Heritage Statement 4^th August 2016

Address

‘Rumbolds’
Wood End
Widdington
CB11 3SN

References
Date listed: 22 February 1980
English Heritage Building ID: 415916
OS Reference: TL53814331074
National Grid Reference: TL 53814 31074
Current owners contact details
Stuart and Catherine Robson

Descriptions
C17 timber-framed and plastered building. Renovated. One storey and attics. Leaded casement windows. Roof thatched, half hipped at the north and south ends, with 2 dormers and a central chimney stack’. (RCHM 13)
‘Grade II listed thatch cottage, of timber frame construction. Rendered externally. The property is one and a half storey comprising of four bays and a central stack.’

Written record from Mary Beard 10^th Oct 1988, owners 1970-1985 ‘The cottage dates back to 1624 and we had an idea it was probably built as one house. The specialist builders who did work on it for us thought the kitchen end was built first. In the early part of the century it was two cottages, one named ‘Rose Cottage’, the other ‘Thatched Cottage’, so Rumbolds wasn’t used until the Ruxtons possessed both cottages sometime after the second world war and from whom we brought it in 1971. We don’t know why it was called Rumbolds – there was a General Rumbold who camped in Saffron Walden during the Civil War, the only connection (if any), that we know of.’
Description in 1922 ‘Farmhouse with the dairy hen house barn and piggeries and other bldgs, yard and garden thrto belongg togr with the pasture adjoining contg in the whole estimation 2a more or less with the apptcs being pt of the heriotable tenement called Rumbolds.’

Land and curtilage

1925/1938 – Plan shows one building divided into two cottages with two barns/ outbuildings.
1941 – Plan shows one building divided into two cottages with the left cottage having a bathroom, sink and toilet extension 2m x 2m. A separate barn extends beyond the length of the back of the cottages.
1949 – Septic tank drainage plan from the bathroom extension and sink in kitchen.
1971 – A plan shows a single cottage, with an extension along the back of the cottage.

Owners from 1818

One property - John Holgate 1818 – last will and testament gives ‘Rumbolds’ to his son Matthew on condition that his wife can occupy the rooms called the House, the Parlour and two chambers over the same, the Little New Barn and garden.

Joseph Holgate sells two cottages with barns in 1925
Charlotte Binckes sells 1936
Thomas Pledger sells 1937
Albert Hayman sells 1938 ‘two cottages and two barns’
Lewis sells Ye Olde Thatch (south) to Lewis in 1938, then Wytch formally Chalfont Cottage (north) to Lewis in 1945

Parcel of land behind Rumbolds
Florence Holgate sells 1928
Morris Victor Ketteridge sells 1949
Irene Ruxton sells 1970 with house
Rumbolds – two separate cottages become one house again between 1945-70
Thomas and Irene Ruxton sells 1970
John and Mary Beard sells 1985
Alan and Shayne Done sells 1986
Doreen Robson sells 2015
Catherine and Stuart Robson -

Renovation

1945 - 1970 - A north staircase was replaced and modernised and a handrail was added to the south staircase. A modern kitchen was added on the south side of the house. A small washroom was added within an extension which has been linked to the cottage with the addition of a small door on the north east corner of the cottage. Two doors on the front west face of the cottage were removed and replaced by a door in the centre of the building. The cottage was pebble dashed. Exposed timbers in the downstairs of the house have been painted black.

1971 – Three downstairs brick floors were replaced by concrete/ impervious membrane and wooden parquet flooring. All defective wall and ceiling plaster was replaced or repaired. The small washroom extension was replaced by an extension housing a family bathroom with a separate toilet and sink, a sun room, a cloakroom and a utility room. Defective floorboards and joists were replaced on the first floor – evident with new beams on the ground floor in room two on the south side of the house. Oil tank installed and basic central heating was added downstairs. A double garage and store was erected. A steel beam that spans the 3^rd room on the north side of the house has been fitted and boxed in with timber. The back to back inglenooks and bread oven were extensively remodelled. Timbers were treated.

1985 – New oil tank installed
1988 – Concrete in north downstairs room replaced with a polythene membrane and screed. Plaster repaired in places. Central heating system extended to upstairs. Leaded glass panels repaired and new metal frames fabricated where needed. Pebble dash and rendering was repaired and the cottage was repainted using modern paint. Some parts of the sole plate at the south and south west were replaced. An outside bell drip around the cottage was added with a gravel soak away. The timber was treated. The cottage was re-thatched.
2000 – The thatch was re-ridged.
2012 – The thatch was re-ridged.
2016 – Patching of the thatch.
Areas of interest in the house Complete thatched roof Leaded casement windows, Uncut tie beam.

Two semi-detached cottages on north side of the entrance to the road leading to Newlands Farm, 1868 (CH Ms)
Cottages and premises at Widdington Essex, at top of Village opposite the Pond adjoining Rainer’s Pightle
No 526 on Tithe Map of 1840 and containing one Road purchased by Mr F Smith of Mr and Mrs Timoth (?) by Surrender dated 26 June 1867 and afterwards enfranchised by Deed dated 26 January 1879 (?) By Enclosure Award dated 9 November 1871 Allotment 61 awarded for Cow-right being part of 422 in Burgate Common Wells bit – and part of W 422 in New Tithe Map of 1873.
The Cottages are Widdington 526 on New Tithe Map of 1873. Old Mr Matthew Pryor at door. Just on a hundred year later they were ripped down

Jocks Wood House

We think the gamekeeper in the photo was Joe Banks.
I would like to thank the present owners of Jock's wood house for the following photographs and historical information. Also i would like to congratulate them for all their hard work transforming Jocks wood into a very stylish and beautiful home.
Dear Gary,
We think the gamekeeper in the photo was Joe Banks.
We were given the same photo years ago by an old boy who used to come out here for London for his holidays, who said he was Joe's nephew. He used to be driven in a Pony and Trap down our drive from the village. Then when George Pilkington ( who lived in Jock Farm) took down High Wood he ruined the track by taking all the timber out. By the time we came here it was unpassable and the only way to get a car to the house was over a level crossing from North Hall Rd and up through the wood. I got a bulldozer to clear it for us.
I am attaching a few more old photos. We think the one with the dead deer in the tractor bucket is of a chap called Fontaine who still used to cull deer around here when we arrived. Then there are some of the house as it was when we bought it, and after we had cleared around it.

Mr Fontaine, The Hunter

Here is a map given to me by Prof Oliver Rackham of Corpus Christi College Cambridge;

He mentions London Jock Wood in one of his books . Will send you brief note on its history too

1980