Old Church Cottage

Other names have included Courthope Cottage and Diamond Cottage.

Some census records are included at the end of the page, following the brief house history below, written by the current owners and originally published in The Messenger magazine in March 2025

Old Church Cottage by Bob Baldock

We moved into Old Church Cottage in 2015 having fallen in love with the area. As time passed the house began to reveal herself to us and something of her hidden past. The earliest structure on this site, as I understand it, was built around the mid-1500s and probably consisted of a hall and chamber. In the early 1600s a large building, standing slightly apart from the original house, with its gable-end facing The Street, was constructed. In 1612, it was mentioned as a house at the Church Gate, and was later divided into two parts.

The earliest deed, dated 1675, was between Robert Chapman, labourer, and Stephen Baker, yeoman. Chapman had recently conveyed to John Baker, tailor, ‘all that his shop which was then in the occupation of the said John Baker which said shop did belong and was fixed to and under part of the same roof as the tenement then in the occupation of Robert Chapman’.

During the early 1700s, the oldest part of the house was rebuilt as a timber-framed, single-bay, two-storey structure, with its gable to the south. The mid-1700s saw the house extended by one bay to the south.

Around the beginning of the 1800s, the building was again extended by the addition of a timber-framed wing at the southern end, comprising a single room on each floor and a cellar below. At a slightly later date, a lean-to, with a cantered front wall and cat-slide roof was added. By 1842 both parts were owned by John Sawyer. It was then a house and yard with three occupants; Mrs Barnes, John Sands and Tristam Booth. At this date, the earlier structure to the north was still standing and can be seen in this early photograph (below left).

An interesting piece of history links Old Church Cottage to the school. In 1842, Reverend George Wagner became vicar of St Giles and opened a boys’ school for the poor in a room within Church Cottage. The steps to the schoolroom door can just be seen on the left of the photograph (above right). In 1849 the school was relocated to the site now known as the Old School, but the link remained.

In 1884 William Peploe was appointed headmaster and an indenture of sale, dated 26 October 1929, still listed William Peploe as a tenant of No. 1 Church Cottage. Around 1900, the northern end of the complex was demolished and the main house extended to the north and east. These works increased the length of the main house but the overall footprint was reduced, the house looking much as it does today.

To update the story, one sunny June afternoon in 2023, an elderly gentleman and younger woman knocked at our door. It turned out that the gentleman’s parents had purchased the two Church Cottages in 1946, one being let and the other used for family holidays, and had inherited documents relating to the property going back to the 1600s, which they very kindly donated to us.

The gifted indentures are truly remarkable, the oldest dating from 1691, and though hard to decipher, they are helping to fill in the complex history of our house.

Census records

  • 1841 Census
  • 1842 Rev Wagner opened a school for boys in a back room of Church Cottage
  • 1851 Census
  • 1861 Census: James Dymond Head. 25 b 1836 Beaford, Devon National Schoolmaster Certified   RebeccaDymond 22 1839 Sister. Beaford, Devon National Schoolmistress   Francis B Perham 4 1857 Nephew Woolwick, Kent Scholar   
  • 1871 Census “Diamond Cottage”
Henry?Tassell261845HeadHastings, Sussex
Mary ATassell241847SisterHastings, Sussex
WilliamTassell101861BrotherHastings, Sussex
  • 1881 Census
  • 1891 Census (“Diamond Cottage”)
    PEPLOE William J 32 Head Schoolmaster Stourbridge Worcs
    PEPLOE Marianne 27 Sister Schoolmistress Worcs
    PEPLOE James 66 Father Retd butler & house steward Worcs
    PEPLOE Jane 65 Mother Worcs
  • 1901 Census (“School House”)
    William J Peploe 41 Head Schoolmaster 1860 Stourbridge, Worcs
    Marianne Peploe 38 Sister Schoolmistress 1863 Stourbridge, Worcs
    Jane Peploe 75 Mother 1826 Kidderminster,
  • 1911 Census (“The Street”)
    William James Peploe 52 Head Head Teacher 1859 Stourbridge
    Marianne Peploe 49 Sister Assistant Teacher 1862 Stourbridge
  • 1921 Census
  • 1939 Register:
    Mary Jones b 4th May 1889 50 Female Single Unpaid Domestic Duties
    Edith Jones 28th September 1893 46 Female Single House Parlourmaid
    Percy Jones 6th February 189940 Male Single Incapacitated

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