Description

SP 9635
13/29

HUSBORNE CRAWLEY,
MILL ROAD,
No. 1 and detached outhouse

(Formerly listed under RIDGMONT ROAD)

22.1.86

GV II

Bedford estate cottage erected by the 7th Duke. Dated 1850. Red brick laid
in rat-trap bond. C20 tile roofs. Compact one storey and attics block. SE
elevation: RH slightly projecting gable, brick porch within angle. Gable has
one 2-light window per floor, LH block has one single light to ground floor.
All are cast iron lattice casements under slightly cambered heads. Porch has
4-centred archway. SW elevation: double gabled, each gable with one 2-light
lattice casement per floor. Cogged eaves cornices. Red brick double ridge
stack.
The 7th Duke of Bedford recognised the benefits 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. The cottages are remarkable for the high quality of construction
at such an early date. They represent 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 1840's and World War I. This cottage is typical of the
plain but substantial dwellings of the earliest phase in this building
programme, and is similar to designs in the 7th Duke's Plans and Elevations.
The brickwork is an interesting example of early cavity walling (cf note by
Charles Hacker in above work).
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: SP9615535721

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26407855

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

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)