57-59 Bedford Road August 2009

57 and 59 Bedford Road is an impressive cottage, today [2009], one dwelling. It stands back from the road on the south side of it.  The building was listed by the former Department of Environment in March 1985 as Grade II, of special interest. The department noted the external plaque which reads: G. T. 1800 but states that the house is probably earlier, in which case the date would be that of repairs carried out by Lord of the Manor, Godfrey Thornton, not the original built. A number of other houses in the village have similar plaques for dates around the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.

As is usual in the locality the house is timber-framed with a colourwashed roughcast exterior. It has a thatched roof. A 20th century extension projects to the rear.

The Rating and Valuation Act of 1925 specified that every piece of land and building in the country should be assessed to determine the rates to be paid on it. Blunham was assessed in 1927 and the valuer visiting the property noted that it was in two tenements, both owned by Mrs. Frederick Davison (whose husband owned Willowhill Farm). 57 was tenanted by F. Harding, who paid 3/6 per week rent, a sum set in 1926. An identical rent was paid by the tenant of 59, A. Mooring.

Both tenements contained the same accommodation - a living room and scullery downstairs with two bedrooms above. A barn and washhouse stood outside each. The valuer commented: "Been done up. High, very fair. Back slopes a lot (one an attic)". He also noted that water came from an outside tap, thirty yards away. Both tenements stood in just over a quarter of an acre.