Chequers Cottages, Numbers 1 to 6 Inclusive and 3 Linked Rear Outhouses is a Grade II listed building in the North Hertfordshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 14 January 1977. Block of estate cottages. 3 related planning applications.

Chequers Cottages, Numbers 1 to 6 Inclusive and 3 Linked Rear Outhouses

WRENN ID
solemn-bonework-claret
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
North Hertfordshire
Constituency
Hitchin MP: Alistair Strathern (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
14 January 1977
Type
Block of estate cottages
Address
Chequers Cottages, Numbers 1 to 6 Inclusive and 3 Linked Rear Outhouses, Chequers Lane, Preston, SG4 7TY
OS grid reference
TL 179 249
Coordinates
51.91022, -0.28693
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: sale history · related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

A block of estate cottages and three linked rear outhouses was built in 1913 by E.L. Lutyens for H.G. Fenwick. The cottages are constructed of dark red brick in a Flemish garden-wall bond, with some blue bricks, and have light red brick dressings and arches. The first floor is tile-hung, and the steep-pitched roofs are covered in handmade red tiles. The block is two storeys high, facing east, and is symmetrical around a brick barrel-vaulted central passage, with projecting gabled crosswings at each end, and hipped-roofed lower projections at the ends and rear. Three hip-roofed, single-storey brick outhouses are symmetrically disposed at the rear, with round arched openings to the central passage, with one situated on the central axis of the block.

The east front has an irregular disposition of openings mirrored in each half, and six fat square chimneys run along the ridge, each with clasping corner pilasters and waisted caps, a design typical of Lutyens' work in the area. A large rectangular chimney with two square shafts linked by a recessed panel projects at the outer side of each crosswing. The roofs have bellcast eaves and swept tiled valleys. There are six vertically moulded plank doors in heavy wooden frames. Four six-light flush wooden casement windows are located under the eaves on the first floor, illuminating the staircase landing, with small panes of glass. Two-light similar windows are above the doors of the end houses, which also feature the crosswings.

On the ground floor, each side of the centre, there is a four-light flush casement window, a door, a pair of small leaded larder windows with a brick mullion and tile lintel and drip, a door, a pair of larder windows, and a two-light flush casement window, in addition to the door of the end house. The central round-headed gauged arch to the passage has recessed spandrels, red dressings to the jambs, and a two-light hipped dormer window rising through the eaves above. Each projecting crosswing gable has a four-light flush casement window central to the first floor, and a four-light and one-light casement window on the ground floor, around the outer corner.

Local climate

Chequers Cottages, Numbers 1 to 6 Inclusive and 3 Linked Rear Outhouses sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 720 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 82% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 76% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 60% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • Sale history — 3 transactions since 1996
  • Related listed building consents — 3 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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