Stone Cottage, 24 High Street
This page was contributed by Pamela Hider
Stone Cottage, 24 High Street Carlton 1962 (reference Z53/25/6)
The development of the village of Carlton began principally in the High Street which was nearest to both church and manor house and where most of the oldest houses are to be found today.
One such house, known today as Stone Cottage, is described by the Historic Environment Record for Bedfordshire as follows:
Late C17 or C18 house. Coursed limestone rubble. Steeply pitched roof with tile gable coping now covered with Welsh slates. Symmetrical 3-window bay plan. Two storeys. Gable end rendered chimney stacks. N.elevation: first floor has three C20 casement windows, two of 3-lights, central one of 2- lights. Ground floor has two C20 3-light casements flanking doorway with flat doorhood. All openings have timber lintels. House is to rear of and forms L- plan with No. 26.
The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 (DV1/H18) specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed to determine its rateable value. In 1927, the owner was A.M.J.Morel and the occupier was R.Chambers. It was described as being the 3rd of 4 and its details were as follows: - stone & slate, living room, 2 bedrooms upstairs, Barn.
No. 24 is semi-detached to no.26 in an L-shape, but brickworks and roof works reveal that one other cottage (the 2nd of 4) was once between them forming an L-shaped terrace which consisted of altogether, 4 cottages.
The history of this group of cottages is covered in the page entitled Old Cottages, High Street (now 16a to 26). It will be seen that in 1955 they were all sold to R.V.Field, a property developer from Kempston, who demolished most of them. However, 3 were retained: the 1st of 4, which was later named Enchanted Cottage (26 High Street), and the 2nd & 3rd of 4, which underwent alterations and became one dwelling - Stone Cottage. The last of 4 became the site of its garage. Sales particulars from early 1956 (Z938/6/11/2) were as follows:
'Small period property. Stone built and tiled. 4 bedrooms. Bathroom. W.C. 2 reception rooms, kitchen, cellar. Attractive Garden. Garage. Remarks - electricity; main water. Drained and ready for connection to new sewer whch will shortly be available'. It was priced at £2,500.
The name Stone Cottage appeared on the Electoral Registers for the first time in 1959. Living there were the new owners Robert and Joan Henderson Begg who had moved in the previous year. By 1973, they had increased to five. Robert was born in Edinburgh and had been an ordained priest. Joan was born in West Yorshire. They married in 1945 in Kensington. During the war Joan had been a despatch rider in the Blitz! Robert died in 2000 and Joan died in 2013. They are buried together in the churchyard of St.Mary's Carlton. Theirs was the only name at Stone Cottage for more than half a century.
Stone Cottage, November 2021