6 and 8 New Road Great Barford

6 and 8 New Road in 1960 [Z53/5/1]

6 and 8 New Road was listed by the former Department of Environment in August 1983 as Grade II, of special interest. The department dated the property to the 18th century. It is timber-framed with infill partly of colour washed roughcast and partly of plaster; it has a red brick facing on the south-west gable end. The south-west bay projects forward with a slightly higher roof line. The cottage has a thatched roof, one storey and attics. There is a one storey red brick and thatched addition at right angles to the rear.

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. Most of Bedfordshire was valued in 1927 and the valuer visiting 6 and 8 New Road, then called River Cottage, found it owned by Arthur Richardson and occupied by William Mooring who paid £6/15/- per annum in rent (the pre-war figure had been £5/5/- per annum).

The cottage comprised a living room with a range, a kitchen with a range, a scullery and a pantry with two bedrooms and a box room above. A coal and wood barn, a washhouse with a copper for heating water, a w. c. (“no flush”) and a cess pool lay outside. Water came from a pump. The valuer commented: “Bedfordshire [presumably Bedfordshire type of cottage], good but damp”. Local sources state that the romantic novelist Barbara Cartland lived at River Cottage during World War Two

6 and 8 New Road March 2010