Preston’s Cottages: the south side of Preston Green
The Red Lion
1663 - John Ritches taxed for two hearths.
1664 - owned by John Ritches, snr. - ‘one tenement and orchard with three acres of pasture. Rent
18/-.
1673 - owned by John Ritches, jnr.
? - owned by Leonard King.
1704 - owned by Edward and Mary Swain (a messuage and three acres of pasture).
1714 - ‘Survey of Rents’ - owned by Edward Swain, previously Leonard King: Rent 18/-
1761 - ‘Survey of Rents’ - owned by Edward Swain.
1771 - owned by Stephen Swain
1793 - Stephen Swain adds an acre to the property from house on corner of School Lane and
Preston Green.
1795 - mortgaged to Kimpton farmer, Edward Bruton, for £500
1811 - mortgaged to Hitchin grocer, John Witney for £60.
1811 - sold to Joseph Saunderson for £290. He mortgaged the property to John Witney for £500.
1829 - mortgaged to Joseph Margetts Pierson and Henry Crabbe (of Temple Dinsley) for £200.
1833 - left to Harriet Saunderson (nee Swain), Joseph’s wife. The cottage now included a shop -
Harriet Saunderson was described as a ‘beer retailer in 1832’.
1844 - known as ‘The Lion’.
1847 - owned by William and Emma Brown.
1871 - owned by Emma Brown on death of husband, William.
1897 - owned by Luton brewers, John Green.
1962 - owned by Whitbreads
1982 - owned by the villagers of Preston.
(Note: The roof line of the Red Lion and the colour of its bricks indicate that there was a small cottage
added to the main building to the left as viewed. As the rental value of the property was constant since
1664, this may indicate that the smaller cottage was also erected before this time and owned by John
Ritches.)
1851 – Charles Swain
1861 – William Brown
1864 – Ebeneezer Foster
1865 – Mr Maxey
1869 – Charles Brown
1875 – Alfred Chalkley
1876 – Simeon Leete
1877 – Jonathan Richardson
1879 – William Olney
1881 – William Dalton
1885 – Alfred William Oliver
1885 – John Howland
1889 – Mrs Catherine Martin
1890 – Christopher Cattel
1992 – Edward Royal Tyzack
1893 – Robert Charles Tranfield
1894 – Douglas Wells Eley
1896 – John Kelly Elgar
1898 – Clement Edward Wightman
1910 – Charles Timothy Anderson
1913 – Herbert Lawrence
1915 – Samuel Hall (Link: S Hall)
1920 – James Edward Hedley
1944 – Mrs Martha Hedley
1945 – Frederick Stevens
1947 – Alfred J and Kate Massey
1971c – Godfrey and Lilian, then Nita King
1980 – Ernest Mole
1982 – John Gallacher (Link: Gallachers)
1983 – Roy and Cathy Hart
1984 – John Martin
1986 – Alex and Carole Korodi
1996 – Philip Cross
2001c – Timothy H and Jane Hunter
Today – Ray and Jo Lambe
Known owners of the Red Lion
Known licensees/managers of the Red Lion
Historical descriptions of the Red Lion
1847
An old established public house substantially built with two sitting rooms, shop, taproom, kitchen,
excellent cellarage and five bed rooms. It had numerous outbuildings, a plentiful supply of water, a
productive garden with fruit tree and two enclosures of pasture measuring 4½ acres.
1898
A brick slated house with cellars, bar, taproom, parlour, kitchen, scullery, three bedrooms, two attics,
and a wood and thatched barn.
1980c
Red brick darker with random blue headers in Flemish-bond and light red dressings and gauged
arches to older part. Steep old red tile roof half-hipped at east end. Slate roof to C18 added rear lean-
to. A two-cells, two-storeys, cellar and attics house facing north with later separate one cell east
house. Original house has symmetrical north front with chamfered plinth, plat-band and wooden
modillioned eaves cornice. Moulded brick corbels to ends of cornice. Three windows long with central
entrance. Recessed sash windows with 6/6 panes and flat gauged arches. Four-panels flush beaded
door in heavy frame with small rectangular fanlight, two steps, and flat hood. East part has plat-band,
one first floor recessed sash window with flat arch. Half-glazed four-panels flush-beaded door under
cambered arch with canted bay window with casements to left hand. Rear corner fireplace and south-
west chimney added to west room: external rear wall fireplace and chimney to east house. Difficult to
determine original method of heating older house, probably a large internal central chimney with stair
to rear, removed entirely and new stair put in later. First recorded as selling beer in Piggotts Directory
of 1832.
There is an in-depth article about the history of the ‘Red Lion’ at this link: Red Lion. However,
it has emerged that the building is older than was once thought
(see link: Antiquity of the ‘Red Lion’).
Whilst the first specific reference to a public house being there was in 1832, when the building
was advertised for sale in 1847, it was described as an ‘old established public house’
Three cottages on the south side of Preston Green
Maps of the south side of Preston Green: top, left - 1811; bottom, left - 1844 and right - 1898
Right to left: Kenwood Cottage, The Club House and Laburnum Lodge (3761)
Kenwood Cottage
‘Kenwood Cottage’ was built in the
middle of the nineteenth century,
probably by the Dartons. It is a two
storey cottage constructed in red
brickwork with a hipped slate roof. Its
name is an echo of its builder, William
Kenwood.
In 1910, it had a living room, kitchen, scullery and two
bedrooms. It had a wood and slated barn. It was owned
by TG Fenwick of Temple Dinsley and in ‘good repair’
Occupiers:
1871 - 1881 William Jenkins (a farm labourer. the cottage
had four rooms)
1891 - Elizabeth Burgess (a retired grocer)
1910 - W Hare
1911 - 1915c Arthur Wilson White
1951 - William Charles (to 1997) and Elizabeth Evelyn
(Betty) Palmer (to 2009)
The Club House and Laburnum Lodge
It is difficult to determine when The Club House and the adjacent Laburnum Lodge were built. A
survey in 1973 recorded that they were both constructed in the seventeenth century (indeed there is
a spine beam in Laburnum Lodge on which the date ‘1653’ is inscribed (but this may not originally
have been part of this building).
The evidence of the manorial records is somewhat vague, but the ownership of the two properties
appears to rest with the Joyner family for more than a century until 1794. (It is hard to construct a
Joyner family tree as many were Baptists and their births and burials do not therefore appear in the
parish registers of St Mary’s, Hitchin). The Joyners (somewhat appropriately) were carpenters and
wheelwrights and it may be that a Daniel Joyner - the first person associated with the two properties -
was their builder.
The two homes are not recorded in the 1664 Survey of Temple Dinsley but are mentioned in 1713
and in the Survey of 1714, when they had a combined rent of 1/-. By then, they had been passed
from Daniel to his son, John Joyner. Thus, the manorial record suggests that the two homes were
built between 1664 and 1714 - possibly towards the end of the seventeenth century.
John Joyner, a cordwainer of Hitchin, bequeathed the property as follows in 1732 (summarised): I
give my wife, Woolmerdine, my three freehold houses, heretofore but one cottage and orchard situate
and being at Preston in the parish of Hitchin in the occupation of Anne Serjeant and Elizabeth Heath
and now or late of John Cain, Widow Anscin (sic) and Thomas Barker. After my wife’s death, I give
the cottages to my brother, Daniel Joyner.
The Club House: 1797 - 1911
Daniel Joyner died in 1797 and left The Club House to
Elizabeth, the wife of John English, manorial rent 6d.
The Preston Survey of around 1811 and the Temple
Dinsley Survey of 1816 show John English as the
owner/occupier of ‘The Club House’, but Elizabeth
English died in 1822 and three years later, in 1825,
Daniel Wilstead (aka Wilson) was the occupier though
the owner was still, ‘English’ - by the 1830’s the cottage
was owned by Joseph English. In 1844, he was renting
it to William Sharpe and then four years later, to
Thomas Sharpe. (Link: English)
In 1871, the miller, Amos Sheppard, and his wife
Elizabeth were living in the cottage - and they
continued to live there until the first years of the
twentieth century. During this period, The Club House
was also home to several Preston school mistresses,
including Elizabeth Hunt.
I refer to this cottage as The Club House - however, the
f
first ‘Club House’ at Preston was along Church Lane. The meeting venue had been changed to the
property at Preston Green by 1910 when it was owned by H G Fenwick and described as a brick,
slated and tiled cottage, used as a club room. (Link: Club House)
Laburnum Lodge, aka (from 2014) Joyners Cottage
In 1797, Daniel Joyner bequeathed Laburnum Lodge to Sarah, the wife of James Andrews. Like The
Club House, it had a manorial rent of 6d. (Link: Andrews) The Rates Book of 1806 and the Preston
Survey of around 1811 show James Andrews as both the owner and occupier of Laburnum Lodge but
by 1825, the property had been purchased by the Dartons and its tenant was Thomas Winch, who
was still residing there in 1851 (‘past work’ and depending on the parish).
When the Temple Dinsley Estate was sold in 1873, Laburnum Lodge was occupied by the families of
farm labourers, James Jenkins and Joseph Harvey. In 1881, Amos Smith (carpenter and son of
Daniel Smith, the grocer who lived at Fig Tree Cottage) and his family resided at Laburnum Lodge.
This home had more than five rooms. Amos died in 1887 aged 38 and his widow, Louisa, opened the
Post Office at her home (see photo below). However, by 1901 she had moved to Bedford. By 1884, a
weather-boarded barn had been added to the west end of the cottage (see below) which was not
shown in the Sales Particulars of 1873. By 1901, the post office was at Spindle Cottage on the Hitchin
Road and the horse keeper, Thomas Peters, was living at Laburnum Lodge with his family.
By 1910, the tenancy had passed to the gardener, Joseph Peters (69). His daughters, Bertha and
Annie, were also living there and this was to be their home until the late 1960’s. RDV Pryor was now
the owner. He had built The Laburnums (aka Pryor House) in the 1890’s. It is probable that during this
decade, Laburnum Cottage was so christened, which indicated its connection with The Laburnums. In
1910, it was described as a ‘brick and tiled cottage with two living rooms, a kitchen, scullery and three
bedrooms’ and as being in ‘fair condition’. The barn was noted as ‘wood and corrugated’.
Soon after 1910, the barn was demolished and a new cottage added to the west end of Laburnum
Lodge - as can be seen from the photograph below.
For at least the last six decades, The Club House and Laburnum Lodge have existed as one
composite property. Occupiers:
1951 - 1966 - George W and Bertha E (nee Peters) Nash and Annie Christobel Peters.
1971 - George Nash alone
1981 - Anthony C and Anne P Field and Jennifer L Relph
1987 - 1991 - Lindsay R and Carol M Baines
In 1973, The Club House was described as: ‘C17 and later; one storey and attics; red brick gable end
to front; band below gable and above ground floor; wood casements in cambered heads; roof tiled.
Laburnum Lodge: C17 and later; timber-framed and rough-cast plaster; one storey and attics; two
gabled dormers; roof tiled; including C19 cottage adjoining to the west, all now one cottage.
Laburnum Lodge has recently been described thus: “House. C17 or earlier, east cross-wing c.1700,
higher west part C19 (Note: query - see above. Rather post 1910). Timber frame rough-cast.
crosswing in plum brick irregular Flemish-bond with many blue headers and red/blue segmental
arches. Steep old red tile roofs. A T-shaped house of 1½ storeys facing north. Lobby entrance beside
chimney at junction with east cross-wing now altered to window and entrance into west extension.
Later internal west gable chimney before west extension which itself has an internal west gable
chimney. Irregular north front with two windows to centre and a third narrower window in blocked
doorway on left. Small-panes casement windows throughout. two gabled dormer windows at eaves,
the left hand one projecting a little over top of what appears to have been a projecting bay window.
Large T-plan chimney in narrow brick with bold corbelled cap. Brick east wing has steep front gable
with moulded gable parapet on corbelled kneelers, plat band, and low plinth. Moulded cavetto band
over two-lights first floor casement with deep segmental arch. Similar window to ground floor with
similar arch over door on left with plank door and heavy frame. West extension higher but still 1½
storeys with flat topped three-lights dormer at eaves. Three-lights casement below, and plank door to
left under gabled tiled hood on curved brackets. East side of cross-wing has plat-band stepping up
over segmental arch of window to rear part, blocked doorway, and blocked window to front part. Large
internal south gable chimney to east wing.”
Recent side and rear views of Laburnum Lodge/Joyners Cottage
Pryor House aka The Laburnums
The Laburnums was built by Ralston de Vins Pryor in
the 1890s. In 1910 it was noted as a ‘brick and tiled
house with a drawing room, dining room, kitchen,
scullery, laundry room and wc on the ground floor and
a bathroom and four bedrooms on the first floor’. In
1915, RdV’s brother, Gerard Pryor, was renting part of
the first floor.
After RdV Pryor’s death in 1945, the house was
owned by David FG and Elizabeth Sadler in 1951,
while there was evidently a caravan in the grounds
which was home to Robert and Elizabeth Collett. Five
years later, its residents were Stewart and Rosemary
E McConville who probably re-christened it, Pryor
House. Richard T and Victoria A Sowerby owned the
house from around 1980 until the early 1990’s and
John and Nina M Derkach were living there in 1996.
