South West Elevation of the Maltsters Tap in Shropshire after heritage casement windows installed

Maltsters Tap Traditional Flush Casement Windows - Gowercroft Joinery

Traditional Flush Casement Windows designed and installed in a Grade II listed former brewery - The Maltsters Tap near Shrewsbury needed some very special heritage windows, a case study by Gowercroft Joinery

Brian Tripp came to Gowercroft for help with renovating his newly acquired property by installing traditional flush casement windows. He knew he wanted windows to match the traditional country decor of his new home. He also wanted windows that had modern day performance. We first met Brian at the Grand Design Exhibition, and after downloading our brochure he contacted us to talk more about his requirements.

The Village of Cardington

The Maltsters Tap is a former brewery situated in the tiny village of Cardington, near Church Stretton in Shropshire. The village is so small that in only has one postcode. The Church is the central feature of the village – in fact the whole village is practically a giant roundabout around the church. Interestingly, the village’s only pub, the Royal Oak is reputedly the oldest pub in the UK. Certainly, the whole area is postcard picturesque so it’s easy to see how important it was to have traditional windows that suited the surroundings.

When we saw the Gowercroft Heritage window at the ‘Grand Designs’ Exhibition we knew straight away it was just right for our listed building renovation, both for us and for our local Conservation Officer. We were particularly impressed by the combination of heritage design detail, thermal efficiency and innovative technology. Now installed, the windows have transformed our home.
Brian Tripp, owner of the Maltsters Tap

The Renovation of the Maltsters Tap

The building was originally a brewery that was converted into two dwellings. Brian and his partner purchased the property and put their plans to turn the house into their dream home. Firstly they knocked the interior back into one single dwelling. They then needed to completely refurbish the interior. Comfort and traditional styling was the goal of the renovation – including double skin insulating plaster board to keep the property warm. One of the most important jobs was to upgrade the windows.

Traditional Style Heritage Windows

The original windows were old and single glazed. It was important to Brian and the local planning officer that the new windows were appropriate to the property and the surrounding area. It was also important to Brian that the windows performed well. Older properties are notoriously difficult to keep warm, so good quality double glazing was a must. After perusing our brochure and meeting with our sales and design teams, Brian quickly realised that our Richmond Flush Casement Heritage Window range was the perfect solution. The performance and durability of the windows impressed Brian, and he and his partner loved the traditional styling. The local planning officer was also satisfied, and passed the project for installation.

Want to know more about Heritage Windows? Read our guide to What are Heritage Windows

Astragals give that traditional look

The traditional look of the windows is created by the Astragals – horizontal bars across the glass that create the effect of Georgian windows. The windows had traditional horizontal astragals, it was important to keep the glass dimensions as uniform as possible. Due to the varying heights of the windows it meant that some windows needed more bars and some needed none. We had to work out the glass sizes for each window and judge the amount of bars needed. This can be tricky, especially in older properties where there are no uniform sizes and no windows have the same dimensions, even though they look like they are exactly the same. We also discovered that the double skin plaster board meant that we had to increase the size of the sections to of the frame to fit. To keep the sight lines to the inside the same we had to increase each individual window section. If we hadn’t, the windows would have looked different and spoiled the look of the whole project. In the end, we installed 26 of our Richmond Heritage casement windows to the Maltsters Tap.