During restoration, a closer look at the frame confirmed its medieval credentials. It was of oak and appeared to have been of aisled hall construction. The aisles were gone but it is said that the mortises remained. The original roof timbers were blackened indicating that the brick chimney stack, with its bread oven, was a later insertion. The frame was supported by a traditional brick plinth, which suggests a 16th/17th century rebuild. Its core dimensions are similar to those specified in the Eynsham Abbey cartulary of 1268 for the St Etheldreda vicarage. Could this be a previous incarnation of Stone Corner Cottage? However, the width would be a common feature of such a construction. Additional bays could add length to a building, but its width was dependent on the crossbeams. Width was limited to the average length of timbers produced by our native oaks.

Recent test pitting by Histon & Impington Archaeology Group in this area strongly suggests that Church End, Histon (Church Street area) suffered greatly during the years of the Black Death. No specific Black Death related documents survive for the parish of Histon but there were 189 landholders in 1279 compared to just 54 families in 1563. The density of pottery sherds unearthed indicate that this area was the site of Romano British, Saxon and High Medieval settlement until about 1400.

In 1455 the vicarage was reported to be in a derelict state and the Abbot of Eynesham was ordered to rebuild it. Did he rebuild? No further documentary or physical evidence for a vicarage has so far been discovered. We know that by 1588 the parishioners of St Etheldreda’s claimed that the church was dilapidated and close to ruin. In 1599 it was reported that the nave had recently been demolished, reputably by Sir Francis Hynde (d. 1596) in order to provide materials/money for improvements to Madingley Hall. In 1638 inquiries were made into the cost of building a new church. By 1728 only the chancel, in poor repair, appeared to be still standing. Modern inspection of village walls confirms that much of the church’s remaining fabric was recycled by the community before 1745! The churchyard was taken into Abbey Farm before the Enclosure of 1806.

I would like to think that the Abbot of Eynsham rebuilt the vicarage and it is Stone Corner Cottage. I would like to think that the tantalising similarities in the build of the two properties (planned and extant) does suggest that the timber frame was reused. The church had its own vicar until 1607. After 1607 the vicar of St Andrew’s Histon was appointed to serve both parishes. A redundant oak framed vicarage would have value whatever its state. Maybe it was demolished, and the timbers reused with a brick plinth and new chimney. Old aerial photographs appear to show the chimney emerging through the cottage’s ridge, not to one side as is often seen in ancient properties if a stack has been inserted at a later date.

However, whatever the true history of Stone Corner Cottage, it is reassuring to know that the frame of a relatively high status aisled hall house of 14th century origin survives and is home to another family in Histon.

Histon, 6th April 2020