36 Station Road Willington

36 Station Road about 1930 [X535/1]

36 Station Road was listed by the former Department of Environment in May 1984 as Grade II, of special interest. The department dated the property to about 1700. The cottage is of timber framed construction with colour washed brick infill and has a thatched roof, half-hipped to the north. The house comprises one storey and attics. 20th century additions lie to the north and the rear.

The cottage may have been built by a Lord of the Manor. Until 1731 the manor was owned by the Gostwick family, then the Dukes of Marlborough until 1779 when the manor was purchased by the Duke of Bedford. Alternatively the manorial estate may have bought the cottage 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] included both 34 and 36 Station Road in Lot 44, one of the cottages was evidently divided into two at that stage (Ordnance Survey maps suggest it was Number 34) because the particulars read:

Three Stud and Thatched Cottages

Numbers 37, 38 and 39, situated adjoining Croots Farm Premises, with brick tiled Hovels and extensive Gardens in the rear, being Number 58 on the Ordnance Survey Plan, and containing thereby

1 acre, 2 roods, 19 poles

The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every piece of land and building 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 36 Station Road [DV1/C154/79] found it numbered 39 The Village, owned by J. Bartrum and occupied by Mary Ann Offord who paid sixteen shillings rent every four weeks.

The cottage comprised a shop, living room, kitchen and two bedrooms in the roof. A weather-boarded and tiled barn stood outside. The valuer noted: “Licensed tobacco dealer”.

Directories for the county were published every few years by a number of sources. the most notable are Kelly's Directory. Below is a short list of occupiers of 36 Station Road, listed as "shopkeeper" as revealed by directories. Entries are not the beginning and end dates of tenure but the first and last time the name is noted in a directory:

• 1862 to 1885: Thomas Sale;
• 1890: Sarah Sale;
• 1894 to 1910: Joseph Sale;
• 1914: Mary Ann Sale;
• 1920 to 1940: Mary Ann Offord.

36 Station Road August 2010