Saville Cottage - 35 and 37 High Street Great Barford

Saville Cottage about 1900 [Z1306/5/10/4]

35 and 37 High Street stands at the junction with Addington Road and was listed by the former Department of Environment in August 1983 as Grade II, of special interest. The department dated the property to the 17th century. It is timber framed with some roughcast and some incised plaster as infill and covering, all colour washed. The house has an old clay tiled roof and is built in al L-shape. The block bordering the road has two storeys, the rear block a single storey with attics. A 20th century single storey extension juts from the rear wing.

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 35-37 High Street [DV1/C156/1] found it was called Saville Cottage and was owned by Bedfordshire County Council and occupied by Miss Drusilla Dickens at a rent of £14 set in 1921 (having previously been £10 from 1904).

Drusilla was a shopkeeper and the house comprised a parlour with a grate, a living room with a range and a scullery with a copper for heating water and a sink as well as the shop. Three bedrooms lay upstairs. A coal barn and a privy lay outside. The valuer commented: “Big rambling place. Comfortable place but falling and has had to be cross tied”.

Saville Cottage in 1960 [Z53/5/8]

Drusilla was recorded as a shopkeeper in Great Barford in Kelly’s Directory for Bedfordshire in 1924 and 1928, but not in 1931. The directories for 1910, 1914 and 1924 list a Mrs. Hannah Dickens as a draper and grocer in Great Barford.

In 1997 planning permission was sought to re-render the dwelling and replace a window [PCGreatBarford18/59]. At that time 35-37 High Street was still known as Saville Cottage.

Saville Cottage March 2010