44 London Road March 2010

44 London Road was listed by the former Department of Environment in December 1979 as Grade II, of special interest. The department dated the left hand side of the property to the 17th century. This structure has been refaced in white painted brick and comprises two storeys under a clay tile roof. The right hand side of the property was built in the 19th century and is, once more, whitewashed brick, of two storeys but has a slate roof.

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. Sandy, like most of the county, was assessed in 1927 and the valuer visiting 44 London Road [DV1/C29/60] found it owned by Charles Clements, who had a baker’s shop in Brickhill Road, and occupied by Harry Jarvis who paid £17 per annum rent and had “Been here over 40 years”.

The brick and slate and brick and tiled house comprised a living room and an unused shop measuring 13 feet square downstairs and two bedrooms above. The valuer commented: “1st floor low and cramped”. The premises also included the lath, plaster and tiled building standing at right angles to the shop which contained a living room, parlour and lumber room with three bedrooms above but was “falling down and hardly useable”.

Outside stood a brick and tiled w. c. and a range of old brick and tiled buildings comprising an old slaughterhouse, two bullock pens, a cow shed and an open shed. The valuer commented: “Rotten place”.

An Ordnance Survey map of 1972 shows 44 London Road as a Post Office and a post box is still embedded in the outside wall. At the time of writing [2010] it is a private house.