6 Market Square Potton

6 Market Square February 2013

6 Market Square was listed by the former Ministry of Buildings and Public Works in October 1966 as Grade II, of special interest. This attractive property dates from the 18th century. It has a stucco front and weatherboard at the side, both over a timber-framed structure. It has a slated roof of an unusual type known as a gambrel. Evidently it escaped the ravages of the Great Fire of 1793.

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. Potton, like most of the county, was assessed in 1927. The valuer visiting 6 Market Square [DV1/C11/115] found it owned and occupied by Harbord Arthur Campling who, Kelly’s Directory for 1928 tells us, was a tailor.

The building was in a good decorative state and comprise, on the ground floor, a parlour measuring 11 feet 3 inches by 9 feet 6 inches, a living room measuring 12 feet 6 inches by 10 feet 9 inches and a scullery as well as the shop, in two sections, which measured 7 feet 6 inches by 14 feet 6 inches and 7 feet 6 inches by 13 feet 9 inches. A W. C. and a wood store were outside. First floor accommodation comprised a drawing room measuring 13 feet 6 inches by 13 feet and three bedrooms measuring 12 feet 6 inches by 11 feet 9 inches, 11 feet by 9 feet 9 inches and 12 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 6 inches.

Directories for Bedfordshire were not published every year but every few years from the early to mid 19th century until 1940. Kelly’s Directory for 1890 lists F. & H. Campling as tailors in the Market Square. All the rest – 1894, 1898, 1903, 1906, 1910, 1914, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1931, 1936 and 1940 list Harbord Campling.

Harbord Campling billhead [X704/92/13/4]