The Old Reading Room is a Grade II listed building in the West Northamptonshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 1 December 1951. House.
The Old Reading Room
- WRENN ID
- little-spire-thrush
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- West Northamptonshire
- Constituency
- South Northamptonshire MP: Sarah Bool (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 1 December 1951
- Type
- House
- Address
- The Old Reading Room, the Green, Abthorpe
- OS grid reference
- SP 649 465
- Coordinates
- 52.11365, -1.05334
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Old Reading Room is a house dated 1682, which has been renovated in the 20th century. It is constructed of coursed squared limestone with an old plain-tile roof and stone end stacks. The building has a two-unit plan and stands two storeys tall with an attic, featuring a two-window range.
The entrance front includes a 20th-century door to the left, which is topped with a stone lintel, keyblock, and hood mould. There is a small window to the left of the door with a chamfered stone surround. The ground and first floors have three-light chamfered stone mullion windows, each with hood moulds. The left end has 20th-century extensions. The right gable end, which faces the street, features a four-light chamfered stone mullion window with a hood mould on the ground floor, a similar three-light window on the first floor, and a two-light window in the attic. Above these windows is a datestone inscribed with IKH/1682. The left gable end also has 20th-century additions.
Inside, there is a stone bolection-moulded corner fireplace. The building was used as parish rooms until recently.
Local climate
The Old Reading Room sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 730 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 80% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 73% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 38 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 73% of listed buildings. Of these, 18 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
Sign in or create a free account to unlock:
- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- 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.
this building 1 similar nearby listed buildings