Pear Tree Cottage - 153 Bedford Road Wootton

Pear Tree Cottage with Mrs Crawley about 1920 [Z50/136/21]

Pear Tree Cottage was listed by English Heritage in August 1987 as Grade II, of special interest. This timber-framed structure dates from the 18th century and has a colourwashed roughcast render and a pantiled roof. The cottage has three bays of which the one on the right-hand side is a later addition.

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/C51/14] found it owned and occupied by F. Crawley.

Accommodation comprised a living room and a kitchen and pantry downstairs with two bedrooms above. Two barns and an earth closet stood outside. The valuer commented: “Very fair cottage”. Water came from a well and there was “no garden”. There was, however, a slaughterhouse measuring 14 feet by 10 feet. Clearly a butcher had lived there some years before.

153 Bedford Road March 2012