Golden Row Cottage Whipsnade

Golden Row Cottage in 1915 [Z214/3]

Golden Row Cottage stands adjacent to the former Methodist chapel and date from the 19th century. In December 1915 the second auction of Pedley Settled Estates land took place at the direction of the executors of Arthur Macnamara. The sale included 2,050 acres in Eaton Bray, Whipsnade, Totternhoe, Studham and Caddington as well as the Hertfordshire parishes of Markyate and Flamstead. Lot 8 in the sale particulars [Z214/3] was Golden Row Cottage, described as “a very attractive freehold cottage residence” standing in 2 roods, 6 poles.

The house, which had been three dwellings, was built of brick and flint with a slate roof. The first floor contained four bedrooms and the ground floor an entrance lobby, a dining room, a drawing room, a kitchen, a pantry, a washhouse and larder. There was a paved yard at the rear with a well and coal house, stick house and earth closet. There was a flower garden and paddock. The tenant was Miss Calvert who paid rent of £15 per annum.

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 on 14th December 1926 [DV1/C98/12] noted: “Was 4 [sic] cottages. Made very nice inside”.

The cottage was owned and occupied by H. Victor Milner, an artist who was in the process of building a studio. The ground floor accommodation comprised a hall measuring 10 feet by 11 feet, a sitting room measuring 11 feet 6 inches square, a dining room measuring 8 feet 6 inches by 11 feet , a kitchen measuring 10 feet by 11 feet , a pantry, a scullery and a W. C. Upstairs were four bedrooms measuring, respectively, 10 feet by 11 feet, 11 feet 6 inches square, 8 feet 6 inches by 11 feet and 10 feet by 11 feet. Outside stood a weather-boarded and tiled open fronted shed, earth closet and barn and a weather-boarded and tiled workshop.

Golden Row Cottage January 2009