Church Cottage, London Road
Including James Cottages & Horton Cottage

by Janet Kennish

Just opposite the church is Church Cottage, one of the oldest houses in Datchet. It is remarkably little altered since its first building in the early 1500s and a major remodelling around 1600. While it has been updated to provide modern facilities, its timber frame structure is clearly visible throughout, more of it having been revealed by the present owners. It was originally an open hall house, having a main living space open to the rafters with a central hearth and no chimney. Up in the roof space, soot still coats the oldest of the timbers as evidence from this early period.

We call this house a 'cottage', but it is in fact the very substantial house of a relatively rich person, built using a great deal of expensive oak timber. No building which was actually a cottage in 1500 would have survived for 500 years. The idea that the timber for such houses would have been re-used from dismantled ships is a myth, apart from a few documented exceptions and perhaps near the coast. The present name is modern and no previous name is known except Woodgates Hall in 1620.

During much of the 19th century the house was a blacksmith's dwelling, with his single-storey workshop on the adjacent corner restaurant site. The whole corner, round to and including Horton Cottage, was owned by the same family, who also built James Cottages next door to Church Cottage in London Road.

There are still some gaps in the history of this house, but the documentary evidence points to the name of its owner in the 1500s and to a previous medieval building on the same site. It was part of the early development of the village around the defensible high ground of the church where dwellings were also safe from flood.

James Cottages, London Road, 1853		Horton Cottage, Horton Road

Building History of the House

Church Cottage is unusual in Datchet, in that it has not been updated and re-styled as all the other timber-framed houses have been. The present owner has had a full survey carried out by a building historian to establish the dates and sequence of building, rebuilding and alterations. This article is based on information from that survey. The  house is of the type known as one-and-a-half storeys, due to its being one original open hall with the upper floor inserted later into a space not really big enough for it. It is sometimes said that these low-ceilinged houses show that people used to be shorter than we are are now, but that is not the actual reason.

	None of the timber frame is visible at the front, and it is probable that it was always plastered over as that was a fashionable thing to do. The frame was left exposed at the back where looks did not matter so much. (on left) Recently, the front has been re- plastered and laths overlaying the timber structure were seen during  the restoration work. (on right)
The back of the house with timber frame. The dormer windows are much later.		Exposed laths & two main timbers visible; across near top & vertical in right corner.

Up among the original timbers in the roof space

(above) The original wattle and daub surface of the S end wall of the house can be seen, blackened by smoke from the central hearth as are the main timber beams. The brown panels are sheets of metal, put up by the blacksmith as fire protection because his workshop was adjacent to this end wall. (right) A section of internal wattle and daub, part of a partition probably inserted c1600 with the chimney and upper floor.

About a hundred years after the house was first built, bricks to make fireproof chimneys became more plentiful and cheap enough for common use in more ordinary dwellings than the grand Tudor houses. Once a chimney was in place an upper floor could be created, with back-to-back fireplaces serving both floors and a cluster of flues emerging together, typically projecting high above the roof. A staircase would then be necessary and was often built within the narrow chimney bay. At Church Cottage a gabled front projection was built out in front of the chimney to contain the staircase, which was a frequently used device. All Church Cottage's windows are relatively recent, but the original (c1600) upstairs ones would have been low down in the rooms as there was so little space; dormer windows are a more modern solution to the problem. The drawing shows how a timber-framed house was constructed with a chimney inserted later.

Chimney inserted into timber framed building, typical house compared with Church Cottage
The view of Church Cottage is here reduced to its probable original size. It has a slightly later wing extending further north (to the left), not shown here. The single-storey extension with its front door was probably added in the 19th or early 20th century. (Drawing copyright Jo Cormier, Queenpost Building Histories)

The Occupants of the House

The Pearce and Hale Families, Blacksmiths & Farriers
Church Cottage is the main building of a complex series of dwellings, workshops and stables occupying the whole corner round from London Road into Horton Road. The property valuation survey of 1857 gives five different dwellings, all owned by Elizabeth Pearce (who had moved to no. 2 James Cottages by 1881). The north end wing of the main house was probably a separate cottage in the 1850s and the present Horton Cottage, developed from the blacksmith's stable block, was also included. The censuses, which are usually so useful from 1841 to 1891, are very difficult to interpret because there are so many occupants, and no indication of which dwelling was which.

