The Old Post Office Eversholt

The Old Post Office February 2016

The house which used to be the post office and the dwelling next-door were listed by English Heritage in March 1987 (at which date the post office was still extant) as Grade II, of special interest. The property dates from the mid-19th century and is built of colour-washed brick with colour-washed render at the left-hand end. It has a slate roof and comprises two storeys. The listing notes: “Included for group value”.

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 building, then undivided, in 1927 [DV1/C131/139] found the owner was the Duke of Bedford’s London and Devon Estates Company and the tenant K Walker, whose rent was £20 per annum. The building comprised a shop (measuring 16 feet by 17 feet), two living rooms, a kitchen, a scullery, four bedrooms and a cellar. Two warehouses stood outside along with a stable, an earth closet and a trap house. The valuer commented: “Eversholt Stores – good shop – general Selfridges of the place” and “Tenant been here one year. Was £19/10/- before. Tenant admits rent low”.

Directories for the whole county of Bedfordshire were published every few years between 1847 and 1940. They give the post office in Eversholt as being run by the following people (not always necessarily from the same building - the entries do not give addresses):

1847-1877: Samuel Harris;
1885-1890: Richard Farmer Harris;
1894-1906: Ann Harris;
1910: G Bence Smith;
1914-1924: Edward Richard Lovell;
1927: K Walker;
1931: Percy W Peters;
1940: Joseph Simpson.

Postbox in the wall of the Old Post Office February 2016