Old Police Cottages is a Grade II listed building in the Somerset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 4 August 1983. Police station.
Old Police Cottages
- WRENN ID
- graven-cellar-shade
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Somerset
- Constituency
- Tiverton and Minehead MP: Rachel Gilmour (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 4 August 1983
- Type
- Police station
- Address
- Old Police Cottages, 1, 2 and 3, Main Road, Dunster
- OS grid reference
- SS 993 441
- Coordinates
- 51.1881, -3.4414
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Old Police Cottages, consisting of Nos 1, 2, and 3, were built in 1858 by John Norton. This former police station is positioned at an angle to the Minehead road and features a symmetrical design made of random rubble red sandstone with ashlar dressings. The building has plain tile roofs and stone chimney stacks, and it is two storeys high with an E-shaped plan and Tudor Gothic detailing.
The central porch is two storeys tall and has a steep hipped roof. The end wings project forward, featuring coped gables and stone finials. Square turrets with pyramidal roofs and metal finials are located at the return angles. The building includes two gabled dormers with copings, as well as six stone mullion and transom windows, which have hood-moulds and casements with glazing bars. The windows have Tudor arch heads and spandrels, while the first-floor window above the central porch features plate tracery.
The doorways have flattened pointed arches with spandrels and rectangular hood-moulds. The central entrance includes a lancet relieving arch and a hood mould. An inscription panel reads "Police Station AD 1858." This building is a well-preserved example of a police station from the period, constructed for the County Constabulary, which was founded in 1856. The later courtroom at the rear has been altered and is not included in this listing.
Local climate
Old Police Cottages sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,130 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 88% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 95% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 10 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 90% of listed buildings. Of these, 5 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
- Sale history — 8 transactions since 1996
- 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
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