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CHAUFFEURS COTTAGE, LITTLE EVERDON


 

Photograph and description kindly donated by Neil Hudson whose grandparents were Mr & Mrs Brown

 

The first house in Little Everdon, as you go over the hill, was a tied cottage of Everdon Hall and was once the residence of the chauffeur to the owners of the Hall, the Hawkins family. Up to the 1940s water was only available from a well and pump in the back garden. In the age of the horse and carriage servants of the aristocracy who visited the Hall could meet at the cottage to buy a pint of beer or ale, the barrels of which were kept on a raised brick shelf in the back passage. From 1933 the house was home to the family of Albert Brown (the chauffeur), his wife Selina and daughter Olive. When Mrs Dorothy Hawkins went on her frequent visits to Switzerland for medical treatment she was driven of course by Albert. Whilst they were away on these visits Mrs Brown and Olive had to stay in the Hall for security reasons. After the death of Mr Brown it was expected that his widow should work at the Hall in order to keep the cottage. Mrs Brown worked at the Hall as cook and housekeeper and a working day from 7 a.m. till 10 p.m. was not unusual. All the cottages in Little Everdon were, I believe, tied to Everdon Hall and housed staff, i.e. butler, chauffeur, cow man, farm manager, gardener, groom etc. The cottage shown in the picture was known as "Chauffeur's Cottage" and was one of three in an L shaped block but now all three cottages have been knocked into one. I think the picture was taken in the 1920s. Albert Brown (1884-1951) Selina Mary Brown (1897-1986) Olive Lena Brown (now Olive Hudson) (born 1928)