A few significant names for some of the dwellings do emerge, given in reverse chronological order:

In 1841 Ann Hale lived in Church Cottage; she was the widow of George Hale who had been both a smith and farrier. A farrier specialises in the veterinary care of horses, rather than just shoeing them, although the two skills are obviously closely related. The use of 'Hale' as a middle name in the next two generations suggests that it must have had a special significance which the family wanted to perpetuate when the male line failed. (George Hale may possibly have been a descendant of the Hale family who lived in Datchet from the 1300s and were wealthy yeomen in Tudor times. Although a direct line cannot be proved, Ann Hale clearly tried very hard to perpetuate the name.) 

The last representative, James Hale Pearce, was killed in WWI and is listed on the war memorial. His parents were called over to France where James was in hospital having been gassed. It was his last wish to see them before he died, but they arrived too late.

The tombstones of George Hale and James Pearce face out over the churchyard wall towards their own Church Cottage. George Hale's is remarkable for the tools of his smith and farrier trade being carved in detail above the text.

George Hale, for many years smith & farrier of this parish d 1851 (76) + Ann his widow d 1852 (78)		James Pearce, smith & farrier of this parish d 1851 (40) + Elizabeth his wife d 1882 (67) + family

William Corden's 1877 painting, The Way to the Church, of Datchet during a great flood, records the blacksmith's workshop on the corner where the International Stores was later built, currently an unoccupied restaurant. The smithy was little more than a temporary shed, since it had to be replaceable in case of fire. And from flood, photograph of 1894 we have a photo with named individuals (how rare that is!) including 'Mr Pearce, undertaker'. Carpenters were very often also undertakers, so this is almost certainly James Hale Pearce the elder who lived at Horton Cottage.

Detail from The Way to the Church		Mr Pearce is standing centre, in bowler hat

Owners from the 1700s back to the 1500s

Mrs Lamb & Mr Marsh
For information before about 1840, the Land Tax lists (1832-1781) are often a good source as, with luck, they can be linked to the 1839 map and the first census. Luck works for Church Cottage because from 1832 back to 1823 George Hale is listed and we already know he was living at the Cottage.

The Marsh family are known as powerful farmers in and around Datchet from about 1700, both as land owners and tenants of the Lord of the Manor, Eton College and the Rectory estates. This owner is Daniel Marsh who had married Ellen Style, an heiress in her own right who brought much land with her on marriage. The Styles had been rich farmers in Langley and Ditton for several hundred years.

A deed of lease from Daniel Marsh to his tenant describes property which is expected by inheritance, including 'all that messuage, barns, stables, yards etc in Datchet, and 42 acres of land belonging, due at the decease of Elizabeth Cheynell'.

'Woodgates Hall', early 1500s

To go back further, records of the Lords of the Manor have to be used. These include the minutes of Manor Courts and surveys of
the Manor which list all property and owners, but not in any way recognisable to us without considerable detective
work. The trail backwards in time is most easily represented in another table. The sequence of owners, although it looks tenuous, is actually an unbroken property history and is as reliable as any is likely to be, except where a complete set of house deeds has survived.

Most satisfactorily, this sequence provides a likely rich builder in the early 1500s - John Mathewe from a landowning family with many branches, mentioned in other contexts through the 1400s. It is even possible that the early 1600s addition of a chimney and upper floor can be ascribed to Henry Chandler who acquired the house through his wife Margaret Mathewe. It is very unusual to be able to identify likely owner/builders of fairly ordinary houses at this period.

And Back to the 1300s?

