Ilmington 20:20 Vision

The shape of the village with its two greens and other open spaces is shown on map 1.  Inspection of an Ordnance map shows that most of the cottages as well as the farm houses stand in their own closes and these sites are older than the buildings now standing in them.  Most of the cottages are in short rows parallel with the main streets or connecting lanes.  Two short rows of cottages are at right angles to the streets, one leading off Front Street, another off Back Street.  Two small groups of cottages, one on Stock Bank and one at the north end of Upper Green probably originated as squatters' cottages on the waste of pre-enclosure time, of which these greens are probably the remains.  Even the largest houses are of fairly modest dimensions and none are of outstanding architectural merit.

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The number of houses now is almost the same as it was in 1871 but this number includes 75 or more built in the 20th century on land not previously occupied by houses.  Therefore this number of cottages and houses has either disappeared, or in some cases several small cottages have been converted into one.  Scarlett Potter writing as an old man in 1910 (1) speaks of the disappearance even of large houses, and older present day inhabitants quickly recalled the disappearance of at least twenty.  Numerous deeds of the 18th and 19th centuries mention houses being divided or cottages joined to form a larger dwelling.  Unfortunately it is seldom possible to identify the building.  The building stone has been re-used many times and this can be done in such a way that after a few years, alterations scarcely show, which makes the dating of buildings difficult.

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The old name for Ilmington, Ilmedone, suggests that wood was abundant.  Much of the ground contains clay but rough stone is also available.  It is probable that the early buildings were of cruck construction.  The crucks probably stood on low field stone walls, the remainder of the wall being wattle and daub and the roof of thatch.  A very small cottage with cruck construction was restored some years ago but the crucks were removed.  A very few cottages today show rough field stone as distinct from cut free stone at the base of their walls.  It is unlikely that existing buildings date from much before the early 17th century though some may have older foundations.  The buildings of this date would be of stone, the roof usually thatched, though some of the largest may have had the cotswold stone-tiled roof.  For the latter the walls needed to be strong, as when one of these roofs was repaired some years ago the tiles from one side weighed 25 tons.  The stone for the buildings of Ilmington most likely came from the local quarries on Ilmington Down.  These were still being used when the school (now demolished) was built in 1858 and stone for roads was taken from them until nearly the end of the century.

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Because the inventories of the 17th century usually give the rooms in which the goods were contained, some clues to the inside of the houses can be obtained.  However, they are so varied that little generalisation is possible.  The inventories are those of yeomen, husbandmen, a miller, since the mill house is mentioned, and a widow.  The latter dwelling is probably the only representation of a cottage and contained a hall and a bed chamber.  The hall was universal, and a chamber over the hall was mentioned in more than half.  A parlour was mentioned in less than a quarter, a kitchen in about half and half of these had a chamber over it.  A buttery was usual and nearly all these had a chamber over it.  Other buildings mentioned, usually only once, were a brewhouse, a malt house, a mill house twice, a cellar, an entrie with a chamber below it, a cockloft, a garrett, an apple garrett and upper and lower chambers the position of which was not specified.  In only one house was a stair head mentioned and this in connection with the chamber over it.  To summarise, the houses were then, as now, varied, each with its own individuality and by the beginning of the 17th century upper chambers were usual, but these were not necessarily bedrooms in the present sense of the word.

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The pitch of a thatched roof is very steep and as the thatch decayed it was replaced in some cases in the early 18th century by the light, cheap and durable Welsh slates.  These can have a much flatter roof and the walls were often raised, sometimes with brick giving clear indication that this is an old building probably at least of 17th century origin.  By the early 20th century tiles were being used.  One small cottage showing these alterations is known to have had its roof tiled in 1912.  Other cottages have quite bright red brick fronts with slate roofs but the ends and backs are of stone.  It seems possible that brick was either fashionable, or cheap, in the early 19th century.  Some entirely brick buildings are found.  The bricks vary, one kind being the yellowish sun-baked brick possibly from Pebworth.  It seems that any evidence of alteration may indicate an older building than one with no alteration, even though the latter may be entirely of stone.  Straight lintels to windows and doors are older than the arched lintel of separate stones, even though the former may be of wood.  Moulded mullions are older than straight ones, though both are often found together in the few houses where they occur.  Hand-cut stone often showing chisel marks is certainly older than the much more uniform machine cut stone.  Five examples of thatch still remain.  Chimneys even on very old buildings are often of brick and some of these protrude on the end of the houses.

