Building record 1271100000 - 1 & 2 GARDEN COTTAGES, THE HILL

Grade II. C17 timber framed with red brick nogging, tiled roof, central chimney. Two storeys. Two modern porches, 3 modern steel windows to each floor. Two bay house, exposed framing to north gable and rear wall. Modern extensions to no 2 (B1).
Formerly 'The Garden'. This house is now divided in two, and it has only been possible to investigate half of it. It is of two full storeys, but only two bays, one of them 15' 6" sq. (4.76 m sq.), the other 15' 6" x 14' (4.76 x 4.3 m). Unlike Red Lion Cottage it has no half bay for the stack, which occupies a
large part of the smaller, south bay. But, as at Red Lion Cottage, all four rooms were heated. The twin bearers represent a later alteration.
The Garden was, for over 150 years, the home of a branch of the Dean family. John Dean is attested there in 1657, and the evidence of wills takes the connection back to Sylvester Dean, who died in 1620, and probably to William Dean 'of Winchmore Hill', who died in 1589. A plausible date for the
building of this house is 1620, when William Dean II succeeded his father Sylvester at the age of 50. The accompanying land amounted to some
35 acres (14.28 ha), and could hardly have been worked by William and his only son, John, but there is no sign of accommodation for farm
servants: the first floor was open to the roof. William's nephew Robert received a legacy in his will, and may have lived with the family and helped on the farm. The will also directed that the widow was to have 'the chamber over the hall' for her lodging. This was presumably the larger of the two upstairs rooms; her daughter Susan was to share it with her. William was a man of some substance, able to leave Susan £140. [Plan, elevation and section](B2).