Spite Wall

I came across this phrase in one of the many supplements in today's Observer. It was in the property section, and was concerning the old manor house in Shepton Mallet which has a 30-foot wall which was built in the 19th century to stop a newly-built property being able to over look the garden.

Apparently this sort of thing was quite common in the past. One definition of a spite wall is that it is a wall which serves no other useful purpose than to be be the expression of the builder's ill will and malice. There were cases where walls were built to stop poor people taking a shortcut through a wealthy street, or in a famous case in Miami one hotel built a tall wall to cut off afternoon sun from the neighbouring hotel's swimming pool.

Another famous case of a spite wall is also from America. In 1935 the owner of Shibe Park baseball stadium in Philadelphia got so tired of fans being able to watch games for free from the roofs of tenement blocks over the road that he added 22 feet to the top of a 12-foot wall along the outfield.

The one in Shepton Mallet seems spectacularly spiteful as it appears to be built right in front of the next door house cutting off all views from its windows. Of course we are not allowed to do that sort of thing now under the planning laws. We just plant leylandii instead.

Anyway, it jumped off the page as a great name for a band. (As do many old architectural terms like 'Priests Hole', 'Dentils' or 'Blind Arcade'.

Spite Wall would be a folk band who keep getting heavy metal fans turning up at their pub gigs because the name sounds a bit dark and gothic.