11A High Street

Present-day address: Gladstone Cottage, 11A High Street, Badsey

A detached house, probably built on the east side of High Street in the 18th century, extended in the mid 19th century and again in the 20th century. In 1812, at the time of the Badsey Enclosure Act, this plot of land was an old enclosure which belonged to Thomas Payne. It was described as “Payne’s cottages and gardens” and amounted to 19 perches; he Enclosure Map shows the cottages at right-angles to the High Street.. The Enclosure awards do not indicate how many cottages there were, but a deed of sale of 1842 indicates that there were two. In 1842, the cottages were sold to Joseph Knight, a carpenter and builder. Joseph added an extension to the cottage nearest the High Street making a far more substantial dwelling and with a door opening on to the street. The name KNIGHT can clearly be seen on a photograph of 1968. However, the name may have been added in the first half of the 20th century, as a man by the name of Knight lived there in the inter-war period and he had the sign “Painter & Glazier” outside. The cottage at the rear, and two further ones which were built on the east side of High Street (known as The Alley), were demolished in the 1960s.

Photographer: Rosemarie Davies, May 2021; © The Badsey Society