Wootton House

Wootton House about 1920 [PK1/7/13]

Introduction

Wootton House was listed by the Department of Environment in 1952, being given Grade Two Star status as a particularly important building of special interest. The description accompanying the listed status describes the structure as a small country house of late 17th century date. It is built of red brick with a plaster rendering. It is eight bays long by five bays deep and of two storeys with attics. The inside is described as "simple interior with some remaining original panelling". It lies on the south side of Church Road, not far from the church| itself.

Wootton House in 1969 [Z50/136/1]

The Owners of Wootton House c.1660-1927

The house was built by Sir Humphrey Monoux, who had been made a baronet in 1660. His family had been substantial landowners in the area for over a hundred years - George Monoux, alderman and citizen of London buying the Manor of Wootton Bosoms in 1514. He also purchased manors in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire between 1524 and 1526. The first member of the family to live in Wootton may have been Lewis, Sir Humphrey's father, who died in 1628. Sir Humphrey purchased Wootton Manor| from Lord Carlisle some time between 1639 and 1666 and it is on the land that came with the manor that he built Wootton House.

The family continued to own Wootton House for the next during which time they bought more land in Wootton as well as other parts of the county. Sir Humphrey Monoux, great grandson of the builder of Wootton House, died without issue in 1757 and a relative, Sir Philip Monoux (grandson of a younger son of the original Sir Humphrey) inherited the estates including the house and the baronetcy. Sir Philip died in 1805 and his four daughters divided the estates between them. Sir Philip's elderly first cousin, another Philip, inherited the baronetcy and on his death in 1812 it became extinct. The eldest daughter of the Sir Philip who died in 1805, Mary, received the greater part of the Wootton Estate. She was widow of Tempsford baronet Sir John Payne and later married J.F.Butterworth. Mary had two sons by her marriage to Sir John Payne: Charles and Coventry.

Charles was a minor on inheriting his father's estates and the Napoleonic wars combined with an unscrupulous uncle, Sir Peter Payne, who was trustee during his minority reduced the family fortunes to a low ebb. Sir Peter Payne even went so far as to claim the Payne baronetcy because Sir John has been illegitimate - the case begun by Sir Peter was not finally resolved until 1870, long after his death. Sir Charles Payne died in France in 1841 and the estates passed to his brother Coventry, Vicar of Hatfield Peverell in Essex. He did not live at Wootton House as his mother was still in residence and he died in 1849. His son, another Coventry, then inherited both baronetcy and estates and when his grandmother died in 1850 he moved to Wootton House.

On Sir Coventry Payne's death in 1873 his son Philip, aged 15, succeeded him and faced a heavily mortgaged estate exacerbated by the decline in value of the West Indian sugar plantations the family had owned on St.Kitts since the 18th century. This decline is amply demonstrated by two valuations of the estate, that of 1874 valued it at £1,800, twelve years later it was £1,300. The West Indian estates were sold in 1892 and the First World War put such a strain on Sir Philip's finances that he sold the entire estate to his daughter Sybil Harriet Doyne-Ditmas in 1923 for £7,776/5/8 which paid off his debts and left him with a modest annuity of £150 per annum.

Wootton House from the road December 2007

1927 Rating Valuation Survey

In 1927 Bedfordshire was valued under the terms of the Rating Valuation Act of 1925; every piece of land was inspected to determine the rates to be paid on it. The valuer visiting Wootton House noted that it was "Queen Anne style". At the time it was owned and occupied by Mrs.Doyne-Ditmas. It contained a small porch and a paved lounge hall 24ft 6in by 18ft, other rooms downstairs being: a drawing room facing south (23ft by 18ft); a dining room facing south (18ft by 16ft); a school room facing west (13ft 6in by 14ft); a lobby and wc with a low basin; a smoking room facing east (20ft by 16ft); a butler's pantry; a servants' hall facing west; a kitchen in the north-west corner (24ft 6in by 17ft 6in "good, light"), a scullery, wc, three larders, a gun room and a cellar.

On the first floor were, up the main stairs and turning left a bedroom over the pantry ("v.small"); a bathroom; a bedroom over the servants' hall (17ft 6in by 11ft 6in); a nursery over the kitchen (25ft by 17ft); a bathroom and wc; a dressing room over the gun room (20ft 6in by 12ft); a night nursery over the smoking room (21ft by 16ft); a bedroom over the hall ("small"); another bedroom over the hall (17ft 6in by 17ft); a bedroom over the drawing room (15ft 6in by 18ft 6in); two cloth cupboards; a bedroom over the dining room (16ft 6in by 18ft 6in) and a further cupboard.

On the second floor up the main stairs were a maid's room with two beds, a maid's room with one bed, a maid's room used as a box room, another maid's room with one bed, three store rooms, a bedroom ("good") and a further maid's room with one bed. Outside were a stable yard, a brick and tile four stall stable used as kennels, two pigsties, a harness room, garage and food room. There were also an open garage, two loose boxed ("unused"), an engine room and a battery room - "lofts over all above". There were also a timber and tile wood shed and three brick and tile kennels ("old"). In the grounds were a walled kitchen garden, a heated glasshouse (28ft by 11ft 6in), a potting shed, another heated glasshouse (28ft by 17ft) and a lean-to (19ft by 8ft). the entire site comprised 7.074 acres.

The valuer's remarks were as follows: "Central heat from stove. M[ain] hall not used. Electric light. Water pumped by wind. Motor. Grounds small - no flower garden. Good K[itchen] garden. Stands well away from Road with good approach". The valuer also noted: "Walked round it". He valued it a little lower than he might due to: "bad central heating system - stove in hall" and "only has 2 Bath Rooms". Overall he considered that it was: "Not a Good Residential Place" [DV1/C/50].

Mrs.Doyne-Ditmas sold Wootton House in the same year as the rating valuation, 1927, buying Kempston Manor with the proceeds and living there until selling that in 1935 and returning to Wootton to live at Cause End Cottage.