Cottages on the north side of Preston Green
1811c 1844 1898
Fig Tree Cottage
For almost a century, Fig Tree Cottage (134, 1576 and 3765 above) and its adjoining neighbour, Vine
Cottage (133,1575 and 3767 above), were bundled together and shared common owners:
1664 - owned by Edward King at Preston Green ‘one messuage (and) a cottage and orchard at
Preston Green. Total manorial rent for the two properties: 6/-
1665 - owned by Robert King, from brother Edward, at Preston Green with an orchard
1681 - owned by Matthew Watts at Preston Green with an orchard
1685 - owned by John Heath jnr. at Preston Green with an orchard
1701 - owned by William Joyner at Preston Green with an orchard
1714 - ‘Survey of Rents’ owned by William Joyner
1742 - left to William Joyner’s sons, John and Daniel
From the second half of the eighteenth century, Fig Tree Cottage and Vine Cottage had different
owners.
Fig Tree Cottage:
1773 - owned by James Joyner (died 1804), inherited from father, Daniel.
1798 - 1800. The cottage appears to be known as Merritt’s House (ie John Merritt. He was the
woodwain of Wain Wood from at least 1739 - 1767. Thus, he probably rented Fig Tree Cottage during
some, if not all, of this time.)
1804 - owned by Thomas Wilstead/Wilson. There is a note in the manorial record that James Joyner
sold the cottages to Thomas but that this transaction was not surrendered to the Court . Fig Tree
Cottage was now known as ‘that cottage with the wheelwright and blacksmith’s shop, barn, yard,
garden and orchard lying and being at Preston Green’ with a rent of 3/6d. (Vine Cottage rent, 2/6 -
making a total of 6/- for the two properties)
1807 - occupied by the wheelwright, John Wilstead
1811 - In the Preston Survey it was noted that John Wilstead was the owner/occupier
1825 - By now, the property had been acquired by the Wilshire family (who were to own it for almost
a century) and it was occupied by Thomas Wilstead, wheelwright (born 1781c)
1844 - The tithe map and award confirmed that the owner/occupier of Fig Tree Cottage had remained
unchanged since 1825
1835 - owned by Daniel Wilstead/Wilson ‘of Preston’, eldest son of Thomas Wilstead. He mortgaged
this to Elizabeth Darton for £60.
1861 - 1880s occupied by David Smith (father of Amos Smith - see Laburnum Lodge) who was a
grocer/butcher. The 1884 sketch map shows the building beside the road (see maps above) as a
carpenter’s shed and that the building to the north of the shed, was a barn.
1880s - 1911 - occupied by Frances Cannon, a master wheelwright and grocer
In 1910, the Inland Revenue Survey noted that Fig Tree Cottage was owned by Miss E Wilshire of
Welwyn and comprised a brick and tiled cottage with living room, kitchen, scullery, pantry and three
bedrooms. It was in poor condition.
1911 - 1960c Fig Tree Cottage continued to be occupied by first Frances Cannon and then his son,
Ernest Cannon.
1971 - occupied by Frank J and Marjorie Pugh (who had moved from Red Roofs on Back Lane).
Now, the cottage is known as Fig Tree Cottage for the first time. The Pughs were to move on to
nearby Applegarth and Pippins.
1981 - occupied by Leonard C and Winifred J Payne
1987 - occupied by Ronald B and Christine S Cull
1996 - occupied by Malcolm R and Ann E Lowle
It has recently been assessed thus: “C16 former open hall house, floor and chimney inserted in late
C16, south bay with its rear outshut probably C17, C18 brick casing of walls with wall heightened in
framing to two-storeys in older part of house. Timber frame rough-cast with ground floor front of red
brick in Flemish-bond. Steep old red tile roof, part of rear slope slated. A two-storeys house facing
east, partly overlapped at north by a low link and Vine Cottage. Two windows on each floor. Three-
lights flush casement windows with rectangular quarries in the leaded glazing. Canted oriel window to
left of battened front door. Small window to right of door. Internal chimney a third from north end
marking the older part of the house. Internal gable chimney added to formerly unheated south bay.
Interior has studs on former south wall of hall exposed as a screen with peg hole in post for bench
support. Elaborate moulded axial beam with central roll, and ogee, reserved chamfer and hollow on
each side. Scratch moulding on soffit of joists. Beam carried on post rather than jointed into horizontal
timbers of original frame. A two-bays hall originally.”
Vine Cottage
For almost a century until 1742, Vine Cottage and Fig Tree Cottage had common owners. See
above
Vine Cottage:
? - owned by Thomas Crawley, snr.
1766 - owned by Thomas Crawley, jnr - a house and orchard - evidently including what was to be
Peter’s Cottage.
