Head Cowman's House, Immediately South of Park Farm Complex
HEAD COWMAN'S HOUSE, IMMEDIATELY SOUTH OF PARK FARM COMPLEX
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1321672
- Date first listed:
- 16-Mar-1987
- List Entry Name:
- Head Cowman's House, Immediately South of Park Farm Complex
- Statutory Address:
- HEAD COWMAN'S HOUSE, IMMEDIATELY SOUTH OF PARK FARM COMPLEX
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1321672
- Date first listed:
- 16-Mar-1987
- List Entry Name:
- Head Cowman's House, Immediately South of Park Farm Complex
- Statutory Address 1:
- HEAD COWMAN'S HOUSE, IMMEDIATELY SOUTH OF PARK FARM COMPLEX
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.
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.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- HEAD COWMAN'S HOUSE, IMMEDIATELY SOUTH OF PARK FARM COMPLEX
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 95969 33191
Details
SP 9433-9533 WOBURN WOBURN PARK 8/191 Head Cowman's House, immediately S of Park Farm complex GV II Bedford Estate cottage. Probably erected c.1850 by the 7th Duke. Yellow brick with ashlar dressings. Clay tiled roofs. 2 storeyed asymmetrical plan. Loosely Tudor in style. E elevation: pair of projecting gables to LH, each with 3-light window to ground floor and 2-light window to first floor. These are mullioned, with cast iron lattice casements and are surmounted by moulded dripstones. Gabled porch within angle at junction with RH block. Cambered archway. Part glazed door. Dentil eaves cornice. Stone coped gables with Kneelers and moulded finials. Chimney stacks between 2 gables and to ridge of RH block. Paired diagonal shafts with linked moulded caps. Although having picturesque details this cottage belongs to the more utilitarian phase of Bedford Estate building begun in the late 1840's (and ending with World War I, by which time about 500 cottages had been built in the locality). The 7th Duke had been one of the first to recognise the advantages of housing agricultural labourers in dwellings which were comfortable and practical rather than purely ornamental, and the constructional quality of these early workers' dwellings is remarkably high. Both the form and the decorative details are similar to designs in the 7th Duke's Plans and Elevations. The greater use of ornament is probably related to the siting of the house near to the Park Farm complex in Woburn Park. 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 (11th) 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: SP9596933191
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 38287
- 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
Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Part 2 Bedfordshire,
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.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 16-Jun-2026 at 10:31:47.
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