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Coldharbour Farm Old Warden

Coldharbour Farm on a map of 1901
Coldharbour Farm on a map of 1901

Coldharbour Farm lies south of Park Wood, east of Warden Street and west of the village. It was listed by the former Department of Environment in March 1985 as Grade II, of special interest. The farmhouse was built by the Shuttleworth Estate in 1878 from mottled yellow brick with red brick dressings. It has a clay tiled roof with bands of fish scale tiles. The house is built in an L-shape and comprises one storey with attics.

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 Coldharbour Farm [DV1/H50/46] noted that Arthur Cooper leased it from the Shuttleworth Estate for £115 per annum; a figure raised 20% from the figure before the Great War. The farm comprised 83 acres.

The valuer commented: "Small Farm, handy to road, 1½ miles from Old Warden. No drinking water, have to carry from cottage ½ mile away. Part light land, part heavy. Rent seems high. One small cottage is attached to House. Tenant troubled with game". Another hand wrote, on 1st February 1927: "A very nice little farm. Rent low. Game may be a nuisance". He compared it with Manor Farm, also occupied by Arthur Cooper. which he considered "a much worse farm". Cooper also occupied Hill Farm, Southill and Stanford Mills]. This valuer also stated: "Note generally Warden Estate rents are much lower than Southill".

The farmhouse comprised a living room, a kitchen, a pantry, a scullery and a "small room", with three bedrooms upstairs. A small cottage was attached to house. The homestead was not large – just a wood and tiled granary, a barn, a cow shed, a six bay open shed with a lean-to at back, stabling for six, three pigsties, a hen houses and cart shed and a coal house.