The Garden House, 16 Fore Street, Hatfield

Image: © Jo and Steve Turner Taken: 19 Apr 2013

Mid 18th century Grade II Listed house. Letting particulars dated the house to the 17th century and it is true that F W Speaight a connoisseur of Georgian architecture lived in at least two houses in the street and probably renovated or re-fronted a number of the older properties. Samuel Atkinson bought it in 1715 for £200, from Richard Atkins of Holborn, who had himself acquired the property shortly before from James Lowen. Atkinson ran his apothecary's practice from here and on his death in 1767 his practice appears to have been carried on by John Darby who moved out in 1777 when the house was let to a William Johnson. It became a baker's shop in the 1780s and remained as such until around 1820. In 1827 the Rev. Charles Maslen bought the house that later passed to his family. Around 1844 Rev. Thomas Ray ran a boarding school here until 1854 when his brother-in-law the Rev. Daniel Evans took charge. A 2010 single storey extension planning application, apparently on behalf of Gascoyne Cecil Estate, describes the house as 'in need of modernisation and investment' and 'kitchen is small, narrow and extremely dated'.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0