When they were built, the old cottages which have stood in North Waltham for centuries were the "elite" of the buildings in the village. Houses constructed of durable materials and which have lasted so well were usually the homes of the trades people, craftsmen and small farmers rather than the farm workers and general labourers. Initially, the majority of dwellings, put up to house the latter would have been built mostly of wood and these have long since disappeared. Few houses were privately owned but were leased on a "copyhold" system from the Bishop of Winchester. Someone with a little money would lease one or more cottages and then sub-let as a means of supplementing their income. Land too was leased in this way and the Tithe Map of 1840 gives a very clear picture of who the copyhold tenants were and who was actually living in the property or working the land concerned. Tracing the history of a building back to its origins is possible where such a system as this existed as each time a property changed hands, a charge was made, called a "fine" which was paid to the Bishop of Winchester and all these transactions were recorded. However, few properties were actually called by name so establishing which properties were being exchanged can be complicated as the descriptions are not always precise and for the earlier ones, the legal Latin of the day was used. The readability of the handwriting too varies from the easy to read to the almost illegible.

The oldest dwelling in North Waltham is almost certainly Rose Cottage in Yew Tree Road and parts probably date back some four hundred years or more. It is built of a cruck construction, typical of such early houses, and it has beams in it the size of the trees from which the framework was made. There is an exceptionally deep well under the kitchen floor and like most of the older cottages, it is thatched. The whole cottage is in a remarkably good state of preservation and must have had mostly caring owners for it to have survived as well as it has.

Many of the cottages which are now a single dwelling, were not built as such; some were originally built to house two or even three families. Yew Tree Cottage, Kite Abbey and Mary Lane Cottage are examples of these. Mary Lane Cottage, which was a semi-detached dwelling, must have made two very tiny homes, of a "one up, one down" type. Thatchings, which is in Church Road, beside the entrance to the Rectory, had a further two cottages leading along the alleyway to. the left, both of which have been demolished within living memory. Thatchings was at one tnne home to the village coal merchant. On the village green, where the bus shelter now stands, was a pair of thatched cottages, which were enclosed by a low wall. They were referred to as Island Cottages and they backed on to the forge and faced the pond. It is difficult to imagine how the proposed pub could have been built on the site of the forge as these cottages and gardens must have taken up quite a lot of the space.

Buildings evolve over time, and houses such as Street Cottage and Minty have subsumed the earlier cottages into the present ones, making extremely attractive "new" dwellings without demolishing the originals. Street Cottage was a small, four square brick built building whilst Minty, which was also very small, had a thatched roof. Extensions have been added to other properties; No 1 Yew Tree Road and No 1 Church Road are two examples and the new building work has been so skilfully carried out that the additions look as if they have always been there. The roofing on some houses has changed. For example, until relatively recently, Walnut Cottage which is now tiled had the traditional thatch for its roof, whilst No 2 Yew Tree Road was originally thatched, then after the neighbouring cottage burnt down, a very functional one replaced it and in the 1990s, it was re-thatched again.

Not all extensions and alterations are modern. Chalk Cottage has had two additions in its life, the first being not long after it was built when the old shop and bakery part adjacent to the road was added, and the second was an extension at the back which was built in Victorian times. The earlier parts are thatched, while the extension has a slate roof. Maidenthorne Cottage has had several alterations over the centuries. It is one of the older houses, as too is Camellia Cottage, which sold for £60 at the beginning of this century when it was called Victoria Cottage.

Some of the houses have dates on them. In some cases it was dated when the building was completed and in others, the house bears the date of a major repair or restoration. Blake Cottage has the date of 1695 on its chimney, Mary Lane Cottage has 1818, G Bone and Hook and Hatchet 1822 lB, AB, the initials of the builders

After the building of Pond View Cottages, during the last century, it seems there were few new houses put up until the l930s. Around the time of the Second World War, a whole row of very old cottages which stood next to the Chapel were condemned, pulled down and replaced by the development in Coldharbour which re-housed the Chapel Street inhabitants in modern homes. The loss of the cottages seems rather drastic by today's standards, as money, materials and enthusiasm permit the refurbishment of such buildings but a brand new home with all its benefits must have seemed a luxury to those used to living in poorly heated houses with no damp course and primitive sanitation. There used to be a row of labourers' terraced cottages at Corndell, not so old or "picturesque" as those in Chapel Street, but these too were taken down.

Farmhouses and farms were not enormous but were productive enough to provide a living for the owners and their employees. Batchelors, Grayshott and Church Farm were the smaller ones, whilst Manor Farm, North Waltham Farm and Folly Farms had more land and bigger houses. Holly Cottage had enough land for a few animals and Church Cottage was once the dairy for Church Farm. Perhaps the largest house in the village today, is The Old Rectory. This was built for the Rector in 1841 at a cost of £1,400 - a not inconsiderable sum in those days.

Houses, like the people who occupy them, come and go. Many have been adapted to suit changes in circumstances and North Waltham is fortunate that so many of its old buildings still survive today.

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First Posted March 2000 Copyright © Ann Lloyd 1998.

Acknowledgements