Conclusions on cottages

The cottages of Loosley Row and Lacey Green were more or less identical because people just built there own. They were very simple. The larger farmhouses all started off this way, being enlarged later. Initially two rooms, one down and one above, with a ladder to get up, many were semi detached, some terraced. A fireplace was essential for there was no other form of heating or cooking. There would be virtually no foundations, no dampcourse or cavity wall. They were exceedingly damp. To combat this the fire would be kept going as much as possible. Fallen wood could be picked up from the Parish Woods. After stormy weather all hands available would be off to the woods. Windows were minimal, glass being expensive. They were very draughty, caused by the draw of the chimney. If you sat on your wooden chair facing the fire your front toasted and your back felt frozen. I have been told that even in the early nineteen hundreds of a sizeable farmhouse in which the daughts would blow out your candle. As things improved the buildings were extended at the back, just a scullery, and some of two stories giving room for stairs to be installed, probably in the main room. These extensions became known as "Buck's Backs".

Water was caught from the roof in underground tanks or water butts. The privy was down the garden, which would be large enough to provide food for a family. Long ago there had been laws regarding the minimum size of gardens, at one time four acres, which would have included an orchard. It wasn't until the twentieth century that piped water, electricity and later telephone, main sewerage and lastly gas was laid on to the villages.

Many of the families were large, sleeping all in one room, children sharing beds head to toe, boys sometimes out in a shed. Once a two story Bucks Back was added children could sleep on a narrow landing.

By the time of WW2 many of the cottages were condemned. Repairs costing more than the rent would cover. Some disappeared, but as prosperity slowly improved those left were worked on. Two or three being made into one house or extended and modern facilities installed. This often brought new buyers into the villages. Prices rose and concern grew that the youngsters born here could no longer afford to live here when they grew up.