The Old Toll House, located on Clopton Bridge in Stratford-upon-Avon, was built over 200 years ago in 1814. With its crenelated roofline and gothic windows, it is a familiar local landmark and an extremely important Grade I Listed building. Its initial purpose is all in the name, but was only used as a Toll House for 25 years, before it was shut down in 1839 due to the lack of toll money.
The building would have been taken down had it not been an integral structure of Clopton Bridge itself. Shortly after the Toll House was closed, James Cox moved his timber yard next door and made the building his office space. Since the closure as a timber yard in 1991, the toll house has stood empty and subsequently fallen into serious disrepair. It was, until recently, included in the top ten West Midland’s Historic England’s Register of Buildings at Risk.
The toll house was rescued by Stratford Historic Buildings Trust which had raised funds to restore and preserve the historic fabric of the building, providing it with a new use as visitor centre and office space. The project has been awarded substantial grants from Historic England and the Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as a number of other trusts and charities.
Historic building contractors Stone-Edge took on the project to restore and refurbish the Grade I Listed Toll House. The project will include a public display area in the basement and the delivery of a range of activities to explore both the history of the Toll House and also the wider industrial heritage of Stratford, much of which was originally located along the River Avon and around the canal basin.
As part of the refurbishment, the original windows were removed and repaired ready for reinstatement. Substantial works were carried out to the stone reveals and openings. Damaged stone was replaced with Sandstone from Northumberland and Leeds. Even after thorough refurbishment, the performance of the single glazed timber windows was deemed inadequate for modern needs.
The help find an appropriate solution, Stone-Edge, together with Mark Evans Architects approached Selectaglaze, the UK’s leading supplier of secondary glazing. With a plethora of experience within Listed and Historic buildings, Selectaglaze was suitably experienced to deal with the unique nature of the Old Toll House’s requirements.
After a positive meeting with Stone-Edge, Selectaglaze proceeded to install a total of 8 units on the ground and first floor of the Old Toll House. The original gothic headed curved casements look fantastic so it was critical that any secondary glazing treatment dealt with the visual impact in a sympathetic way. Selectaglaze Series 45 double side hung casement with matching gothic curved head was chosen. The results look amazing, they are barely noticeable from the outside, but the building now has all the benefits of modern glazing.
As it is a reversible adaptation, it is often the only solution to enhance poor performing primary windows in Listed properties and is accepted by most heritage bodies.
Since the restorations have concluded, project organiser Chris Rice has already noticed the remarkable change in the acoustic insulation within the historic Stratford landmark. Thermally speaking, the building is a lot warmer, which will be the optimal environment for the incoming tenants using the ground and first floor as office space.
“Fitting secondary glazing into a Grade I Listed building with lots of different sized windows was a big challenge. We are delighted with the finished product in terms of insulation and sympathetic appearance.”
Founded in 1966, Royal Warrant holder Selectaglaze has gained a reputation as a leading secondary glazing specialist offering high performance noise insulation, improved building energy performance, environmental control and certified security.
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