 

The materials of 20th century building and alteration reflect no doubt economics, fashion and changing bye-laws.  Brick covered with rough cast was used for the council houses of Washbrook Place in 1919, dark red brick for those of Bennett Place in 1932, brick toning with the village stone for Windmill Close in 1951.  Later additions to Bennett Place beginning in 1956 had stone fronts with toning brick ends.  For a period during the 1960s natural stone was compulsory, but since then wood and reconstituted stone have made their appearance.

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Within the last few years the speculative builder has moved in and much building is taking place.  Some is very good indeed, some seems disproportionate to its site.  The general rule in this conserved village appears to be that it should 'tone' with its adjacent buildings.

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A number of deeds have been kindly loaned by their owners for the purpose of this study but they seldom prove as illuminating as one might hope.  However, those of a cottage at the top of Grump Street, though only going back to 1828, form a social document of the changes which have occurred in this village in the last century, and which are responsible for a shift in density of population from the older parts of the village, mainly in the southwest to the newer parts in the northeast.

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This cottage was sold in August 1828 by Robert Sansom (an Ilmington name for some generations) to a Shipston man 'gent' for £47.  He sold it in November of the same year to its occupant for £67, a not inconsiderable profit!  The cottage was then a two-roomed cottage with a thatched roof.  In proving ownership Robert Sansom refers back to his father's will who in 1799 left 'that cottage now rebuilding or being set up' to his wife from whom Robert inherited.  For the purchase of this cottage the occupant, described as laborer, raised from his master a mortgage of £50.  He was lucky.  He is later described as 'servant' and was ultimately left the £50 so, unlike another laborer who made a similar venture about the same time, was able to pay off the mortgage and retain the cottage.  It remained in his family for forty years, was then sold to a Halford man for £36 and back to an Ilmington man in 1919 for £35.  This man tiled the roof and sold the cottage to a Birmingham professional man in 1937 for £275.  In 1938 it passed to another Birmingham professional man for £200 and in 1946 to a Coventry man for £800.  By 1952 a garage had been added and between 1952 and 1958 the cottage was at least doubled in size and completely modernised inside.  It was then sold to retired people for £3000 and changed hands again in 1967 in a private sale, and is occupied by a widow.  Here is seen clearly set out the decay and rebuilding of the old cottage at the end of the 18th century, its duration with some repair, and occupation by local people, or at least ownership by local people, until the imminence of the second world war.  Subsequently it became the country retreat for the professional townsman and later the peaceful haven for the retired.  This record epitomises the history of many Ilmington houses.

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As has already been stated a large number of deeds have been examined but they seldom give a coherent and continuous account of any one house.  From them, however, it has been possible to obtain some dates for the larger houses and a few cottages.  Even so, it is seldom possible to state that these are the earliest dates for a building on that site.

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The Manor House has already been discussed in the chapter on the manor of Ilmington.  By 1617 the 'perquisites of Bailiff of Ilmington including the Court Leet' were leased to Nicholas Petty (2) and by his will of 1640 (3) he is shown to be possessed of the 'Mansion House'.  The Pettys had been in Ilmington in the 16th century, since there is a will of a Robert Petty, yeoman of Ilmington, dated 1602.  From the Pettys it probably passed to the French family.  Thomas French appears to have been the first to own the house and in his will (4) left his body to be buried in the tomb 'belonging to the house wherein he dwelt'!  Of this no trace has been found.  This same will left money to his mother Elizabeth Ballard.  Presumably this was her second marriage.  Ballard's house was usually the place where the court baron met.  In 1699 the house was sold to Nicholas Slatter, a yeoman of the district, and for the next two hundred years was occupied by farmers and may even have been subdivided.  It was restored and enlarged in the early years of the 20th century; first by Judge Evans and later by Major Spencer Flower.