Pleasant View (Winch’s Cottage)
Baston Road
Built 18th century
Locally listed
This brick built cottage is locally listed and is within the Hayes and Keston Commons Conservation Area. The original cottage was a squatters’ cottage built on Hayes Common by the middle of the 18th century. It was allowed to remain by the lords of Baston Manor, the Lennard family.
By 1782 William Green, a labourer, lived there with his family and in 1800 he was joined by his daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law Richard Winch, a rat catcher. Originally the cottage was thatched and in 1802 William Green was granted 9 shillings (45p), out of the funds for the poor distributed by the rector Revd John Till, to pay for a quarter of a load of straw to help him thatch it. The help given by the Revd Till at various times may have encouraged Richard Winch to be confirmed at the age of 40, at the same time as his son William in 1806. The cottage was referred to as Winch’s Cottage. Richard died in 1827 and was survived by his widow Elizabeth who took over her husband’s rat catching activities.
As she grew older her daughter Anne, who had married George Stacey, moved in to look after her and a thin partition was made separating their part of the cottage from Elizabeth’s. In 1841 there were 12 people living in the cottage including eight of George and Ann’s children aged from 5 months to 13. Elizabeth made her will in the same year and left the house and land to her daughter Anne for her life and then to Anne’s children once they had reached the age of twenty-one. She died in 1850 and her will was proved 26 September 1850.
Controversy over ownership, Stacey v Winch
However, Elizabeth’s eldest son James, an agricultural labourer, claimed that as the copyholder he had the right to the cottage and in the subsequent legal dispute he was awarded the part of the cottage in which his mother had lived. It was the rector, Revd Thomas John Hussey, who fixed the agreement about the division of the house which had been extended with numerous out buildings.
James Winch lived to the age of 75 but died in 1880 owing money to Sir John Farnaby Lennard who had helped him in his last few years. His daughter Emma said that she and her son would settle the debts and it was agreed that his niece Wilhelmina Langridge, a needlewoman, who had been living there as his housekeeper could remain. By 1891 she was joined by her older sister Elizabeth Ellis. After Wilhelmina’s death her sister Elizabeth remained, relying on charity until she died at the age of 86 in 1904.
Ownership by the Knights family to 1989
C. Puckey bought the cottage and in 1907 Charlotte Knights, whose husband had recently died, moved from Charlton into the property with her son and two daughters. At the time the cottage consisted of a bedroom, living room and a scullery and was described in 1910 as a very old bungalow built of brick and slate. Charlotte later bought the property.
Pleasant View Tea Gardens
With the help of her daughters she started to run a Tea Garden to cater for the increasing number of visitors to the Common. It was in competition with the one managed by Richard Stacey from the adjoining property. In 1935 her daughter Ella married Alfred Arnold, a school caretaker and moved to George Lane. Charlotte died two years later and her daughter Grace inherited the cottage and lived there until shortly before her death in 1988.
Sale of Property
Grace’s niece inherited the cottage which was bought by a builder Kenneth Brace. He was granted planning permission in June 1988 for single storey extensions with accommodation in the roof. The property was therefore much enlarged and he lived there with his wife Peggy for over 30 years.