Numbers 25 to 30 and Detached Outhouse Block

NUMBERS 25 TO 30 AND DETACHED OUTHOUSE BLOCK, LEIGHTON STREET

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1113998
Date first listed:
16-Mar-1987
List Entry Name:
Numbers 25 to 30 and Detached Outhouse Block
Statutory Address:
NUMBERS 25 TO 30 AND DETACHED OUTHOUSE BLOCK, LEIGHTON STREET

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Location

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1113998
Date first listed:
16-Mar-1987
List Entry Name:
Numbers 25 to 30 and Detached Outhouse Block
Statutory Address 1:
NUMBERS 25 TO 30 AND DETACHED OUTHOUSE BLOCK, LEIGHTON STREET

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
NUMBERS 25 TO 30 AND DETACHED OUTHOUSE BLOCK, LEIGHTON STREET

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:
Central Bedfordshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:
Woburn
National Grid Reference:
SP 94559 32969

Details

SP 9432-9532 WOBURN LEIGHTON STREET (North side) 9/121 - Nos.25 to 30 (consecutive) and detached outhouse block - II Row of Bedford Estate cottages erected by the 7th Duke. Dated 1851. Red brick laid in a curious rat-trap bond. Clay tile roofs. 2 storeyed row. Symmetrical road elevation in 6 bays, the 2 central and outer bays gabled, the intervening bays each with a gablet. Ground and first floors each have 6 windows, all 2-light cast iron lattice casements under slightly cambered heads. 4 plank doors under slightly cambered heads. Entrances to Nos. 25 and 30 are in side elevations and have gabled hoods on curved brackets. Cogged eaves cornice. Red brick ridge stacks. The 7th Duke of Bedford recognised the advantages of housing agricultural labourers in comfortable dwellings. From the late 1840's onwards the emphasis in Bedford Estate cottage building was on the utilitarian rather than the Picturesque, with the early workers' cottages being remarkable for their high quality of construction. The cottages can be seen as an influential contribution to the development of working class housing, which culminated in the garden cities and early council housing. The Dukes of Bedford built about 500 cottages in the locality between the late 1840's and World War I. This row of cottages typifies the plain but substantial dwellings of the earliest phase in this building programme, and has similarities with designs in the 7th Duke's Plans and Elevations. The brickwork is of particular interest as an early form of cavity walling (of note in above work from Charles Hacker). The (7th) Duke of Bedford: Plans and Elevations of cottages for Agricultural Labourers, London, 1850 (reprint of letter and plans sent 1849 to Earl of Chichester, President of Royal Agricultural Society); the (llth) Duke of Bedford: A Great Agricultural Estate, being the story of the Origin and Administration of Woburn and Thorney, London, 1897; Rev C H Hartshorne: The System of building Labourers' cottages pursued on the estates of His Grace the] Duke of Bedford, n.d. but probably 1849.

Listing NGR: SP9455932969

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
38224
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Hartshorne, Reverend C H, The System of Building Labourers Cottages pursued on the Estates of his Grace the Duke of Bedford, (1849)
The 11th Duke of Bedford, , A Great Agricultural Estate being the Story of the Origin and Administration of Woburn and Thorney, (1897)

Other
The 7th Duke of Bedford, Plans and Elevations of Cottages for Agricultural Labourers, (1850)

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Numbers 25 to 30 and Detached Outhouse Block

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 17-Jun-2026 at 10:28:59.

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© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

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