Chigwell House - 2 Horslow Street Potton

2 Horslow Street February 2013

Chigwell House was listed by English Heritage in November 1986 as Grade II, of special interest. It is an 18th century house, reworked in the following century. It is built of red brick and has clay tiled roofs. The main block comprises two storeys and attics and stands gable end on to the road. A later two storey addition borders the road.

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 much of the county, was assessed in 1927. The valuer visiting Chigwell House found it owned and occupied by Frederick Bernard Saville. The house stood in just under one acre and was connected to the local gas installation.

The ground floor comprised: an entrance hall; a drawing room measuring 16 feet by 15 feet; a dining room measuring 18 feet by 15 feet; a large kitchen; a scullery and a coal shed. The first floor contained a bathroom with a lavatory basin and four bedrooms measuring, respectively, 14 feet 6 inches by 12 feet, 16 feet 6 inches by 16 feet 3 inches, 10 feet 6 inches by 14 feet and 17 feet 6 inches by 14 feet 9 inches. The second floor contained two maids’ attics. Outside stood: a wood shed; a brick and corrugated iron potting shed; a glass house; a large wood and corrugated iron cart shed; a former army hut used for stores and an old wood and slate thee stall stable now used as a potato store. There was a large lawn and garden.

Directories for Bedfordshire were not published every year but every few years from the early to mid 19th century until 1940. Kellys Directory lists Frederick Barnard Saville at the address in 1924, 1928, 1931, 1936 and 1940. Only one other directory, 1894, mentions the house specifically and gives the occupier as Charles James Pope.