Windmill Lodge Shillington

Windmill Lodge July 2015

The property known as Windmill Lodge was a doctor's surgery in the first part of the 20th century. 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 the property [DV1/C75/33]found that it stood in nearly half an acre, was owned by D Simkins and occupied by  Dr C W Cassell at a rent of £65 per annum.

The valuer noted the "Rotten position". The property comprised: a small entrance lobby, a hall measuring 16 feet by 7 feet 6 inches; a sitting room measuring 14 feet by 20 feet; a scullery; a kitchen measuring 11 feet by 18 feet; a store place; a coal place; a larder; a small sitting room measuring 13 feet by 10 feet; the surgery measuring 11 feet 6 inches by 12 feet; the consulting room measuring 12 feet 6 inches by 13 feet 6 inches; the dispensary measuring 8 feet by 14 feet; a billiard room measuring  21 feet by 26 feet and a dining room measuring 14 feet by 17 feet. U[stairs were: a double bedroom over the drawing room and measuring 20 feet by 17 feet; a small bedroom over the kitchen; a tank room; a landing measuring 12 feet square; a single bedroom; a double bedroom over the billiard room measuring 32 feet by 11 feet; a bedroom over the consulting room measuring 11 feet 6 inches square; a bathroom ("very poor") and a bedroom over the dining room measuring 16 feet by 9 feet. An attic lay on the second floor. Outside were seven store sheds (a later hand noting "gone"), two hovels (again later noted as "gone"), a garage, two barns and two henhouses. The valuer commented: "very badly planned house, no redeeming features, no conveniences, doctor the only person to pay the rent".

Directories for Bedfordshire were not published every year but every few years from the early to mid-19th century until 1940. The occupiers of the premises are noted as being:

• Thomas Poulter, cattle dealer – 1885;
• Matthew Poulter, castrator – 1890, 1894, 1898, 1903;
• Dr Killham Roberts – 1906, 1910, 1914, 1920, 1924;
• Harman Fitzmaurice Lawrenson - 1931