Seacots Lodge March 2008

Seacots Lodge seems to fit more with Old Warden than with Southill but is in the latter parish. It was listed by the former Department of Environment as Grade II, of special interest and dates from the early 19th century in the cottage ornée style favoured by the Third Baron Ongley for his estate cottages in Old Warden. This suggests that it was built by the Ongley Estate, though it was later owned by the Whitbread Estate. The lodge is partly built from brick and partly of rough-cast, perhaps over a timber frame - the exterior walls are painted in the same cream paint as the cottages in Old Warden.

In 1927 Southill was valued under the Rating Valuation Act 1925; every piece of land and building in the country was assessed to determine the rates to be paid on it. The valuer visiting Seacots Lodge [DV1/C32/86] noted that the house was owned by the Whitbread Estate and occupied by S.T.Smith

The cottage stood in just under a quarter of an acre and comprised a parlour, kitchen and scullery with a copper for heating water; two bedrooms were upstairs; outside was a wood shed and a tool shed. The valuer commented: Bedrooms in roof; pretty; on a corner; cream coloured paint".