23 High Street Thurleigh

23 High Street, January 2015

23 High Street is an attractive cottage. It was listed by English Heritage in August 1983 as Grade II, of special interest. The house was formerly a pair of cottages for the school mistresses. There was a school in Thurleigh as early as 1558 and a School End from at least 1604 but these cottages do not appear on the inclosure map of 1805 [ref: MA47/3] and so presumably post date it. The current school building was erected in 1876 but, sadly, we have no document dating the two mistresses' cottages.

The house is unusual for Thurleigh in being built of coursed limestone rubble which was subsequently colour washed. The structure comprises one storey and attics beneath a tiled roof (the current roof being of 20th century tiles). The left hand door was blocked in the 20th century when the pair of cottages was made into one dwelling.

The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 legislated that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed to determine its rateable value. Thurleigh, like most of the county, was assessed in 1927. At that date the cottage was still owned by the Local Education Authority and was inhabited by Miss Chandler whose rent was £13 per annum. She had a parlour, a living room, a kitchen and a passage on the ground floor with two bedrooms above. The valuer commented: "Very good".