Jeddah House, 3 The Causeway

This page was contributed by Pamela Hider.

This property once consisted of house and stables. The Historic Environment Record for Bedfordshire described the house as follows:

19th century building, deemed of local interest. C19. Coursed rubble.. 2 storey, slate roof. Brick eaves course. 3 sash windows with slightly cambered heads. Doorway has plain fanlight.

And the stables as follows:

19th century stable building deemed of local interest. C19, red brick, 2 storey. Slate roof with central gable bearing weathervane. 1st floor - 2 casements with glazing bars flanking central doorway. Ground floor - LH double doors, casement windows, 2 doors with fanlights, larger casement with cambered head.

 Jeddah House & Stables 1974, courtesy of HER

Winning Horse

It is a well-known story among the older inhabitants of Carlton that butcher Frank Skevington made a lot of money by placing a bet at odds of 100-1 on a horse called Jeddah which ran in the 1898 Derby. It won!  And he and his wife subsequently lived in Jeddah House,which is distinguished by having a weathercock in the form of a racehorse on the former stable block and a memorial plaque with the inscription “Won on the turf". It is historically true that Jeddah did win the Derby in 1898 at very long odds. (It then went on to win at Ascot). Frank died in 1915 aged 65, but his wife Mary lived on to the age of 89, dying in 1936. Their only child, Edith Mary, continued to live in Jeddah House until she died in 1973, aged 86. All three are commemorated in the churchyard at St. Mary's, Carlton (ref: Z1521/1/5/10).

In 1927, property in Carlton was valued under the Rating and Valuation Act 1925 (ref: DV1/C218).  Every piece of land and building in the country had to be valued to determine the rates to be paid upon it. The owner and occupier of 'Jeddah Cottage' , consisting of 'house, buildings and premises' was  listed as Mrs. M. Skevington. It was described as follows: 'detached, stone brick & slate, living room, kitchen & scullery, 4 bedrooms upstairs. covered-in outside corridor + bedroom over corridor 17x5, No bathroom, a long ugly place'.

The stable buildings were described as 'brick & stone coach house, harness room, two stalls, loft over whole'. These buildings were said to be 'used as stores'. It was decided that the rateable value 'ought to be considerably more but large outbuildings not used'  although they were 'very good'.  The final comment was 'Poor situation & badly planned'.

21st Century

Extension and modifications are now in evidence and the use of the old stable building is now residential.

Jeddah House, 2024

Jeddah weather vane over former stables, 2024.

List of sources at Bedfordshire Archives: 

• DV1/C218: 1925 Valuation Rating Books - Carlton. Book 1, 1924-1940
• Z1521/1/5/10: Carlton & Chellington Historical Society newsletter Vol.5, No.10, 2007