attic high.
The symmetrical front has four gables and is adorned with leaded two-light stone-mullioned windows on both floors. Each cottage features a chamfered stone doorway with a ribbed oak door. The hipped roof is supported by three stacks with plinths and moulded caps. A central moulded datestone, located below a straight label, is inscribed with "Cary/II/1688." To the extreme left, there is a re-set stone sundial with a scrolled hood and cherub face, likely dating from the 17th century.
The rear of the row has a catslide roof and two single-storey stone-tiled extensions. Inside, the almshouses feature stop-chamfered spine beams and a butt-purlin roof. The front garden wall, approximately 1.2 meters high, runs from both ends of the row and encloses a narrow area with a central gateway. It is said that the sundial originally came from the village poor-house.
Local climate
Almshouses and Attached Front Garden Walls receives an average of 770 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 64% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 62% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 38 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 72% of listed buildings. Of these, 18 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
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- 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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