Homewood Lodge - 29 Bedford Road Northill
29 Bedford Road March 2010
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 Manor of Northill as well as Lord of the Manor of Ickwell and owner of Ickwell Bury.
Homewood Lodge was listed by the former Department of Environment in February 1976 as Grade II, of special interest. The department dated the property to the late 19th century and so it was, more than likely, built by the Harveys. The house is built in red brick, formerly partly exposed but now completely rendered, the first floor having applied timber framing and two panels of fishscale tiles. The clay tile roof also has bands of fishscale tiles. The original block is a two storeyed L-plan, and jettied at first floor in the Jacobean style. There are 20th century two storeyed additions to the rear.
The Ickwell Bury Estate was sold at auction on 1924. The sale particulars [AD1147/16] describe 29 Bedford Road as follows:
LOT 41
A Half-timbered Dwelling House
known as
“Bedford Lodge”
AND AREA OF WOODLAND
2 a. 1 r. 24 p.
The Dwelling House in Brick Built and Tiled
with gabled roof, having a Loggia Entrance supported on Oak pillars with dwarf (Oak) balcony rails.
It contains: - Two Sitting Rooms, Kitchen and Pantry with three Bed Rooms.
Brick and Timber Built and Tiled Out Offices.
Company’s water. Large Good Garden.
The WOODLAND contains some well-matured Oaks of good dimensions.
Let to Mr. M. HUMPHRIES on a Yearly, June 24th, Tenancy, subject to one month’s notice.
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 Homewood Lodge [DV1/C44/137] found it owned by the Shuttleworth Estate and tenanted by Miles Humphries, who paid rent of £10 per annum, which had been set in 1915.
Accommodation comprised a reception room, a living room, a kitchen and scullery combined and a pantry with two bedrooms and an attic above. Mains water was laid on. The property stood in a quarter of an acre and had a small garden as well as a washhouse, barn and earth closet outside. The valuer remarked: “Very pretty. White roughcast and half timber, was a lodge".