Description

SO 5968 TENBURY TEME STREET
(East side)
1424/8/130
Pump Room, Brine Baths
And Reading Room
07.03.72
II*

Pump room, brine baths and adjoining reading room, now house. c1862 by James Cranston. Part orange brick with ashlar, yellow and blue brick dressings and some applied timber-framing with rendered infill, part iron spar construction with sheet iron cladding. Sheet iron roof cladding with scalloped edging pierced with quatrefoils, bracketed eaves and iron fleur-de-lys finials at ridge joints and ridge ends. Asymmetrical plan comprised of large assembly room range and smaller brine baths range aligned north/south and forming pointed arches in section, connected by a brick entrance hall. The pump room is octagonal in plan and linked to the south-west corner of the assembly room by a small wing. Single storey; plinth has chamfered base and dentilled course decorating upper part. Main south elevation: gable end of assembly room has a pair of pointed windows with scissor braces above 4-light openings with transoms and a small rectangular opening above. Gable end of brine baths has a pair of 2-light windows with splayed bases. The central entrance has a round archway with an outer dentilled course and inner courses of different widths and materials on a dentilled "impost" course and half-glazed double doors. The pump room has applied timber-framing with decorative bracing and a conical roof. There is a 2-light window with cusped pointed lights to the south-east. The linking wing has a gabled roof, with a similar 2-light window, and a doorway in its north-east side. The roof cladding is missing and the pumping mechanism is visible in the roof space. INTERIOR: Roof is partly barrel-vaulted. There is a large pointed archway on imposts flanked by small four-centred arches on the east side of the assembly room. The Reading Room adjoins the east side of the brine baths. Orange brick with yellow brick dressings and half-hipped slate roof with central brick ridge stack. 2 storeys. 2 bays with yellow brick quoins and dentilled course above and below first floor level. South gable end has a ground floor and two first floor 4-pane sashes with cambered heads. Main entrance at rear. The mineral springs were accidentally discovered in 1839 owing to the sinking of a well. The town experienced a period of considerable development and prosperity during the mid-C19 as- a result and was given the name Tenbury Wells. (Sources: Doubleday AH: The Victoria History of the County of Worcester: IV: 365-: Pevsner N: The Buildings of England: 279-:)

Listing NGR: SO5968768288

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17547663

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

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)