Mountjoy's Retreat is a Grade II listed building in the Buckinghamshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 22 January 1986. House.

Mountjoy's Retreat

WRENN ID
silent-bracket-scarlet
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Buckinghamshire
Constituency
Wycombe MP: Emma Reynolds (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
22 January 1986
Type
House
Address
Mountjoy's Retreat, Plomer Green Lane, Downley
OS grid reference
SU 847 952
Coordinates
51.64957, -0.77589
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Mountjoy's Retreat is a house, likely built in the late 18th century, with some alterations. It features whitewashed render over flint and brick, topped with a hipped old tile roof and brick chimneys located at the center of the main block and to the right. The main block consists of three storeys and two bays, with the right bay displaying band courses and offset eaves. It has three-light wooden casements that include single horizontal glazing bars. There is a lower two-storey bay of slightly earlier construction that is set back to the right, featuring a deeper band course and cogged eaves. The ground floor has a paired barred wooden casement, while the upper floor has a four-pane sash window, and there is a panelled door to the left within a late 19th to early 20th century timber porch. To the right end, there is a whitewashed brick lean-to. Inside, the ground floor of the right bay contains heavy rough joists and a large open fireplace. Above, there is an arched china cupboard with shaped shelves, a carved console, and rosettes in the spandrels. The main block includes a winder stair aligned with the chimney and features narrowly chamfered and stopped spine beams.

Local climate

Mountjoy's Retreat sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 720 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 84% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 87% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 37 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 69% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 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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