Aubretia Cottage Chawston

Aubretia Cottage March 2010

Aubretia Cottage stands with another cottage some considerable distance from the main village on the road to Colesden. It was listed by English Heritage in August 1983 as Grade II, of special interest. They dated the cottage to about 1700. It is timber framed, with weather boarding to the ground floor and colour washed rough cast above. It has a thatched roof and the classic two-room plan downstairs, with one storey and beds in the attics.

The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed as to its rateable value. Chawston was assessed in 1927. The valuer visiting Aubretia Cottage found it owned by the trustees of J. Wilkerson, of Chawston Manor. This suggests that the cottage was built by the Lords of the Manor of Chawston, who were the Hunt family from at least 1414 until at least 1705. The tenant was G. Britten who paid rent of £23 per annum.

The house, standing in just under half an acre, comprised a living room, kitchen and scullery downstairs with three bedrooms above. A weather-boarded and tiled barn lay outside. The valuer commented: "Very poor, half Weatherboarded. Highest rent for miles!"

The Hunt family coat of arms