Ashley House

Ashley House

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Ashley House and its adjoining property (Ashville) may be buildings of some antiquity. They have an appearance suggesting they were constructed at different times - although they abut each other, Ashville is set back slightly from Ashley House and they are connected by a single vertical mortar joint. The windows of Ashley House were replaced in early 2010 but they continue to be recessed and their frames partly concealed which is a form of construction found after 1775. Those of Ashville are more flush with the walls with exposed frames - a style found before 1725. Of course, the windows in both properties are likely to have been renewed from time to time and we cannot be sure that they conform to their original positioning. Nevertheless, the Inclosure Map of the 1770s shows some structure at this point in Church Lane and this may well have been one or both of these dwellings. The properties are both very clearly identified on the O.S. Map of 1853 and succeeding surveys.

The garage extension on the left of the picture is, obviously, a modern addition but the general appearance of the main house seems to accord with what was probably first built many years ago.

Click here for information about previous owners where it is explained how the house was conveyed to Johnson Wrigglesworth. He is mentioned by George Wainwright (Book one "Villagers' Reminiscences") who says "Slater" Wrigglesworth was another character. He used to look after the church roof and it used to take him ages to send the bills. I never did find out why. He was a tall chap, who lived in the house ("Ashley House"), which the Traver's own now.

On the 30th November 1931 Wrigglesworth sold Ashley House for £700 to John Birkby. Strangely, he bought it back on the 6th July 1939 when Elizabeth Birkby (described as a spinster) was the joint purchaser. It is assumed that Wrigglesworth had continued to occupy the property throughout the years of Birkby's ownership - presumably, paying rent. He died in June 1959 and Eliza Birkby (now described as a widow) conveyed the property on the 24th October 1959 to William Hugh Wade and Joan Wade who later sold it in October 1962 to Richard Robert Randall Inman. The price was £5250 - a more than sevenfold increase in thirty years!

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