Summer Apple Cottages

Precise architectural dating of the Summer Apple Cottages is not given in the newspaper accounts; they were simply “old” thatched buildings of the type common in the village from the 17th century onward (timber-framed with brick infill, thatched roofs, open fireplaces and chamfered beams—features noted in the Royal Commission inventory for Church Lane and Church End properties).

In summary: the formal parish Poor Houses in Church End (Summer Apple Cottages and cottage opposite numbers 8-14) served under the Old Poor Law until rendered obsolete by the 1834 reforms and were sold in 1838 to W. Purssell. The later Church Lane thatched row known as Summer Apple Cottages continued the pattern of modest housing for poorer residents until their destruction by fire in August 1947; the site was offered for redevelopment in 1949 but the auction failed to reach a satisfactory price. Church and parish officials were central to both the administration of relief and the community response to the fire, even if exact builders and construction dates for the earlier Poor Houses remain unrecorded in the readily available sources. 

Parish Poor Houses (Church End)

Under the Old Poor Law (rooted in the 1601 Poor Relief Act and earlier Elizabethan legislation), each parish was responsible for its own poor via overseers of the poor (often working with churchwardens). Parishes commonly owned or rented “poor houses,” “parish houses,” or small workhouses to lodge the impotent poor (elderly, infirm, orphans, or those temporarily unable to support themselves). These were usually ordinary cottages rather than purpose-built institutions.

In Weston Turville the Poor Houses stood in Church End. Overseers lodged the poor there until the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 created Poor Law Unions and centralised relief in larger workhouses. The local properties then became redundant. The Poor Law Commissioners ordered their sale; proceeds were to go into Rickford’s Bank. They were auctioned on 14 February 1838 to Mr W. Purssell for £175. After expenses, about £136 reached the Union books (paid in instalments February–December 1838). A small outstanding balance (£34 2s 6d from Charles Horner) appears never to have been recovered. The money reduced the poor rate for the following six months rather than being invested for ongoing benefit—a point later criticised by the Parish Council.

Exact construction date, builder, and original acquisition are not recorded in the surviving local summaries. They almost certainly pre-dated the early 19th century and may have been 17th- or 18th-century cottages adapted for parish use, consistent with the many timber-framed, thatched cottages documented in Church End and nearby. A bakehouse is noted among the facilities that disappeared with the change in the Poor Law. Churchwardens and the rector were routinely involved in parish administration of relief and charities, but no specific endowment or building gift by the church for these particular houses has been identified.

“Summer Apple Cottages,” Church Lane (the 1947 fire)

These were a row of four old thatched cottages on Church Lane (frontage about 80 ft, depth about 195 ft), described as one of the most picturesque parts of the village. They stood near The Chequers public house. 

They housed ordinary tenants rather than functioning as formal parish poor houses (the latter having been sold a century earlier). 

We have a postcard from 1936 sent from a new occupant off one of these cottages that states they have moved into a 400 year old cottage with modern conveniences just installed.

One of the families that lived there were the Rouse's Frederick and Muriel. Frederick was a General Clerk and shorthand typist with the RAF who also gave shorthand and bookkeeping tuition in Summer Apple Cottages. 

Occupants included the Lonsdale family (Mrs Lonsdale and children John, Jean and others), Miss Susan North (elderly resident at No. 1), the Wrights (who had moved to London), and others; some were war-time evacuees.

On Friday afternoon, 22 August 1947 (reported in The Bucks Herald, 29 August 1947), fire broke out in the thatch. Children raised the alarm after hearing a bump and discovering the bedroom ceiling fallen and flames visible along the roofs. Aylesbury and Wendover National Fire Service crews attended; hydrants were tapped and water drawn from a nearby stream, but the tinder-dry thatch and thick roofs made control difficult. The four cottages were gutted—“gaunt stone skeletons with broken windows, gaping and scorched”—and the occupants rendered homeless. Neighbouring property (including The Chequers) was saved. Villagers and the churchwarden (Mr H. C. Wakefield) quickly offered shelter: Church Hall, private homes, and temporary accommodation. Miss North later publicly thanked neighbours for their help.

A village fund under the Women’s Voluntary Service “Help Your Neighbour” scheme, run by Mrs W. H. Neatherway, raised over £16 within days; the Parish Council kept it open. Some families had lost nearly all clothing and belongings; one mother and children (wartime evacuees from Lewisham) were temporarily separated.

The cleared site was offered for sale by auction (W. Brown & Co.) as a freehold building site on Wednesday 19 January 1949 at the Bull’s Head Hotel, Aylesbury (or earlier by private treaty). Some building materials were included; the sewer connection remained intact. In the event the sale (land adjoining The Chequers, formerly the site of the four cottages) was withdrawn after the highest bid reached only £310 (Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News, 21 January 1949).