1778 - owned by Joseph Pedder, snr - a carpenter. Rent 2/6d
1797 - occupied by Joseph Pedder. Part of the property appears to be occupied by Widow Geary
(died 1804)
1802 - Joseph Pedder snr died and left Vine Cottage to son, Joseph Pedder jnr.
1808 - owned and occupied by Joseph Pedder jnr. He mortgaged it to John Witney for £90 in 1813.
1811c - Preston Survey shows Joseph Pedder jnr as owner/occupier.
1819 - owned by William Sheaf of St Pauls Walden, who purchased the cottage for £144.
1825 - now the holding has been modified. Vine Cottage A is occupied by Thomas English. The
carpenter’s shop B is now a home occupied by Joseph Peters. This cottage will now be referred to as
Peter’s Cottage. (Note from the map below, there is no connecting building between the two
properties in around 1811.)
1836 - The whole plot shown as 133 on the map shown above was sold to Thomas Harwood Darton.
It comprised: A Vine Cottage (which had been divided into two cottages occupied by Joseph English
and Henry Swainton/Swinston) and B Peter’s Cottage (which had been converted by William Sheaf
from a carpenter’s shop into two cottages and which were occupied by John and Joseph Peters,
shoemaker).
1844 - 1851 - Vine Cottage was occupied by Thomas English, grocer.
1861 - occupied by James Swain (ag lab) and William Winch
1871 - occupied James Swain
1873 - occupied by James Swain and Charles Hilton. Vine Cottage was sold to the Pryor family.
1870s - 1930c - occupied by Frederick A Robinson, tailor (born 1847)
1910 - The Inland Revenue Survey described Vine Cottage as being a wood, thatched and tiled shop
with a kitchen, living room, two storerooms and four bedrooms. It was owned by RDV Pryor. So, Vine
Cottage once again incorporated Peters Cottage.
1920s - also occupied by Harry (died 1950) and Margaret (nee Robinson, died 1959) Worthington.
1950 - occupied by William (Bill, died 1993) and Rose (nee Worthington, died 1997) Stanley.
(Link: Stanley). Thus, three generations of one family occupied Vine Cottage for almost 120 years.
2001 - Paul D and Helen M Craft
Vine Cottage has been described thus:
1973 - ‘C17-C18. Two storeys, timber-framed, some brick.
Roof tiled. Modern shop and Post Office built on East side’.
House. Early C18. Red brick in Flemish-bond, plastered at
front, timber frame West gable triangle now cased in red
brick. Steep old red tile roof. A two-storeys, two-cells, end-
chimney-plan house facing south, with entrance into larger
east room with internal east gable chimney and winding
stair formerly beside chimney on north side. South front has
low stucco plinth, two windows to each floor and door
between lowest windows. two-light flush casement windows
with small panes. Segmental arch to window on right of 3/4
glazed door. Interior has exposed chamfered axial beam
with joists squared on both floors and evidence for plaster
ceiling to roof-slope for attics in loft. Blocked small west
gable window. Lean-to rear outshut and new stair outside
rear wall in tile-hung enclosure. Two storeys east cross-
wing containing shop - not of special interest.
Peter’s Cottage and Village Shop
I have coined the name Peters’ Cottage for this property as Joseph Peters ran his shoemaking
business from here for the majority of the nineteenth century. The story of how this was converted
from a carpenter’s shop to a home is told above at this Link: Peters’ Cottage.
However, it is possible that this property was inhabited before this conversion. From 1797, the run of
entries in rates books indicate that there was a home between William Swain’s holding on the south
side of Blacksmiths Lane and Vine Cottage. It had an annual rental value of 2/-. The annual rates that
applied to Peters’ Cottage were also 2/- (other annual rateable values for adjacent properties varied
from 1/-to 3/-) The occupier in 1797 was John Brown (a soldier) and he is mentioned in five rates
books between 1797 and 1814. John Brown was probably the grandson of John Heath who lived in
this immediate area in the early 1700s. He was the ‘kinsman’ of Daniel Joyner who died in 1794 and
his executor.
Joseph and Sarah (nee Joyner) Peters and family lived in this cottage until 1883. As well as Joseph’s
shoemaking business, Sarah ran a plaiting school from this property. (Link: Plaiting School) By 1898,
Peters’ Cottage was Frederick Robinson’s shop. It continued as the village shop well into the
twentieth century. Eventually it was demolished and a new shop was built in its place (see below). The
shop was associated with the Robinson/Worthington/Stanley dynasty until the late 1990s