This must be considered a long shot, but is at least a plausible link. It is based on the name Woodgates Hall which is securely identified with Church Cottage, and a family name which occurs in a very early series of land deeds. These documents are held by the Public Record Office but have been published ('calendared')with a brief outline of the main text and names involved.

The theory being suggested is that the name Wodyat / Wodyet / Wodiat can be identified with Woodgates, since the sounds y and g were interchangeable in the language as it developed at this time. A house which was remembered as Wodyats, as houses were commonly called by the name of the first owner or builder, could easily become Woodgates Hall, a hall being a term for a late medieval house. However, it is not being suggested that the present house dates from as early as this, as it does seem to be a complete rebuild of around 1500.

The 1413 deed suggests that the Hale family might then have owned an earlier building on the site of Church Cottage, called 'Wodyets'. It also raises the possibility (admittedly slight) that the later Hale family were aware of their previous connections with a house on the site.

This deed, describing the house as in Bury Street is very exciting. The place-name element Bury is a very common Saxon word, usually meaning a fortified hill or a defended manor house; it has nothing to do with the burial of the dead. It lends weight to the theory that the site of the church was a very early fortified hill, compared with the low-lying surrounding land, and that the original manor buildings were established close to the church's high ground. Bury Street suggests that a lane ran between Wodyats house and the present church, where London Road now runs, although this was not a main road until very much later (see Datchet Past). It could possibly have run round behind the churchyard, following the line of the present entrance to the Vicarage, see the 1839 map above.

One last tantalising glimpse into the remote past: at some time in the mid-1970s the present researcher remembers seeing several skeletons, exposed during deep excavations for service pipe-laying, beneath the road just in front of Church Cottage. There seems to be no archaeologist's or coroners' record of this discovery but at least one other resident confirms that it did happen. It is assumed that the churchyard once extended much further across the road, and it is known to have been reduced in size several times in more recent centuries. Further archaeological or documentary evidence may lead to further reconstruction of Datchet's origins around this site, but for now the story must rest there.

(Anybody else who has any memory of those skeletons - please contact me! Janet Kennish)

Listed Building information from local authority

Windsor & Maidenhead 40680, Church Cottage, 2 London Road, Grade II, 5130, SU 9877 5/6, GV

Exterior: Late C15 - early C16 hall house, ! 1/2 storey, timber frame with brick infill, colourwashed panels at rear, rendered & colourwashed at front. Later extension at rear also timber framed. Old tile roof, central chimney added with four square shafts. Front has projecting gable & single storey projection to right hand with flat roof. Gable dormer to left hand & split gabled dormer to right hand. Windows modern lead lights & irregular.

Interior: irregular brick fireplace inserted in original hall with four-centred chamfered brick arch. Most of original timbers visible internally. Curved braces & jowl posts.

References and Sources

Survey of Church Cottage: Jo Cormier, Queenpost Building Histories
1857 Property Valuation Survey: Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury
Censuses 1842-1891 (+1901): online or on microfilm at Slough Reference Library
The Way to the Church: painting by William Corden, 1877, owned St Mary's Church (copies sold at The Bridge)
Parish rate map & schedule 1839: Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury
Land tax listings 1781-1832: Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury
Woodgates Hall deed 1586: Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury ref. BAS / 274 / 40
Marsh land lease 1769: Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury ref: D / X / 39 / 8
Datchet Manor Court Rolls: 1565-1741 Northampton Record Office; 1742-20thC Beaulieu Archives, Hants
Survey of the Manor of Datchet 1622: Cambridge, awaiting reference
Survey of the Manor of Datchet 1604: Northamptonshire Record Office ref: Buccleuch papers 2.6 / X333
Survey of the Manor of Datchet 1548: Public Record Office, Kew, ref: LR2 / 188
Muster Roll 1552: published volume, Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury
Subsidy List 1524: published volume, Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesburyawaiting reference
Catalogue of Ancient Deeds: Public Record Office published volumes 1890 -

Researcher: janetkennish@tesco.net