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Pear Tree Cottage Upper Dean

Pear Tree Cottage stands in Brook Lane. It was listed by the former Department of Environment in August 1983 as Grade II, of special interest. The department dated the property to the late 17th or early 18th century. It is constructed of colour-washed roughcast and brick on a timber frame and has an old clay tiled roof.

It is possible that Dean Charity School was held in the house in the 18th and early 19th centuries. A 20th century photograph album [X504/1] has a note that Pear Tree Cottage was used as the school room, though no evidence is given for this assertion.

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. It is likely that Dean, like most of the rest of the county was assessed in 1927. The valuer visiting Pear Tree Cottage [DV1/C150/60] found it owned by Hubert E. Horsford, “farmer, clerk to the parish council & rate & tax collector for Dean” as he is described in Kelly’s Directory for Bedfordshire of 1928. He was the tenant of Lodge Farmhouse.

The tenant of Pear Tree Cottage was James Barwell, general dealer according to Kelly’s, who paid rent of £8 per annum. The house stood in just over twenty poles of land and comprised two living rooms and a pantry with three bedrooms and a lumber room upstairs. A barn, a washhouse and a coachhouse stood outside.

In 1987 planning permission was sought to replace existing outbuildings and to build an extension [BorBTP/87/2711/LB].