Old Yews Cottage - 129 Village Road Bromham

Old Yews Cottage before extension in the 1940s [X535/3]

Old Yews Cottage was listed by English Heritage in August 1987 as Grade II, of special interest. It was reckoned that it was originally a two-room cottage and dates from the 17th or 18th century, with floors and a central back-to-back fireplace inserted subsequently. It was extended west by one room in the early 19th century and to the east by two rooms in the 1940s "to make an L-plan, when the whole was probably renovated". It is built of coursed limestone rubble and has a thatched roof. It comprises one storey and attics. Internally, the listing notes, the timber-framing is largely intact.

The building belonged to the Bromham Hall Estate and when a large slice of that was put up for sale by auction in 1924 129 Village Road was included in the sale. The particulars [AD1147/4 1924] read as follows:

LOT 15
A VERY ATTRACTIVE COTTAGE & GARDEN
Situate in the Parish of Bromham, having a long frontage to the Village Street at its junction with Oakley Road.

It contains Two Living Rooms, Scullery and wash House down and Three Bedrooms up. Outside are Two Sheds and E. C. Good Garden and Two Small Orchards, the whole covering an area of

.673 of an Acre

Let to Mrs. Pepper, on a Quarterly Tenancy, at a rental of

£4 16s. 0d. per annum

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 in 1927 [DV1/C3/89] noted that it was now owned by estate agent and surveyor Walter Molesworth Peacock and still occupied by Mrs. Pepper whose rent had shot up to £6/14/4 per annum. The valuer observed: “Tenant been here 86 years”. He considered the cottage a “very poor old place”. Another hands, however has written “Very nice”!

Old Yews Cottage - 129 Village Road March 2012