20 High Street Houghton Conquest

20 and 20a High Street August 2016

Sometimes quite ordinary looking properties can have a little more to their history than you might suppose. 20 and 20a High Street are fairly standard-looking late 19th or early 20th century dwellings. However, the building used to be a shop.

The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed to determine its rateable value. The valuer visiting the property found that it was a shop owned and occupied by Miss Rebecca Robinson [DV1/C78/111]. The living accommodation comprised a parlour, living room, kitchen and two sculleries with four bedrooms above. The shop measured 12 feet 6 inches by 11 feet. A brick and tiled barn and an earth closet stood outside. The valuer commented: “Was 2 cottages”. An annotation of 30th May 1939 reads: “no longer used as shop”.