Recent House History Commissions

Historic records confirmed this house was built between 1844 and 1847 by the fourth Baronet of Dynevor as a village bakery for his Bromham Hall estate.  When the Bromham Hall Estate went up for sale in 1924, the cottage was still serving as the village bakery. 

The house also served as a Wesleyan meeting house and The Band of Hope (a UK temperance movement) also held meetings there until the death of the baker, Mr Odell in 1912.

Interesting owners of the property were Frederick Unwin, who received an OBE, and the Charles Wells family (grandchildren of Charles Wells, the brewer) who purchased the property in 1936 and let the property to Ottoman Royalty during the Second World War.  

Tythe Farm gets its name from the term ‘tithe’, a term used to collect local contributions for the Church.  The land upon which this house was built had been owned by the church since 1838, and sometime before 1851 the Church built a house on the land which likely served as the focal point to collect tithes.

The first tenant was George Ward, who was a farmer of 118 acres. 

Historic valuations are one of the many sources that can be found for each property. In 1910 the house and lands, which then comprised 195 acres were valued at £2200.The Church sold off the house and lands, along with a further 130 acres of land in 1941 to Malcom Arthur Aeneus Mackintosh for £2800. 

The oldest part of this house dates back to c. 1650.  An unusual find for this house was that I was able to locate the house on an 1676 map of Hayes.  

The house was recorded on the map as it originally served as the wash and laundry house for the Haynes Park Estate. Its function as the wash-house was confirmed by the various census records for the property, along with the sales particulars for the wider Haynes Estate when it was sold off in various lots in 1914.  

When the house was valued as part of the 1925 Ratings and Valuation Act, the enumerator recorded “old cottage added to and completely altered. Lovely garden. Have made into a proper country cottage.” 

Historic records and architectural drawings were able to confirm this house was built 1907. When the house was built it had an inside scullery and coal room, and an outside WC. 

The house is unusual compared to other houses along the street, as it has a double length garden that extends to the street behind. 

A review of the owners and occupants record that the first owner was Harry Bowler who was the builder and a number of other houses along the street. Thus, he kept this house for himself, and instead of building houses on the bottom plot decided to build a garage instead. 

He must have liked it there as he lived in the house for over 20 years. The 1911 census for the property records that Mr Bowler and his family were living there with a domestic servant. This is interesting as Edwardian houses, unlike their larger Victorian predecessors had much less space to accommodate servants. Interestingly a review of the 1911 census for Shaftesbury Avenue records that the majority of residents along the street had servants.   .

 Russett Cottage is a Grade II listed house with a separate garage and annex. 

A search through historic estate records and maps found that the main house was originally two cottages, and the garage with annex was originally four cottages.

By 1865 the four cottages had been converted into house and shop. When the shop came up for sale in 1900 the sales particulars record it was sold to James Keep and his family who had been renting the property for 10 years. 

The Keep family remained at the property for another 50 years. A real gem was to find a photos of the garage when it was a shop in 1905.  

When Henry Addington inherited the estate of Henlow Manor in 1864 he set upon improving the lives of the working poor in Henlow and built a school and 24 houses. In 1881 he built a built a further eight cottages (comprising two blocks of four terraced houses) to commemorate his only son Thomas’s coming of age. A stone plaque, bearing the initials of his son T.A.E A was built into the cottages.

Three years after the cottages were built Henry died, and Thomas inherited the cottages and along with the rest of the Henlow Estate. Unfortunately, Thomas was a gambler, and by 1884, was he had gambled the entire family fortune away. He was declared bankrupt and the entire estate, including the cottages were sold

 The cottages were a typical Victorian 2 up, 2 down. When reviewing the occupants for the property, the 1891 census recorded William Johnson living there with his wife with his seven children!     

A social history of the occupants noted that the Cousins family lived at the property for over 67 years. The family very kindly provided some old photos of the property.