Datcha

Datcha had previously been known as Kiln Hill Cottage.

The house called Datcha was built seemingly on Kiln Lane, although the Lane is not adopted by the Council as far as this point. It stands on the north side of the track down to Highwood Bottom where a footpath from Speen crosses it.

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The following is an extract from 'The Tarmac and Beyond' by Dennis Claydon, being his research on Kiln Lane :-

Another cottage of similar vintage to Lime Tree Cottages lies to the north-east, a little farther down the Lane. Towards the end of the nineteenth century ‘Kiln Hill Cottage’ was in the ownership of a Mrs Buckmaster (for Mrs Buckmaster see additional research by Joan West below) of Dunstable, Bedfordshire. This name crops up from time to time within the village, suggesting that this lady was perhaps a ‘property developer’ of the era. From eyewitness reports, by the early years of the twentieth century ‘Kiln Hill Cottage’ had fallen into disrepair and become semi-derelict. Horses from the neighbouring field were said to enter looking for shelter, and the 1901 Census listed it as “Not in occupation’. It was following this period that the cottage came into the hands of Frederick Rogers, who restored the property. By word of mouth Frederick Rogers is said to have been a ‘builder’. However, the 1901 Census records a Frederick Rogers, described as a bricklayer, with his wife and seven month old baby daughter, lodging at ‘The Whip’.

Almost half a century ago, when yet more new owners were once again restoring the property, they made a surprising discovery. Removing wallpaper from an interior wall it was discovered a doorway had been covered over at sometime in the past. In fact, the door was still intact and contained a pencilled message to the new owners! The message read:

‘To the persons who takes this door down. This house was built by Mr Oakley about forty-five years ago he was a shoe make this was his shop. Afterwards it came into the Cheshire family then a Mrs Sheldon of Risboro bought it. Then I bought it (F. Rogers £93) built the room out, put in a bay window, put in boarded floors, put in a new grate. Built skullery and shop, planted apple trees, planted hedge, fixed gass. I am 33 years old. I might be gone on before when you read this. JS dated Feb 1910.

If you are not saved do get right with God at once for life is uncertain and death is sure. Friend

God bless you

F Rogers”’

The door, of boarded construction, had been painted or varnished. After so many years the surface had begun to chip, making some of the lettering difficult to read. However, the above is a reasonably accurate transcription.

Unfortunately, Frederick Rogers omitted to record the date he purchased the property or when the message was written on the hidden door. However, research reveals that he died in 1952, at the age of seventy-three, and is buried in the Lacey Green Methodist Cemetery. This would suggest his birth was about 1879, yet the Census records him as twenty-four years of age in 1901.

If this were correct his birth would have been in 1877. If the message was therefore written at thirty-three years of age, then the year would have been 1910, or thereabouts. The message states the property was built ‘about forty-five years ago’, which would thus date the building back to around 1865. The Valuation Survey of 1910 records Frederick Rogers as the owner of the property, but James Lacey was in occupation as a tenant at that time. This fact may account for the strange statement above, ‘JS dated Feb 1910’. In the old fashioned handwriting, an ‘S’ could well be mistaken for an “L’. Exactly what this statement is meant to convey must remain a mystery!

Further research by Joan West :-

Mrs Buckmaster was the daughter and also mortgagee of George Cheshire.

In the 1901 census Sarah Floyd, nee Cheshire was a widow, listed as a publican and farmer of The Whip and Windmill Farm

Also 3 boarders, Frederick and Alice Rogers with Alison Elsie Rogers 7 months old.

Sarah Floyd died 9th August 1907.

Sarah bequeathed Willow Cottages to be held in trust by her executors, Joseph George Floyd and W. Bliss, solicitor, to pay the income from them to Alison Elsie Rogers for life, then to her heirs and descendants.

In the 1939 Register (census) Datcha is recorded as occupied by Frederick Rogers, born 1878, bricklayer, and Annie R Carter, born 1897, single, his housekeeper. For more about Frederick click Frederick & Alice Rogers

Ron & Lilian Curnow bought Datcha in 1955.