Description

SP 9433-9533 WOBURN WOBURN PARK
8/191 Head Cowman's House,
immediately S of Park Farm
complex
GV II
Bedford Estate cottage. Probably erected c.1850 by the 7th Duke. Yellow
brick with ashlar dressings. Clay tiled roofs. 2 storeyed asymmetrical
plan. Loosely Tudor in style. E elevation: pair of projecting gables to
LH, each with 3-light window to ground floor and 2-light window to first
floor. These are mullioned, with cast iron lattice casements and are
surmounted by moulded dripstones. Gabled porch within angle at junction with
RH block. Cambered archway. Part glazed door. Dentil eaves cornice.
Stone coped gables with Kneelers and moulded finials. Chimney stacks between
2 gables and to ridge of RH block. Paired diagonal shafts with linked
moulded caps. Although having picturesque details this cottage belongs to
the more utilitarian phase of Bedford Estate building begun in the late 1840's
(and ending with World War I, by which time about 500 cottages had been built
in the locality). 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 workers' dwellings is remarkably high.
Both the form and the decorative details are similar to designs in the 7th
Duke's Plans and Elevations. The greater use of ornament is probably related
to the siting of the house near to the Park Farm complex in Woburn Park.
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
System of building Labourers' cottages pursued on the estates of His Grace the]
Duke of Bedford, n.d. but probably 1849.

Listing NGR: SP9596933191

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26607555

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version