The War Office is a Grade II listed building in the Dorset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 June 1985. Shelter.
The War Office
- WRENN ID
- burning-rubblework-khaki
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Dorset
- Constituency
- North Dorset MP: Simon Hoare (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 24 June 1985
- Type
- Shelter
- Address
- The War Office, Higher Street, Iwerne Minster
- OS grid reference
- ST 866 145
- Coordinates
- 50.92991, -2.19093
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The War Office is a shelter built around 1920 by Giles Gilbert Scott for J. Ismay, located in Iwerne Minster on Higher Street. It features square rubble walls with Doulting stone dressings and a tiled roof. The gable is adorned with a sculpted relief of Mercury, with electric rays emanating from his hands, symbolizing the spread of news by wireless. This shelter originated from a practice during World War I, where newspapers of various political views and telegraph bulletins were posted on a board over the village pump for villagers' information. It is currently used as a general parish notice board.
Local climate
The War Office receives an average of 810 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 52% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 63% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 25 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 73% of listed buildings. Of these, 10 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