18 Market Square Potton

18 Market Square February 2013

18 Market Square was listed by the former Ministry of Public Buildings and Works in October 1966 as Grade II, of special interest. The property dates from the 18th century, with 19th century alterations. It may date to 1783 or shortly thereafter as many properties in the Market Square were damaged by the Great Fire of Potton in that year. The building is constructed from red brick and comprises two storeys and attics beneath a slate roof.

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 18 Market Place [DV1/C12/79] found, then as now, that it was Tysoe and Son, owned and occupied by Henry Tysoe, ironmonger. The shop measured 33 feet by 17 feet 6 inches with a back area measuring 13 feet 6 inches by 22 feet. Also on the ground floor were a dining room measuring 14 feet 6 inches by 11 feet, a kitchen, a scullery, a washhouse, coal shed and W. C. and a glass house. The first floor contained a drawing room measuring 20 feet by 16 feet and three bedrooms measuring, respectively, 13 feet 3 inches by 16 feet, 13 feet 3 inches by 15 feet and 13 feet by 15 feet; there was also a W. C. and lavatory basin. The second floor comprised four disused attics. Outside were a brick, wood and tiled warehouse and a wood and corrugated iron hovel. The valuer was not particularly impressed, commenting: “Shop bad – not enough show. House very old – bad upstairs”.

Even today [2013] the business is named Tysoe and Son though, as the billhead below shows, the business was later in the ownership of someone outside the immediate family. The business has deep roots as it is first listed in a directory of 1885. Until 1906 Tysoe and Son is described as a cycle maker as well as an ironmonger.

G Tysoe bill head [X704/92/66/3]