Abbey Lawn Cottages

Abbey Lawn Cottages comprise a terrace of town houses located on Church Street, Tewkesbury. The buildings date to the 15th or early 16th century and were restored sequentially from 1967. They are constructed with braced box timber framing and have tile roofs and brick stacks. Originally part of a much longer row of late medieval cottages, this section extends from numbers 34 to 39, returning to a gable end at the left and stopping at number 40 with a later front.

The exterior features seven bays, each with a four-light casement window in the box framing above a two-light timber mullion and transom small-pane casement set in painted vertical boarding, positioned above a plate on a rough coursed stone plinth. To the right of each window is a plank door with a cusped flat ogee head, accessed by two stone steps, with a bracket supporting the jetty to the right. An iron grille provides access to a throughway at number 39. The left gable end incorporates paired two-light windows to the attic, two-light windows to the first floor, and a single small window with three standard casements to the ground floor. The rear of the cottages features a brick extension to numbers 34 and 35, alongside two further broad gabled timber-framed wings with an intermediate lean-to under a swept-down roof. A series of two-light dormers, on two levels, are also present with long raking tiled roofs.

The interior of number 36 (now a National Trust shop) showcases a fine stone fire surround to a cambered bressumer, a central transverse moulded beam, and stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops to heavy ceiling joists. A 17th-century staircase with turned balusters is also present. The terrace was originally built as a speculative development for the Abbey, with each property initially planned to include a heated hall behind the shop providing access to an upper chamber, a design replicated at number 45. The cottages suffered a rumoured threat of demolition in the 1930s, leading to their acquisition by the Abbey Lawn Trustees. Previously significantly altered, the terraces and interiors were substantially refurbished from 1967 onwards to their present condition. Photographs documenting the pre- and post-restoration state can be viewed at number 45 and are also held by the National Monument Record.