WE thought we had bought an 18th- century house’, says one home-owner of his pretty, Grade listed, thatched cottage in countryfied southern England, ‘but were taken aback to find out our garden wall was once the end of a Victorian latrine.’ Recent research on his property acquired more than 15 years ago, uncovered an unlikely provenance—a compelling snippet of social history, not as a polite Georgian abode, but as one-time Poor Law Union lodgings, home to paupers crammed into a crude, rubble construction and set to work as laborers. The site was almost completely rebuilt in the mid 19th century and remodeled in modern times—unacknowledged in its formal listed-building description maintained by Historic England and apparently not referred to in sale details.
Occasional errors or omissions in the understanding of a house’s history are more likely to crop up when the investigation is prompted, often for planning purposes and listed building consent. However, the confidence that owners and potential buyers should have informal descriptions found in the National Heritage List for England or histories supplied with particulars, and what they can do about inaccuracies, is not always clear and appears to be legally untested. List entries, often written up as cursory details in older versions yet to be updated, are not meant to be meticulously detailed accounts.
Denne historien er fra June 02, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra June 02, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
