Description

TEWKESBURY

SO8932 EAST STREET
859-1/6/158 (North side)
31/10/89 (Consecutive)
Nos.1-16 North East Terrace and
Oldbury Cottage
(Formerly Listed as:
EAST STREET
(North side)
Nos.14, 16, 17 AND 18
1-16 (Cons) NE Terrace inc Oldbury
Cottage and dwelling adj to E)

GV II

Terrace of 16 houses, formerly lace and stocking-knitting
factory. Originally built 1825 for George Freeman, lace
manufacturer, enlarged c1860 for Samuel Massey Crosse,
converted to houses c1900. Modified English garden wall bond
brickwork, slate roof, brick stacks.
PLAN: a long building with repetitive detail set at right
angles to East Street, and approached through a wide carriage
arch between Nos 16 & 17, East Street (qv). A short wing
returns across the far end, including Oldbury Cottage, backing
on to Trinity School Walk.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with attic, 15-windowed to west and 16 to
east. Varied casements, mainly 3-light, all to wide
segmental-headed openings at both levels, with narrow brick
piers between bays. Doors form part of fill to ground floor
archway, with filled tympana. At the back (E) a similar series
of arched openings at 2 levels, with small sky-lights to roof,
and small 1-storey extensions. 16 square brick ridge stacks
each with 4 square cream terracotta pots.
Factory extended across N end and returned to S in 1860. The N
gable retains, at first floor, 2 of the wide windows with
original small-pane glazing.
INTERIOR formerly very austere with no internal columns (see
VCH), since c1900 completely divided into separate dwellings.
HISTORICAL NOTE: this was the first and largest textile
factory in Tewkesbury, built to accommodate 37 transverse warp
bobbin net machines. Freeman came to Tewkesbury from
Nottingham to take advantage of the skills in the local
stocking industry. Steam had been introduced by the mid 1830s
but in 1853 Freeman retired, and the factory remained empty
until 1860 when Samuel Massey Crosse from London enlarged the
buildings and installed power looms driven by a 12hp Edwards
Beam Engine which also provided central heating. Crosse's
company was called 'The Patent Renewable Hosiery Company', but
he died in 1860 and the factory closed; re-opened in 1862, by
about c1900 it was finally closed, and converted to houses.
The stocking knitting industry, which had increasingly taken
the place in the C17 and C18 of the declining wollen cloth
industry, had become the chief industry of Tewkesbury by the
early C19: in 1830 700 frames employed 1/4 of the population.
With the various terraces of workers' cottages in East Street
and Chance Street the whole area stands as an important
reminder of Tewkesbury's recent industrial past.
(Adcock J A: The Tewkesbury Stocking Industry: 1760-1900:
1973-; Victoria County History: Gloucestershire: London:
1968-: 145).

Listing NGR: SO8955232822

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26501310

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
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  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas