16 Chapel Lane February 2010
16 Chapel Lane was listed by the former Department of Environment in May 1984 as Grade II, of special interest. The department dated the property to the 18th century. It is timber framed with partly colour washed brick infill and partly colour washed plaster infill. The cottage has a thatched roof, hipped to the west end and has one storey. To the right of the door is a lean-to timber framed addition with an old clay tile roof. The cottage may have been built by the Lords of the Manor of Willington. In the 18th century these were the Gostwick family until 1731 then the Dukes of Marlborough until 1779 and then the Dukes of Bedford. Alternatively the cottage may have been acquired by the manorial estate at a later date.
In November 1903 then Lords of the Manor, George and James Keeble, put the Willington Manor Estate properties in the village up for sale by auction. The sale particulars [X403/3] listed 16 Chapel Lane as part of Lot 33 – the description of the whole lot being:
An Allotment Field
Adjoining the Chapel, with frontages to Chapel Road and Croots Road [now Station Road], with STUD AND THATCHED COTTAGE (Number 31) at the east end and boarden tiled Barn, being part Number 73 on the Ordnance Survey Plan, and containing
2 acres, 8 poles
OR THEREABOUTS.
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. Willington, like most of the county, was assessed in 1927 and the valuer visiting 16 Chapel Lane, then numbered 31 The Village [DV1/C154/53] found it owned by Mark Young, who had bought a number of properties from the Willington Manor Estate in the auction of 1903, and occupied by L. Webb who paid rent of 3/6½ per week.
The cottage stood in just over half an acre and comprised a living room, parlour, kitchen and scullery and three bedrooms above. A weather-boarded and tiled washhouse stood outside as did two old barns.
In May 1948 Mark Young’s executors sold his Willington properties at auction. The sale particulars [PK1/4/178] described 16 Chapel Lane as Lot 21, as follows:
BRICK, PLASTER AND THATCHED
COTTAGE
Situate near Station Road, Willington
In the occupation of Mrs. Webb, with large Garden, containing Living Room, Kitchen, Scullery and 2 Bedrooms, brick and pantile Barn and brick and slated Closet, producing a
RENTAL OF £8:10:0 PER ANNUM
The Landlord pays the Rates
Water is obtained from a Well
The Outbuildings are claimed by the tenant.
The particulars are annotated to show that the property was bought by one of the Godber family. He paid £370, reserve having been £100.