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Southcott

The Green Southcott October 2008
The Green Southcott October 2008

Southcott, once a hamlet, now a part of urban Linslade, is first mentioned in 1240. It lies in the south-central part of the parish beside a stream and along a valley bottom. In many ways it was better suited to be the main settlement in the parish than Old Linslade, several miles to the north and established on poorer soil.

During the Middle Ages there would have been largely open country between Southcott and Old Linslade, modern urban Linslade only becoming firmly established in the 19th century. From the 14th to the 19th century Southcott was the largest nucleus of settlement in the parish.

The Stud Farm main buildings October 2008
The Stud Farm main buildings October 2008

Until the middle of the 19th century Southcott consisted of two rows of farms and houses either side of a main street opening out into a small triangular green and its north-eastern end with buildings all around it. In 1748 Southcott was described as containing twenty one properties, by 1864 the total was four farms and about twenty cottages. Modern development since the Second World War has swamped the old hamlet which is now, to the visitor, indistinguishable from the rest of modern Linslade.