23-27, Bedford Street

SP 9433-9533 8/92

WOBURN BEDFORD STREET (East side) Nos 23 to 27 (consecutive)

GV II Row of Bedford Estate cottages erected by the Seventh Duke of Bedford. Dated 1850. Red brick laid in a curious rat-trap bond. C20 tile roofs.

Two storeyed group arranged in a U shape. Symmetrical road elevation has four gables to centre. Ground floor has two three-light windows to centre and two two-light windows each to outer bays. First floor has one two-light window beneath each gable. All are cast iron lattice casements under slightly cambered heads. Red brick multiple ridge stacks.

The Seventh Duke of Bedford recognised the advantages of housing agricultural labourers in comfortable cottages. From the late 1840s onwards the emphasis in Bedford estate cottage building was on the utilitarian rather than the Picturesque. The cottages are not only remarkable for the high quality of construction at such an early date, but also represent an influential contribution to the development of working class housing, which culminated in garden cities and early council housing. The Dukes of Bedford constructed roughly 500 cottages in the locality between the late 1840s and World War 1.

This cottage group is a good early example of this building phase. It is similar to plans in the Seventh Duke's Plans and Elevations, and listed on p.99 of the Eleventh Duke's Great Agricultural Estate. The brickwork is of particular interest as an early form of cavity walling (cf. note from Charles Hacker in Plans and Elevations.)

The (7th) Duke of Bedford: Plans and Elevations of Cottages for Agricultural Labourers, London, 1850, a reprint of letter and plans sent to the Earl of Chichester, President of the 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: System of Building Labourers' Cottages pursued on the Estates of His Grace the Duke of Bedford, nd. but apparently 1849.

Listing NGR: SP9483533375