In addition to opening on Saturday September 14th 2013 for Heritage Open Day
the Oxford Preservation Trust opened up the oldest house in East St Helen Street and one of the oldest in Abingdon, yesterday. The earliest owner of the house traced back so far is Sir James Braybrook, who died in 1509.
It was a chance to see the remarkable wall paintings, fire places, and ceilings. The current tenant is a history teacher who likes to try immerse herself in the past to see what the past might really have been like, so such a house is ideal.
From the top of the house the view to one side is much as it has been for a long time.
But the other side has changed a lot in the last two years as the Old Gaol development has progressed. The work on the new part looks complete now and new neighbours have moved in. Some of them even came round to look round the open house.
But there is still lots of work to be done converting the Old Gaol itself.
Those extensions to the Old Goal are lego-block architecture and at least one storey too high. If you’re going to build something so lacking in imagination and out-of-character with the town it shouldn’t be painted white as it attracts attention.
I have to agree withe above. For a town that seems to pride itself on its ancient buildings this appears to have been a gross error in planning. Development, it seems, is inevitable ..but couldn’t the design been a bit more in sympathy with the surroundings?
Re: converting The Old Goal – all seems to have gone quiet on the proposed restaurants, public facilities and town access to the river area?
On this excellent blog I am always reading about events that have just happened.
How can I find out in advance what is going on in Abingdon?
Peter D – if you scroll to the top right of the page, you’ll see some links to “What’s On”.
Have to agree with the first 2 comments. We do pride ourselves on our history, but allow it to be ruined too easily. I said to the wife recently that the HS2 rail link wouldn’t have half so much objection if they were to make all the bridges and tunnels in a style that is complimentary to the scenery. Nobody ever complains that the Settle Carlisle viaduct ruins the countryside, because quite simply it doesn’t!
The old addage “If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well”
🙂
…there’s a more modern addage; it goes something like this; “maximize profit – full stop”.
I agree with some of the above that sympathetic design can be encouraged where appropriate – but likewise “faux olde worlde design” is even worse. Isn’t Abingdon a mishmash of design eras and this can be reflected with modern being included with ‘old’? Just a thought….
But, this isn’t “Development”, it is building in order to make as much profit as possible. Perhaps a nod to “the environment\” because the governemnt says that there has to be. A cursory nod. “Development” would suggest that there’s some level of design and planning for the future – how the development fits in with the wider landscape and it’s longevity within that landscape – do those flat roofs make use of grey water for flushing all the toilets etc…are those roofs covered in solar panels? How many trees were planted in order to carbon offset the buildings etc. How many electric car charging points come with each property? Those windows are triple glazed I assume? I hope someone is going to tell me that this has all been done – I’ll happily eat my hat!
Development – no. Building some buildings to make as much money as possible…probably.
Thanks Daniel.
I dip into those sites from time to time, but most of what’s on here is not on there.
this house was probably new and modern when it was built – maybe people at the time thought it should be done in the style that already existed.
maybe in time the old gaol appartments will become attractions.
I am not quite in the Prince Charles “carbuncle” school of thought and I do believe that modern design can sit well with older design. But I do think that the flats in the Old Gaol development show a singular lack of aesthetic design in their outward appearance. They remind me of a hospital block. In fact you can see this “design” in the Nuffield Orthopaedic extension. And the use of wood as an exterior cladding looks about OK when new but does rather fade to a dirty brown/grey within a very short space of time.
whenever anyone sticks anything on their house that changes colour quickly on grand designs they claim it adds character!
not sure I follow that argument however.
I agree with Newcomer-a complete lack of imaginative and sympathetic design. These flats remind of the student accommodation my chidren have resided in.
Surely the Old Gaol building should be central to overall perspective?
I found out about this one on twitter from @theabingdontaxi – Abingdon’s foremost tweeter