Description

SP 9433-9533 WOBURN WOBURN PARK
8/189 Nos. 3 and 4 Park Farm
Cottages
GV II
Pair of Bedford estate cottages. Probably erected by the 7th Duke in the
later 1840's. Red brick with ashlar dressings. C20 tile roofs.
Asymmetrical plan, one storey and attics. Picturesque Tudor style. 2 and
3-light mullioned windows, with cast iron lattice casements and moulded
dripstones. W and E elevations have gabled porches with moulded 4-centred
arches and stone coped gables with finials. Ashlar quoins to all angles.
Variety of chimney stacks, one projecting from N elevation, others to ridges.
Paired diagonal shafts with moulded bases and caps. Dentil cornices to
eaves.
Although Picturesque in detail, these cottages also belong to the
'utilitarian' phase of Bedford Estate building begun in the late 1840's (and
ending with World War I, by which time approximately 500 cottages had been
built in the area). The 7th Duke had been one of the first to recognise the
advantages of housing agricultural labourers in dwellings which were
comfortable and practical rather than purely ornamental, and the
constructional quality of these early buildings is remarkably high. The
ornamental detailing may be partly due to the siting of the building within
Woburn Park near the Park Farm complex, and has similarities with that in plan
7 of the 7th Duke's Plans and Elevations).
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 (11th) 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
systen of building Labourers' cottages pursued on the estates of His Grace the]
Duke of Bedford, n.d. but probably 1849.

Listing NGR: SP9575233296

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26407841

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

• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2