On our recent trip on the north Oxford Canal, just north of Ansty, we saw this rather tatty canalside house. I say "we", more likely it was only I as the others were probably inside keeping warm. It was the lettering on the side of the building which drew my attention: I wondered how Alphabet Lodge came to be so named.
In the window on the left is a poster advising that Savills are/were auctioning the property, but a search of their website revealed nothing. An internet search on "Alphabet Lodge" threw up another photo, and, more informatively, a Times Online article from March 2008 describing it as Wreck of the Week!
How wrecked? The reason the house is in such a bad state is unknown. The agent describes it as “one of the worst houses I've ever seen”. All the windows are smashed, the floorboards have been ripped up, and there is said to be a pervasive smell.
The guide price was £165,000, but it was reckoned that another £60,000 would have to be spent on it straight away. Looks like not much has happened yet. Oh, and it's right by the M69 motorway. Did anyone buy it?
3 comments:
Shame! At one time it must have been a nice place right by the canal there! Curious history hey?
It was indeed an a lovely place to live so peacefully tranquil and desirable, despite the fact it had no indoor toilet (haha). I moved here with my parents when I was a teenager around 1967. They bought the house but not the land that was with it, which was sold & 3 bungalows were built on it. My parents lived there, my mum worked part time in the Crown pub until a car accident took her life and my father stayed until his death. It is incredibly sad to see the state it was in in the picture for we had been so happy there and the villagers were wonderful growing flowers and coming out into the road when I drove from Alphabet Lodge to St James Church Ansty to get married. Which is a place also close to my heart as my husband, mum and das are all buried there. The house was so called because the builder built the house for himself and his daughter at the time was learning her alphabet, hence the name. The little stream at the bottom of the garden feeds the lake at Coombe Abbey. Many happy memories but then life moves on and I am sure it will be demolished and something new will spring up and new memories made. Liz Ronchetti (nee Hammond)
Liz, thank you for this extra information. I'm glad you were happy there, but sorry that you've had to see your old house in such poor condition. My condolences for your losses, too. I see that this post about Alphabet Lodge is now ten years old; as you say, it might not even exist now. Or perhaps it has been restored. I shall look out for it next time I go that way.
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