17 Ickwell Road April 2009

In 1910 a thorough rating valuation was carried out across England as part of David Lloyd-George’s pioneering 1909 budget. The survey was so thorough it was known colloquially as the Domesday Survey. The results show that all the older buildings in Northill were owned by John Edmund Audley Harvey, who, though he lived in  London, was Lord of the Manor of Northill as well as Lord of the Manor of Ickwell and owner of Ickwell Bury. This building may have been built by a former Lord of the Manor or bought by the Manor at a later stage – detailed research of the Harvey [HY] archive would be needed to try to establish this, unless the current owners still have the deeds to the property concerned and so can research the history for themselves.

17 Ickwell Road was listed by the former Department of Environment in March 1985 as Grade II, of special interest. The department dated the property to about 1700, when the Bromsall family were Lords of the Manor of Northill. It is built from colour washed roughcast render over a timber frame and has a thatched roof over a single storey and attics, with a single-storeyed addition to the south gable end. A colour washed brick and slate outhouse block stands at the south gable end.

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. Northill was assessed in 1927 and the valuer visiting 17 Ickwell Road [DV1/C42/132] found it owned and occupied by Charles Brittain and standing in less an acre. Clearly the estate had sold the house since 1910, either at auction or by private treaty.

Accommodation comprised a living room, a kitchen and a bedroom downstairs with a bedroom upstairs. A coalshed and earth closet stood outside and water came from an outside tap.