Guard House and Attached Wall, Wyvern Barracks is a Grade II listed building in the Exeter local planning authority area, England. First listed on 8 July 1998. A 19th century Guard house, stable. 1 related planning application.
Guard House and Attached Wall, Wyvern Barracks
- WRENN ID
- sacred-pedestal-starling
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Exeter
- Constituency
- Exeter MP: Steve Race (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 8 July 1998
- Type
- Guard house, stable
- Period
- 19th century
- Address
- Guard House and Attached Wall, Wyvern Barracks, Topsham Road, EX2 6AR
- OS grid reference
- SX 932 912
- Coordinates
- 50.71102, -3.51263
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Guard House and attached wall at Wyvern Barracks, located on Topsham Road in Exeter, was built between 1800 and 1804 for the Ordnance Board. Originally serving as a stable and guard house, it has since been converted into a lock-up and store. The building features Flemish bond brickwork with a local red conglomerate stone base and an English bond extension, topped with a slate hipped roof.
The structure is two storeys high and has a four-window range, with a single-storey rear section that has a two-to-three window arrangement. The front of the former stable has small segmental-arched cell lights, and on the first floor, there are two additional lights flanking a central 6/6-pane sash window. A cantilevered granite external stair leads to a first-floor doorway on the right-hand side. The lower rear extension has a projecting three-window section, which is fronted by an iron four-bay verandah with three wide segmental-arched metal-framed windows above.
Inside, the building retains original cells with heavy doors. An attached high brick wall on a squared conglomerate stone base encloses a former exercise yard to the southwest, which includes a blocked entrance from the street. Historically, this site was shown on a mid-19th century plan as an officers' stable, and the later lock-up served as an important functional element within the barracks. It is part of the former Topsham barracks, recognized as the most complete small artillery barracks from the Napoleonic War era. The building is included for its historical significance alongside the Headquarters building and the former Royal Artillery Drivers' barracks.
Local climate
Guard House and Attached Wall, Wyvern Barracks receives an average of 840 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 57% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 72% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 19 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 80% of listed buildings. Of these, 7 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
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.
- 1 Guard House, Boundary Wall and Attached Ancillary Buildings, Maker Heights Barracks
- 2 Former North Guard House and Attached Wall to North West, Fenham Barracks
- 3 Stable, South Range and Attached Wall to South
- 4 Guard House at Entrance to North Section, St George's Barracks
- 5 Keep and Attached Walls and Gateway, Brock Barracks
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