Description

SP 9432-9532 WOBURN LEIGHTON STREET
(North side)
9/121
- Nos.25 to 30 (consecutive)
and detached outhouse
block
- II
Row of Bedford Estate cottages erected by the 7th Duke. Dated 1851. Red
brick laid in a curious rat-trap bond. Clay tile roofs. 2 storeyed row.
Symmetrical road elevation in 6 bays, the 2 central and outer bays gabled, the
intervening bays each with a gablet. Ground and first floors each have 6
windows, all 2-light cast iron lattice casements under slightly cambered
heads. 4 plank doors under slightly cambered heads. Entrances to Nos. 25
and 30 are in side elevations and have gabled hoods on curved brackets.
Cogged eaves cornice. Red brick ridge stacks. The 7th Duke of Bedford
recognised the advantages of housing agricultural labourers in comfortable
dwellings. From the late 1840's onwards the emphasis in Bedford Estate
cottage building was on the utilitarian rather than the Picturesque, with the
early workers' cottages being remarkable for their high quality of
construction. The cottages can be seen as an influential contribution to the
development of working class housing, which culminated in the garden cities
and early council housing. The Dukes of Bedford built about 500 cottages in
the locality between the late 1840's and World War I. This row of cottages
typifies the plain but substantial dwellings of the earliest phase in this
building programme, and has similarities with designs in the 7th Duke's Plans
and Elevations. The brickwork is of particular interest as an early form of
cavity walling (of note in above work from Charles Hacker).
The (7th) Duke of Bedford: Plans and Elevations of cottages for Agricultural
Labourers, London, 1850 (reprint of letter and plans sent 1849 to Earl of
Chichester, President of Royal Agricultural Society); the (llth) Duke of
Bedford: A Great Agricultural Estate, being the story of the Origin and
Administration of Woburn and Thorney, London, 1897; Rev C H Hartshorne: The
System of building Labourers' cottages pursued on the estates of His Grace the]
Duke of Bedford, n.d. but probably 1849.

Listing NGR: SP9455932969

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26407824

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living