Eversholt Rectories
The Old Rectory February 2016
The first detaied description of Eversholt Rectory is in a church terrier of 1708 [P42/2/1/1] when the occupant was the notorious William Hind. It runs as follows, note the original spellings and lack of punctuation: “The Parsonage house consists of four bayes all built of Oak timber the Walls part Studd and clay and part Studd and brick covered part with thatch and part with tiles as hereinafter described. The Rooms and Apartments are, first at the south west end thereof one parlour floored with oak boards and sealed two large windows one south east and the other north west with a Chimney of Brick and Stone one Chamber over the same sealed with one Window and a Closett at the south end thereof with one Window both floord with Oak boards one Hall with an earthen floor four windows a Chimney brick only from the upper Garrett an Elme Stair case leading to the four apartments above ye Hall two whereof are Chabers and two open passages floord partly with Oak and partly with Elme boards the Summer and and Joists oak each one a Window one Garrett over the Hall Chambers floord with Elme boards and Joists with two Windows An Entry cross the house with an Earthen floor A passage over it floord with Elme boards and oak Joists with one window a little Garrett over the said passage floord with Elme boards and Joists All which afore menconed Rooms and Apartments are built with oak Studds and posts clay and Splint walls and covered with thatch”
“Item one Kitchin with a brick floor seeled and two windows one Chamber over it floord with Elme boards Summers oak Joists oak and Elme seeled and two windows the Kitchin and this are built with oak Stidds and joists and walled with Bricks, with a Brick Chimney, One Garret floord with Elm Board and Joists one Small Cellar boarded one pantry adjoyning thereto floord with bricks one Window the Cellar leading up to it one oven and one furnace floord with brick and stone one porch with an earthen floor and a little chamber over it floord with Elme boards and oak Joists All within last mentioned chambers or building consists of Oak Studds and posts clay walls and covered with Tiles”
“One little building divided into three parts the first a Hogsty, the second a henhouse the third A necessary house built with Studds walls partly clay and partly boards covered with thatch, One Barn next the Highway consisting of three bays built with oak and Elme walled with clay and splints covered with thatch and one leantoo adjoyning thereto thatch, at the north west end thereof another Barn consisting of four bays one end thereof abutting on the aforesaid highway built with posts and Studds some oak some Elme walled with clay and Splints and covered with thatch”
“A little building consisting of two bays one bay a Stable the other a Cow house, built with posts and Studds some oak and some Elme walled with clay and Splints covered with thatch”.
In 1826 a faculty was granted to pull down the old Rectory and build a new one on the same site in Hills End [ABF2 page 145]. In 1902 the Rectory was given to the Duke of Bedford in exchange for the house now known as Linden House, which thus became the new Rectory [P42/2/4/1]
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 Old Rectory [DV1/C131/52] found it duly owned by the Duke of Bedford’s London and Devon Estates Company and tenanted by Colonel E B Gordon at a rent of £70/10/- per annum. The site comprised 2.117 acres.
The first floor consisted of: a hall; a reception room measuring 17 feet 6 inches by 14 feet 6 inches; a study measuring 13 feet by 14 feet; a cloakroom; a lavatory (in the sense of a place to wash) and WC; a dining room measuring 13 feet 6 inches by 18 feet; a pantry; a kitchen measuring 16 feet by 15 feet; a scullery; a larder and a set of back stairs. The first floor consisted of a lavatory, bath and WC; a dressing room measuring 7 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 6 inches and three bedrooms measuring, respectively, 18 feet by 14 feet 6 inches, 19 feet by 15 feet and 12 feet by 14 feet. The second floor had a nursery, a box room, two bedrooms and a maid’s bedroom. Back stairs down to the first floor led to another maid’s bedroom and a linen room.
The garden, it was noted, had: “Rustic work and Ramblers”. There was a tennis lawn and ornamental trees and rose beds. An engine house stood outside (which had a Peter three horsepower oil engine and a small “Gould Suction Pump”) with a cell room to provide the house’s electricity containing a dynamo developing eighty volts. There was also a coal cellar outside as well as a WC and a garage (formerly a harness room with a loft over), two loose boxes, a workroom, two more loose boxes, three loose boxes and another garage. The property had mains drainage and a pump for water. There was: “Special Heating for baths and lavatory basins” and a water-softening plant.
The valuer visiting the property today known as Linden House duly found that it was now serving as the Rectory [DV1/C133/6]. It stood in just over an acre of land. The valuer commented: “Was a farmhouse”.
Accommodation comprised: three living rooms; a hall; a kitchen; a scullery; a pantry and WC; four bedrooms; a dressing room; a bathroom and a box room. Outside stood a coal and wood house and WC, a tool house, a loose box and store, a coachhouse and a range of outbuildings comprising: a fowl house; four cow standings; a loose box and three pigsties. There was also a small glasshouse. In 1934 the Governors of Queen Anne’s Bounty granted a £40 mortgage to pay for repairs [P42/2/4/2].
In 1979 the benefices of Woburn, Battlesden with Pottesgrove and Eversholt with Milton Bryan were united. The new team parson lived in the Vicarage at Woburn making the Eversholt Rectory surplus to requirements and so it was sold.
Linden House February 2016