Description

LAVENDON

90/2/49 HIGH STREET
03-NOV-77 (East side)
1
Haddon Cottage
HIGH STREET
(East side)
3
The Old Deanery

(Formerly listed as:
HIGH STREET
1
HADDON COTTAGE)
(Formerly listed as:
HIGH STREET
3 & 5)
(Formerly listed as:
HIGH STREET
1
Haddon Cottage)
(Formerly listed as:
HIGH STREET
3 & 5
The Old Deanery)

GV II
Mid-C17 four-bay house, later extended and subdivided into three cottages (now two properties).

MATERIALS: Limestone rubble, with brick chimneys and one C20 first-floor extension to rear, thatched roof.

PLAN: Four bays with principal stack in bay 2 against former cross-passage; rear extensions off both ends. Originally a single property, later subdivided into three cottages; now two properties.

EXTERIOR: Standing parallel with, and set only slightly back from the High Street frontage, the cottages stand opposite the east end of St Michael's, Lavendon's medieval parish church (listed Grade I). No. 1 High Street comprises the single left-hand bay (seen from the front), No. 3 the remainder of the building. The building is of local rubble limestone, roughly coursed, and is of four bays and two storeys. The roof is thatched, with brick chimney stacks rising on the ridge line at either end and also slightly left of centre. There is now one door to the front (in bay 2), giving access to No. 3 High Street via a former cross passage (the far end blocked but former door legible in exterior fabric and shown in mid-C20 photograph); the fabric reveals no evidence of any other front door. No. 1 is now accessed from the rear, although there is a blocked C19 door in the side elevation. Windows to the front are three-light casements, other than above the door where there is a small two-light one and those of No. 1 which have recently been replaced. To the rear there are multi-phase extensions, principally two-storey, stone and thatched, to either end of the building (the exception being a mid-C20 brick first floor to part of the rear extension to No. 1, which is not of interest). The two outside corners to the principal extensions at either end (perhaps C18) both have slightly rounded corners (almost certainly original features) with decorative head-stones to them, to give easier access to the rear for vehicles. The extensions have multiple blocked former openings, suggesting a complex structural history which the modern interior finishes largely conceal.

INTERIOR: Internally the main range parallel with the road has three rooms in-line (bays 1, 3, and 4) with a chimney-cross passage comprising bay 2. The chimney's large open fireplace heats the former parlour (bay 3). Bay 1 (the modern No. 1 High Street) has an inserted fireplace against its gable wall, and an inserted stair (C20) in the single front room. There is also an inserted corner fireplace which previously heated No. 5 High Street. The first-floor of No. 3 is reached via a staircase in the first phase of its rear extension. Internally there is very little early fabric other than three crude plank doors upstairs in No. 3.

HISTORY: It is reported that there is map evidence to indicate the house was present by, or built in, 1654, and our inspection would seem to confirm a C17 date for the building's construction. In 1979, as for long previously, the building comprised three separate cottages, Nos. 1, 3 and 5 High Street. In that year the centre and right-hand properties (Nos. 3 and 5) were brought together as a single house (now No. 3), and that remains the case today (2007).

SOURCES: R. Brunskill, Traditional Buildings of Britain (1992 edn), 48-53.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: Nos. 1 and 3 High Street, Lavendon, are designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* A relatively well-preserved example of a local C17 house type, whose fabric tells of its later history as three cottages.
* It has group value with nearby C17 and C18 listed buildings on the High Street and the listed medieval church.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26507520

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

• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings