58 Court Lane Stevington

Home Close Farm 1968 [Z50/112/28]

Home Close farmhouse, as it was then called, was listed by the former Department of Environment in July 1964 as Grade II, of special interest. It has a date stone of 1708 on the south gable end. The house, like many of the older houses in the area, is constructed of coursed limestone rubble. It has two storeys and an old clay tile 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. Stevington was assessed in 1926 and the valuer visiting 58 Court Lane  [DV1/A4/3B] noted that it was owned by Bedfordshire County Council and occupied by P. W. G. Keech, who had paid £11 per annum rent since 1923.

The house comprised two reception rooms, a kitchen and scullery with three bedrooms above and an earth closet, workshop and barn outside. Water had to be fetched from a well in an adjoining field fifty yards away.

Today [2009] the property is called Willow House.

Willow House 58 Court Lane December 2009