Hilltop Farmhouse Billington

Hilltop Farm January 2009

This building was listed by the former Ministry of Public Buildings and Works as Grade II, of special interest, on 3rd February 1967. It is 17th century and is constructed of brick nog (nogging being a technique whereby a timber frame is infilled to one width thickness of bricks), has a thatched roof and comprises two storeys.

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. Billington, like much of the country, was assessed in 1927. The valuer visiting Hilltop Farm [DV1/C19/95] found it owned and occupied by S. Griffin.

The cottage contained two living rooms, a kitchen and a pantry on the ground floor with three bedrooms above. A brick and corrugated iron barn stood outside. The valuer commented: “Old farm house, unsuitable”.

Griffin owned a number of pieces of adjoining land. There was a grass field measuring 1.245 acres and an arable field measuring 1.044 acres. Adjoining the house were the farm buildings comprising: a brick and tiled stable for three with a loft over; a corrugated iron three bay part open shed and six weather-boarded and thatched “derelict farm buildings”