(Grade II listed in 1956)
(Grade II listed in 1956)
The Inventory describes this as a 17th century building with re-used ashlar in the walls, which to me implies the re-use ot Abbey stone. Although this whole range of buildings seems to form a unity, a closer look shows that they were all built at different times.
In late Victorian times, this was a bootmaker's shop run by a Mr Gill, and the Reed family then lived here for 60 years. At one time, rum was traded from here, according to an account book found during restoration work ~ the existence of accounts may suggest that the trade was a legitimate one. Again, it may not ... It was one of the Abbotsbury "passage houses": a pair of houses with a common entrance ~ the lobby with two doors is still there.
The "IR SR 1785" plaque above the door hints at the record of a marriage begun here in that year, and may be linked to a story told by an Australian visitor in 2005. She had been brought up on the tale of an ancestor working on the 19th century restoration of the parish church, who had fallen in love with a beautiful young girl he had seen sewiing in a window, and had later married her. The house where he had first seen her, the visitor said, had the name "Bailey" over the door. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of old houses in the village with any sort of name over the door, and when the visitor was asked to describe the window more precisely, it turned out to be a bow or bay window. That presented a fresh problem ~ the only house with that type of window doesn't have a name over the door. The lady's sister in London had apparently done a lot more research into the family's Abbotsbudy connections, but has still (2007) not come forward with any light on the mystery.
Unusually, the house is freehold, and may be one of the houses reputedly sold for £100 each by the Estate some years ago.