Abbey Hotel And Attached Boundary Wall To St Mary'S Lane

Abbey Hotel and Attached Boundary Wall to St Mary's Lane, Tewkesbury

This Grade II listed building comprises a hotel formed from four formerly separate dwellings, together with an attached boundary wall to St Mary's Lane.

The corner unit (No. 66A), returning to St Mary's Lane, dates from the late 18th century with a mid-19th century rear extension. It is constructed in modified Flemish bond brickwork with a hipped tiled roof behind a parapet and brick stacks. The front elevation is three storeys tall with three windows, each consisting of 6 above 12-pane horned sashes set in brick voussoirs with central stone keys and stone cills. The ground floor has been rebuilt with a 20th century four-pane pilaster surround shop front and central door. Three-course brick bands run at first and second floor levels, cut through by window heads. The return elevation to St Mary's Lane features various recessed blind panels with cambered or segmental brick heads, and one elliptical opening that was formerly a carriage entrance. The added rear unit is three storeys and two windows wide, with glazing bar sashes in cambered yellow brick arches and terracotta keys, with flush bands at four levels in yellow or yellow and black brick. A stack rises to the right party wall. A brick boundary wall of approximately 4 metres height continues for about 8 metres along St Mary's Lane, containing two blocked openings.

No. 67, formerly Southend House, dates from the mid-18th century. It is built in Flemish bond brickwork with a tiled roof, three storeys and a basement, and five windows across. The sashes have exposed boxes, with glazing bars to the second floor only, set in fine brick voussoirs with brick bands. The basement has blocked openings either side of a central six-panel door with a diamond pattern transom light, set in pilasters beneath a suspended flat hood with a three-compartment soffit. A blocking course and coped parapet finish the front elevation. A brick stack rises to the right. The back elevation features a wing to the left with a plain parapet gable, a return with casement and sash windows, and the main rear wall in three storeys with a 6 above 12-pane sash and a triple four-light window in brick voussoirs.

To the right, now part of the hotel, is the former No. 68, dating from the mid to late 18th century. It is constructed in modified Flemish bond brickwork with a tiled roof, three storeys and a basement, and two windows. The windows consist of 6-pane above 12-pane sashes and a centred 12-pane to the ground floor, all set in fine rubbed voussoirs with stone cills. A central basement grille is present. The elevation finishes with a coped parapet and a large central ridge stack. Six-panel fielded doors with fanlights in pilaster doorcases and slight open pediments flank each side, with straight joints. The rear elevation is three storeys and two windows wide, featuring a two-light 18th century multi-pane casement and a lofty arched 30-pane sash above a tripartite 16-pane window in a cambered arch and a 20-pane window. At the lowest level is a very wide four-light casement with moulded mullions in a wide cambered arch, with a door to the left.

Interior

The interiors of No. 67 and 68 contain the most significant surviving features. A throughway to the left connects to an interior timber-framed spine wall. The main stair is a delicate open-string winder running parallel with the spine wall, featuring a mahogany swept and wreathed rail with very slender turned balusters, rising through two storeys. Behind it is a service stair with a heavy moulded rail, square newels and turned balusters, all painted, and an 18th century circular skylight with moulded radial bars. A tight brick winder stair with wood nosings descends to the basement, which has a brick floor and a chamfered beam, with some sections barrel-vaulted in brick. Many 18th century panelled doors survive throughout. Most of the windows to the central unit have lost their glazing bars; their reinstatement would restore distinction to the facade. The property was formerly used as the Abbey Garage, documented in a National Monuments Record photograph from 1950.