Geograph - photograph every grid square

119-123 Upper Spon Street on opening day, after restoration under the management of Spon End Building Preservation Trust (SPEBT) who obtained the lease and funding for the project. Grade II* listed buildings.

Originally built by the Benedictines in the 15th century as a group of workshop / living units, these houses have been altered in different ways by their many and varied inhabitants over their 5 centuries of life, becoming very dilapidated by the 1990s, when they were all closed and on the brink of being demolished. The restoration has aimed to reflect the different periods of their history. The intention is for the terrace to have mixed residential, educational and community use.

From left to right:
No. 119 reflects modifications up to the 20th century. Note the addition to the roof height. Occupants from the 19th century included a baker, watchmaker, greengrocer, wireless shop, radio and TV engineers and a ladies hairdresser.
No. 120 retains the tobacconists' painted advertisement which was visible on the front of the shop up to closure and has the shop sign 'London Laundry', for which it was a receiving shop immediately prior to closure.
No. 121 reflects modifications from the 18th century and later and was a private residence rather than a shop.
No. 122 "the weaver's house" displays the earliest features, having an intact medieval first floor level room jutting into the interior building space which is open to the roof. The frontage has been restored to a medieval appearance.
No. 123 the two frontages on the far right form 123. At the beginning of the 20th century this was The Black Swan pub and closed in 1903. The building was split into two units and the corner shop's last incarnation before closure was as "Moira's Wet Fish" so named from the shop sign which read "Fruit & Veg MOIRA'S Wet Fish". The green tiles from this period have been retained although the underlying building is medieval.

Sources: "Spon End & Spon Street" by John Ashby (2003); SPEBT website