Agatha Christies’s fans fear they could see a new traffic junction built opposite her old Oxfordshire home.

Website christiemystery.co.uk, dedicated to the legacy of the writer, has backed a campaign by residents to ‘Save Winterbrook’ — claiming proposals for 116 homes would ruin the writer’s former home on Wallingford’s outskirts.

Gregor Kleinknecht, owner of Winterbrook House – where Christie lived from 1934 -76 – has urged the council and developers to re-think their plans too.

The house — where Christie died before being buried at Cholsey — was believed to be the model for Danemead, fictional crimefighter Miss Marple’s house in the village of St Mary Mead.

Earlier this year, housebuilders Wates revealed it wanted to build 116 homes on land west of Reading Road.

If plans are approved, a property in the street could be demolished to make way for a new access junction, following an agreement with the owner, which would be opposite Winterbrook House.

South Oxfordshire District Council also named the site as one of two preferred options where it wants 850 homes built before 2026. The other is Slade Farm, west of Wallingford town centre.

Cathy Cook, of the website, said: “I believe it would be a tragedy to see such a beautiful and tranquil village ruined by a development of another 850 homes.

“Agatha Christie and her husband Max Mallowan loved the area very much and chose to have their home there.

“It is the quaintness of village life and its goings-on that forms the basis of so many of Christie’s books, and we must therefore do all we can to retain this in our current world.”

Mr Kleinknecht, who lives in the Grade II listed property with his two children and wife Karen, said: “Development would change the whole area beyond recognition.

“All along Winterbrook there is historic houses from the Georgian and Victorian periods which define the character of the area. That would change completely.

“It would affect our house directly because the entrance to the development would be more or less opposite the house in the form of a new traffic junction.”

A spokesman for Wates Development Ltd said: “Neither the development nor the proposed access of Reading Road is considered to have a detrimental effect on the special interest of the listed buildings.”

Angie Paterson, cabinet member for planning at South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “We have policies that protect listed buildings and areas of special character, and so any developments would take this into account.

“We will listen to what people have said and put forward approaches we believe meet the best interests of the whole district.”

wallingford@oxfordmail.co.uk