Thatched Dwellings in Meldreth

This page has been created as a record of the nineteen thatched buildings that exist in Meldreth in 2014.  Of the nineteen houses, sixteen are listed buildings (Grade II).  The three that are not listed are Walnut Cottage at 9 Whitecroft Road, 98 North End and Fordham’s Cottage 34 Chiswick End.  There is a separate page on the expansion of Fordham’s Cottage.

All the listed buildings were thatched with long straw rather than reed at the time of listing.

Only three have a sculpted thatch feature on the top of the roof: Bluebell Cottage at 41 Whitecroft Road which has a family of ducks and Fordham’s Cottage with a bird.  29 North End (the former Smithy) has a metal sculpted bird on one end.

All photographs were taken in late summer 2014.

A series of pages on building materials used in Meldreth dwellings, including a page on thatching, is available on our website.

If anyone has memories of living in any of these houses and particularly of a rethatching, we would be delighted if you could add a comment to the page.

We are also interested in copies of floor plans of any of these buildings as we would like to develop a page showing the development of village dwellings from their possible medieval frameworks.

Fieldgate Cottage 9 Station Road, Late 17th Century
Bruce Huett
Fieldgate Cottage 9 Station Road, late 17th Century
Bruce Huett
Meldreth Thatch 3 Station Road, late 17th Century
Bruce Huett
Orchard Cottage 61 Station Road, 1662
Bruce Huett
63 Station Road, 18th Century
Bruce Huett
Walnut Cottage 9 Whitecroft Road, not listed
Bruce Huett
27 Whitecroft Road, late 18th Century
Bruce Huett
30 Whitecroft Road, 17th Century
Bruce Huett
32 Whitecroft Road, mid 17th Century
Bruce Huett
Bluebell Cottage 41 Whitecroft Road, late 17th Century
Bruce Huett
Bluebell Cottage Detail
Bruce Huett
23 Chiswick End which was the Dumb Flea Public House 18th Century,
Bruce Huett
Fordham's Cottage 34 Chiswick End
Bruce Huett
Fordham Cottage 34 Chiswick End Detail
Bruce Huett
Willow Way Cottage 9-11 North End, 17th Century
Bruce Huett
Homeland 13 North End, 17th Century
Bruce Huett
The Cottage 19 North End, late 17th Century
Bruce Huett
The Old Town House 29 North End, late 17th Century
Bruce Huett
29 North End Detail
Bruce Huett
98 North End, 18th Century
Bruce Huett
The Old Bell (originally a Public House) it was called Dormers Cottage in the listing record, 51 High Street, 1676
Bruce Huett
Keys Cottage 70 High Street, 17th Century
Bruce Huett
Applecote 85 High Street, mid-late 17th Century
Bruce Huett

Comments about this page

  • My mother, Marian Thurley, grew up in the cottage at the right hand end of 13, North End and we used to visit my Grandmother there when I was a child in the late 40’s and early 50’s. It appears that the block of cottages has been made in to one now.

    By Brian Walbey (16/03/2023)
  • My family lived in Applecote on the High Street from September 1957 until March 1958 (when my father had a visiting position at Cavendish Labs and was a fellow at King’s College). During this period, the house was being rethatched by a couple of fellows – slow work. I remember being woken in the morning by birds that had burrowed into the thatching. Magical memories during my tenth year.

    By Lowell Turnbull (12/02/2021)
  • In about 1951, when I was a very little boy – maybe 4 or 5 – we lived in Applecote in the High Street. It was a lovely time for the whole family and the people of the village were warm and welcoming. Mr. Pepper kept the garden, and “Auntie Mead” help my mother with the house and looked after us when we needed it. We took part in local events; I particularly remember Guy Fawkes Night and the “guy” topped off with our American Jack-o-Lantern. I’ve explained to my wife that it was rather like the folks of “Midsummer Mysteries”, only without the ill will and bloodshed.  :^))

    By Stephen Schiavo (10/05/2017)

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