The Old Lodge, also known as the Thatched Cottage and 166 Henleaze Road, is a notable landmark in

Henleaze Henleaze is a northern suburb of the city of Bristol in South West England. It is an almost entirely residential inter-war development, with Edwardian streets on its southern fringes. Its main neighbours are Westbury on Trym, Horfield, Bish ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England. According to

Reece Winstone Reece Winstone FRPS (1909–1991) was an English photographer from Bristol. He edited and self-published the 'Bristol As It Was' books of photographs of Bristol, covering in detail the period from the dawn of photography to 1962. Career Frank Ree ...

, writing in 1970, this is the only privately owned

thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

house in Bristol. The house was built around 1810 and was formerly one of two former lodge houses to Henleaze Park, the residence of Samuel and Walter Derham. Henleaze Park later became St Margaret's School before being demolished in 1962. It is a few miles from

Blaise Hamlet Blaise Hamlet is a group of nine small cottages around a green in Henbury, now a district in the north of Bristol, England. All the cottages, and the sundial on the green are Grade I listed buildings. Along with Blaise Castle the Hamlet is lis ...

, John Nash's collection of picturesque cottages. Although this cottage is very similar in character and was built around the same time, it has never been verified that John Nash also built this property. The lodge's most unusual feature is the spy window on the ground floor that would have enabled the lodge keeper to view passing coaches from either the sitting or dining room. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, first listed in 1977.

Notable dates

1958 The thatched roof, that had not been attended to for over 100 years, was renewed by Webbers of Dunster. 1977 The

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

listed the property (Grade II) for its historical interest and special architecture. 1994 The thatched roof was renewed by a Wiltshire firm in the traditional nineteenth century way. 1995 Following the rethatch, the property won an Environment Award from the Bristol Civic Society (in association with the

Bristol Evening Post The ''Bristol Post'' is a city/regional five-day-a-week (formerly appearing six days per week) newspaper covering news in the city of Bristol, including stories from the whole of Greater Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. It was ...

), one of only 10 in Bristol.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Old Lodge, Bristol Houses in Bristol Grade II listed buildings in Bristol Thatched buildings in England Georgian architecture in Bristol Grade II listed residential buildings