Tower House

Tower House is a medieval hall with a later rear wing, attached to a terrace of four 18th-century houses. It is located on Oxford Street, Malmesbury, and was refronted and a tower added in 1834. The hall itself dates to the late 15th century, and the rear wing to the mid-16th century. The building is constructed of limestone rubble, with reused ashlar and carved work in the rear wing, and rubble houses. The street elevations are rendered, with a stone slate roof and three ridge stacks.

The main hall is parallel to the street, featuring an east range at the south end. A square tower is attached within the south end of the terrace of houses, with a rear wing extending to the north. The front of the hall has 19th-century windows with a carriage arch, two ground-floor windows, and a first-floor window containing a trefoil in a square head. The rear east range retains original features, including a blocked four-light hollow-moulded window and an east doorway with a chamfered head, alongside 19th-century nine-pane windows. The three northern houses have a central single-window range and outer two-window ranges. The right-hand house features six-over-six-pane sashes and a six-over-nine-pane sash in the former doorway; the middle house has a round-arched doorway and eight-over-eight-pane sashes; and the left-hand house has a doorway, an eight-over-eight-pane ground-floor sash, and two first-floor sashes with six-over-six-panes to the left and eight-over-eight-panes to the right. Three gables are visible on the rear elevation. The southernmost house was converted into a tower, featuring a doorway and a small window above. The tower has quoins and dressings; round-arched windows to the lower floors have ashlar surrounds, while flat-headed windows are on the upper storey, topped by an ashlar parapet.

Inside the hall, details include a three-bay roof with collar trusses and chamfered arch braces forming continuous arches, with wind braces to the lower two registers, and a diagonal through ridge beam. There is evidence of a possible former screened passage beneath the tower. The east range has collared trusses with wind braces to the middle register. The houses have 19th-century reeded architraves with plain stops.

Historically, the building may have been part of a larger courtyard complex, originally including stables. It served as a town workhouse from the 18th century until 1834 when it was converted for use as stables. The northernmost house was previously the Salutation Inn before 1803. The tower was constructed for an astronomical observatory by Richard Pryor.