12 Market Place Woburn

11 and 12 Market Place May 2012

12 Market Place was listed by the former Ministry of Works in October 1952 as Grade II*, a particularly important building of special interest. It was formerly numbered as 5 High Street. The property dates from the early 18th century, perhaps a replacement for a building destroyed in Woburn’s great fire of June 1724. The shop front is reckoned to date from the late 18th century. The building is constructed from red brick; the walls are darker red, with many vitrified headers, the detailing is in lighter red brick. The shallow pitched roof is slated. The building comprises three storeys and, at the time of writing [2013] is Woburn Fine Arts.

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. Woburn, like much of the county was valued in 1927 and the valuer visiting 12 Market Place [DV1/C137/113] – then numbered 5 High Street, found it owned, like most of Woburn, by the Duke of Bedford’s London and Devon Estates Company. The tenant was J. Harry Rogers who, the valuer noted, was the schoolmaster and his rent was paid by Bedfordshire County Council.

Accommodation comprised a living room and a kitchen with a bay measuring 15 feet 3 inches by 1 feet 6 inches on the ground floor. The first floor contained a bedroom and a reception room and two more bedrooms lay on the second floor. Outside stood a washhouse, barn and W. C. The valuer commented: “2nd floor good” but “No garden, on road”. He also stated: “Was shop. 3 Dummy Windows”. In late 2016 12 Market Place became a vintner's - Woburn Wine Cellar.