Pineapple Spa, Lower Swell

The Pineapple Spa is a short row of cottages on the north-west side of the B4068 just east of Lower Swell, on the road up to Stow-on-the-Wold. It began as a spa built over a mineral spring found in 1807, its front in the Indian style of nearby Sezincote with a stone hood crowned by a pineapple over the door. It is listed Grade II* and is private.

History

In 1807 a chalybeate spring, water rich in iron and minerals, was found here on the road to Stow, and a carved bullseye stone over one doorway still records the discovery. A spa house in ashlar with exotic decoration was added to an eighteenth-century cottage, with a pump room in the middle and a vaulted cellar over the spring.

A spa that did not take

The spa was expected to bring prosperity to Stow, but the Victoria County History says it made little difference to Lower Swell beyond adding one exotic building. By 1926 the well was almost dry and the spa house had been turned into cottages.

The Sezincote style

The decoration copies Sezincote, the house a few miles to the north that Samuel Pepys Cockerell, with Thomas Daniell and Humphry Repton, built in an Indian manner for Sir Charles Cockerell between about 1800 and 1805. Historic England's listing calls the style Hindu.

What to see

From the road you see three cottages; the ashlar centrepiece of Nos 1 and 2 was the pump room.

• The centrepiece in ashlar: panelled pilasters, an enriched parapet and dormers with concave gables and finials
• Over the central door, the segmental stone hood topped by the pineapple that gives the place its name
• Over the doorway of No 3, the keyed bullseye stone that records the carbonated chalybeate spring discovered in 1807
• Nos 1 and 2, with paired windows under lobed heads, and No 3, plainer, stepping down the hill

Inside, which is private, the main room has a tall arch with rusticated jambs, a sign that it was once open to visitors taking the waters.

Visiting

The Pineapple Spa is made up of private homes, so it is seen from the roadside only; please do not go up to the doors or windows. The B4068 is a busy road, so take care with traffic.

Getting there

The cottages are just east of Lower Swell on the B4068, about 1km west of Stow. On foot, the Stow and Lower Swell walk passes them on its way back to Stow beside the road; it starts at Back Walls in Stow, 3.6 miles (5.8km) round. Park in Stow at the Maugersbury Road car park (GL54 1HH, charged). Pulhams bus 801 serves Stow roughly hourly every day.

Nearby

In Lower Swell, a short walk west, are the war memorial, thought to be by Sir Edwin Lutyens, and the Norman church of St Mary. Up the hill in Stow are St Edward's Church and the market cross, with tea at the Old Bakery Tearoom. To see the house that inspired the spa, visit Sezincote, north of Moreton-in-Marsh.