Spindle Cottage, Hitchin Road
Sadleirs End, Chequers Lane
The picturesque cottages at Preston Green today
The rents of several dwellings in 1873 and 1898 are known. In 1873 they ranged from
£3 per annum (Mary Palmer) to £5 7s 6d pa (James Jenkins). The average rent was around
£5 pa or about two shillings a week (10p).
The rent accounted for a high proportion of the labourer’s weekly wage which was
around twelve shillings. Straw plaiting by wives and children could bring in perhaps
another five shillings a week
Some of the character of Preston has been preserved by its old buildings particularly
around Preston Green (see below) and The Wilderness at the junction of Charlton Road
and Chequers Lane.
The 1891 census reveals the number of rooms in each home. (see chart right). As one
would expect, the tradesmen and farmers enjoyed the luxury of homes with five or
more rooms.
Some families lived in cramped conditions which would be unacceptable today - Frank
and Emma Brown and their eight children aged 11 to 6 months lived in three rooms
and my grandparents, Alfred and Emily Wray, with their five children aged between
three and eight squeezed into just two rooms in their tumbledown cottage at Back
Lane.
Surveying the surviving homes from the nineteenth century in Preston and examining
old photographs of the village, reveals that the cottages were built in a variety
of styles.
Most were brick-built. Some, like “Rose Cottage”, Chequers Lane, were constructed
of brick in a timber frame. Several homes such as Spindle Cottage, Hitchin Road and
the cottages at Crunnels Green had dormer-style windows at first-floor level. The
cottages were mainly roofed with small orange/red tiles. A few were thatched - such
as Joseph Peter’s cottage at Preston Green and some on the north side of Chequers
Lane. Considering the quantity of flint in the area, perhaps it is surprising that
this was not used to construct cottages. Several properties in the village were built
in the early eighteenth century - Spindle Cottage (1717) (right) and Sadleirs End
(1690 with additions in 1719) (below).
The housing stock in the Preston area gradually decreased between 1851-1891 from
82 homes to 74 cottages. However, in 1891, twelve cottages were unoccupied and the
number of abodes was at its lowest in 1901 (66) which suggests that some dwellings
were becoming uninhabitable and were being demolished. The early twentieth century
saw several groups of homes being torn down at Back Lane, Chequers Lane, Church Lane
(overlooking the Green) and School Lane from Crunnells Green Corner to the Red Lion.
The housing stock in the Preston area gradually decreased between 1851-1891 from
82 homes to 77 cottages. However, in 1891, twelve cottages were unoccupied and the
number of abodes was at its lowest in 1901 (64) which suggests that some dwellings
were becoming uninhabitable and were being demolished. The early twentieth century
saw several groups of homes being torn down at Back Lane, Chequers Lane, Church Lane
(overlooking the Green) and School Lane from Crunnells Green Corner to the Red Lion.
Two farms were also demolished.
Sources: Censuses 1841-1901; Sale Particulars of Temple Dinsley , 1873 - by kind
permission of Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (Ref - 67118-122)
Chart of the number of rooms in Preston cottages in 1891
