25 Church Road Wootton

25 Church Road May 2010

25 Church Road was listed by English Heritage in August 1987 as Grade II, of special interest. The older part is to the south-west and dates from the 17th century or early 18th century. This part of the structure is timber-framed with colourwashed roughcast render and comprises one storey and attics beneath a concrete tiled roof. The north-eastern part of the property is 19th century and built in red brick, slightly lower and with its original clay tiled roof. It, too, comprises a single storey with attics.

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. Like most of the county, Wootton was largely assessed in 1927 and the valuer visiting the property [DV1/C50/86] found it owned and occupied by Henry Juffs who was a baker.

The accommodation comprised a front room, a living room, a kitchen and a scullery with four bedrooms above. An earth closet and a barn stood outside and water came from a pump “good supply”. Also outside was a brick and tiled bakehouse measuring 18 feet by 22 feet, with a ten bushel oven, and a shop measuring 16 feet by 12 feet. The valuer summed up: “Very pleasant house and garden”. Another hand has written: “Low in front. High at back” and “Father bought it. Been here 43 years”.

Directories back up this assertion. Directories for Bedfordshire were not published every year but every few years from the early to mid 19th century until 1940. Henry Juffs is first listed in 1885 and last listed in 1924. By 1928 the business had been taken on by his son William Henry Juffs, who was still in occupation in 1940, the last directory for Bedfordshire.