Willow Tree Cottage
Location/Address
West End Lane
Stoke Poges
SL2 4ND
Type
Description
Brick walls and thatch roof, detached house
Statement of Significance
Rarity
Few detached houses built in the period remain in Stoke Poges let alone ones with thatch roof. Other known detached thatch houses of much age in the Parish of Stoke Poges of Top Cottage and Little Chesters have non-designated heritage asset status without the significance of a famous person having lived in either property.Architectural and Artistic Interest
Brick painted white blending in well with the thatch roof. Set of three high casement windows over two storey to the front allowing natural light into the hall and landing.Historic Interest
Thought have been built in the 1930s at the time the widow, Mrs Mary Byrant of Stoke Park, Stoke Poges was selling off land in West End Lane. She was the wife of Wilberforce Bryant who was the joint owner of the nationally renowned, Bryant and May matches. Conditions placed on the sale of the plots of land in West End Lane were - “No factory, machinery, works or building of a nature likely to be detrimental to Stoke Park shall be erected or allowed on the land”. It was at the time when other homes were being built on similar plots in West End Lane such as the home which was adjacent, called, the Nonsense House. Post World War II, John Snagge, the famous English BBC Broadcaster, lived in the house having been residing in the 1930s at Old Cottage, Stoke Green, Stoke Poges and then at Knolton Lea, Church Lane, Wexham. He was well known in the village and in 1978 he was the special guest to open the Village Fete. Nationally he is better known as having been the voice on BBC from 1931 until 1980, commentating on the annual Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. Since 1928 he was one of the main announcers on the BBC. He was the BBC's presentation director and delivered important radio announcements, especially the announcement of the Normandy Landings.
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Date Listed
n/a
Last Updated
12 Apr 2023