1 to 4 Manor Farm Cottages Houghton Conquest

1 to 4 Manor Farm Cottages were built by the Duke of Bedford, who was Lord of the Manor of Dame Ellensbury, to which Manor Farm itself belonged. 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 cottages [DV1/C78/148-151] found that they were still owned by the Duke of Bedford’s London and Devon Estates. Each cottage contained a living room, a kitchen, a washhouse and three bedrooms, with a brick and slate earth closet outside. Water came from a well and drainage was to a cesspool. Each tenant paid rent of 1/6 per week which the valuer described as “absurd”, but the Dukes tended to lease the cottages to their tenants at lower than market rates. The tenants were as follows:

• 1 Manor Farm Cottages: Edward Jennings;
• Number 2: Joseph Odell;
• Number 3: George Gillett;
• Number 4: Mrs J Wooding.