Description

MALMESBURY

ST9387 OXFORD STREET
758-1/4/276 (East side)
18/01/49 Tower House

GV II*

Medieval hall with later rear wing, attached to terrace of 4
houses, with inserted tower; one house since early C19, when
refronted. Late C15 hall, with a mid C16 rear wing, terrace of
four C18 houses; refronted and tower added 1834.
MATERIALS: hall of limestone rubble, rear wing of re-used
ashlar and carved work (a feature of post-Dissolution
Malmesbury) and coursed, squared limestone; tower of rubble
with dressings, rubble houses; all rendered to street
elevations, with a stone slate roof and 3 ridge stacks.
PLAN: open hall parallel to street with an E range at S end,
square tower attached within S end of terrace of single-depth
houses, with a rear wing to the N end.
EXTERIOR: 2 storeys; 7-window range, includes 5-storey;
1-window range tower. The hall has C19 openings with a
cambered arch to left-hand C19 carriage arch, 2 ground and
first-floor windows, that on the first-floor to the S a
trefoil in a square head; the E range to the rear has
ground-floor lunettes and stable doors, the E section largely
original with a blocked 4-light hollow-moulded window and E
doorway with chamfered head, and C19 9-pane windows beneath
the eaves.
The 3 N houses have a middle 1-window range and outer 2-window
ranges, that to the right with 6/6-pane sashes and a
right-hand 6/9-pane sash in the former doorway, the middle one
with a left-hand round-arched doorway and 8/8-pane sashes, and
the N one a left-hand doorway, 8/8-pane ground-floor sash and
two first-floor sashes with 6/6-panes to left and 8/8-panes to
right; three gables to rear elevation.
The S house was converted to a tower has a doorway and small
window above; the tower has quoins and dressings to
round-arched windows to the lower floors, flat-headed to the
top storey, with an ashlar parapet.
INTERIOR: details include a 3- former 4-bay roof to the hall
with collar trusses and chamfered arch braces forming
continuous arches, wind braces to the lower 2 registers, and a
diagonal through ridge beam; possible former screened passage
beneath the tower; the E range has collared trusses with wind
braces to the middle register; houses have C19 reeded
architraves with plain stops.
HISTORICAL NOTE: possibly part of an extensive courtyard

complex with the S range originally stables (Stirling).
Town work house from C18 to 1834, when converted to stables.
The N house formerly the Salutation Inn before 1803. The tower
was built for an astronomical observatory by Richard Pryor.
(Stirling D: Secular medieval buildings in Malmesbury, Wilts,
1150-1547: 1986-: 8; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N:
Wiltshire: London: 1963-: 328).

Listing NGR: ST9344587258

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17544344

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

• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)