36 and 37, Bedford Street
36 and 37, Bedford Street
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1321693
- Date first listed:
- 16-Mar-1987
- List Entry Name:
- 36 and 37, Bedford Street
- Statutory Address:
- 36 and 37, Bedford Street
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2003-04-19
- Reference:
- IOE01/10697/31
- Rights:
- © Dr W A Cooper. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1321693
- Date first listed:
- 16-Mar-1987
- List Entry Name:
- 36 and 37, Bedford Street
- Statutory Address 1:
- 36 and 37, Bedford 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.
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:
- 36 and 37, Bedford 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 94839 33327
Details
SP 9433-9533
8/97
WOBURN
BEDFORD STREET (West Side)
Nos 36 and 37
GV
II
Pair of Bedford Estate cottages, erected by the Seventh Duke of Bedford. Dated 1847. Red brick, with dressings in lighter brick. C20 tile roofs.
Two storeyed L-plan. Road elevation: right hand block (No. 36) has two three-light windows to ground floor and two two-light windows under gables to first floor. All are casements, with gazing bars and wood mullions, under gauged brick flat heads. Off-centre doorway also has gauged brick flat head and a dripstone. Door of three vertical panels. Left hand gable (No. 37) has three-light window to ground floor, and two-light window to first floor, similar to those in right hand block. South elevation: windows similar to road elevation and entrance to No. 37. One ridge stack and one chimney stack to north wall of No. 37.
The Seventh Duke of Bedford recognised the advantages of housing agricultural labourers in comfortable cottages. From the late 1840s onwards the emphasis in Bedford Estate cottage building was on the utilitarian rather than the Picturesque. The cottages are remarkable for the high quality of construction displayed in workers' cottages of such early date. They also represent an influential contribution to the development of working class housing, which culminated in garden cities and early council housing.
The Dukes of Bedford constructed about 500 cottages in the locality between the late 1840s and World War I. This pair of cottages is a good example of the earliest phase in this building period, and are similar to designs in the Seventh Duke's Plans and Elevations.
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, nd. but apparently 1849.
Listing NGR: SP9483933327
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 38200
- 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.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 30-Jun-2026 at 15:39:37.
Download a full scale map (PDF)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.