12 and 14 Bennets Lane

12-14 Bennetts Lane, Rowsham, Buckinghamshire, HP22 4QU

Building

Roofed and walled permanent structures.

Asset type

Ornate farm workers' cottages.

Age

Mid-19thC

Rarity

Unusually ornate for type and good example type

Architectural and Artistic Interest

Red brick with buff quoins. Buff brick shallow arched headers and quoins to windows (modern). Diagonal dentals and buff brick laddered stringcourse. Decorative chimneys.

Group Value

Part of a row of cottages and linked to numbers 20 and 22 (middle six cottages demolished and replaced with houses) Workers cottages for Hale Farm opposite

Historic Interest

Built on the site of Higgs Barn Farm (demolished early 19thC) to house the farm workers of Hale Farm 1841 census has several Straw Plaiters living in Bennetts Lane, though the exact addresses are not recorded, though it can be assumed they are the spinster female relatives of the farmworkers (married women supplementing the family income and child workers were not recorded as such). Catherine Higgs age 24 and Ellen Higgs age 16 Annie Badrick age 16, Ellen Badrick age 15 and Jane Badrick age 10 Kate Goldney age 22 and Mary A Goldney age 16 Plaiting was a reliable source of income for many of the wives and children of agricultural labourers at a time when opportunities were few and far between. (Wingrave and Rowsham Heritage Asociation)

10 Jan 2023

31 Jan 2024