Summary
An early C19 house, extended in the late C19 and used as a petrol station since 1919.
Reasons for Designation
Glendore (West End Garage) including petrol pumps, in Turnastone, Vowchurch, Herefordshire is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: as a good example of an early C19 house, extended in the late C19, with significant interest as an early and increasingly rare example of an early C20 rural petrol station with surviving enamel signs and petrol pumps.
* Historic interest: as an interesting example of an early C19 house adapted in 1919 for use as a petrol station in response to the increase in local car use at the time.
History
Glendore (West End Garage) was built in the early C19 and extended in the late C19. The house has been in use as a petrol filling station since 1919 and is believed to be the oldest surviving petrol station in England (The Automobile, February 1992, pp. 42-4). It was granted a second licence to sell petrol in Herefordshire in 1922. The garage was founded by H James Charles Wilding and, following his death in 1948, was taken over by his sons Hedley (1915-2007) and Percy. Following Percy's death in 1990, Hedley continued to run the business into his nineties. His son has in turn continued the business. There are two petrol pumps in the front garden, one a Wayne, dating from the 1950s, and the other an Avery-Hardoll, probably dating from the 1930s. The large enamelled advertisement plates for Raleigh bicylcles and one for Castrol on the front facade of the house, date from the early- to mid-C20. Sales take place in the front room of the cottage to the right of the front door which has a sales counter for sweets, newspapers and small motoring supplies.
Details
A house dating from the early C19, extended in the late C19 and in use as a petrol filling station since 1919.
PLAN: L-shaped on plan. The main front range is of two rooms with gable-end fireplaces and a central entrance passage. Behind the left-hand room a later C19 wing incorporating stables and an outshut behind the main range.
MATERIALS: Stone rubble, with a red brick front in Flemish stretcher bond. Concrete tile roof with gabled ends. Brick gable end stacks.
EXTERIOR: Two storeys. Symmetrical north-west front (except for later C19 four-pane sash on ground floor right); small early-C19 two-light windows with metal casements, ground floor with cambered arch, first-floor centre with round arch and Y-glazing bars; central doorway with flush panel door with reeding, the centre panels inscribed with ovals, and with very small overlight; later simple wooden open porch. Attached to the elevation are two early-C20 enamelled advertisements for Raleigh Bicycles and Castrol. The rear elevation (south-east), has a gable-ended wing on the right with three-light window and plank door on inner side and an outshut on the left with raised corrugated iron lean-to roof.
INTERIOR: Most of the original joinery survives, including, panelled doors and cupboards; the parlour on right has roughly chamfered cross-beams and a later C19 cast-iron chimneypiece; kitchen on left has C20 range.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: In the front garden, behind a low brick boundary wall along the line of the pavement and the road, and screened from behind by a mature arched yew hedge, stand two petrol pumps, one a Wayne dating from the 1950s and the other an Avery-Hardoll, probably dating from the 1930s.
