In the 1841 Census, Church Street was known as King Street, most likely after the King’s Head pub that used to stand on the street. Water Lane was Church Lane. The street names had changed to Church Street and Water Lane by the time the 1901 Census was taken.
On the corner of Church Street and Water Lane (where the cars now park in front of the church) used to be a wash pond fed by one of the many natural springs in Cottingham. With the pond being shallow at each end and deeper in the middle, carts used to drive through it to wash their wheels, and it also provided drinking water for horses. The pond has clearly been filled in, but the spring is still running, now into a water trough.
Church Street
The first four pictures below show Church Street, viewed from the Church. It is remarkably unchanged considering the major changes that have been made elsewhere in the village.
The first picture below shows the other end of Church Street, with the Manor Farmhouse and the Crown Inn in the background.
If you look carefully you can see a small corrugated roof on the right hand side. This was a shared toilet used by Mrs Licquorish who lived in the cottage just in front of the shack (with the window open) and Nance Bradshaw who lived in the ‘one up-one down’ cottage on the opposite side of the road.
Post Office, Chamberlain’s Yard and Bakery
There was also a Post Office/grocer’s store and a bakery located in Church Street, and the area opposite the shop was known as Chamberlain’s Yard, where the cottages were originally service buildings for the King’s Head coaching inn opposite.
Reading Room
In 1885, a Reading Room opened in the village. In those days, most villages had a reading room where villagers could go to read books and newspapers. There were no lending libraries around at that time, and few villagers would have had money to spend on luxuries such as books.
The Reading Room was located in Church Street, next to the Kings Head pub, in what later became Museum Casts’ workshop. The stone arched doorway which was the original entrance to the Reading Room can still be seen to the right of the room. There was a hatch in the wall between the Reading Room and the pub which can still be seen today. Rumour has it that the ladies of the village weren’t allowed in the pub, so used to go into the Reading Room and have drinks passed to them through the hatch!
The Reading Room is listed in the Kelly’s Directories with the following entry: “The Reading Room…is supplied with the daily and other papers and periodicals.” Thomas Beecroft, listed as secretary in 1890 and 1903, was also the schoolmaster at the time (1903-1914). Thomas Spriggs is listed as secretary in the 1906 and 1914 directories.
The Reading Room was taken over as the headquarters for the Home Guard during the Second World War. We have been told that the reading room re-opened after the War for a few years, but opinion is mixed! I have also been told that the local lads used to play snooker in there for a while after the War
The Old Rectory
The Old Rectory sits at the top of Church Street, on the right hand side opposite the Church. In 1901, the vicar for Cottingham was the Reverend William Millington, who lived at The Rectory with his wife and one daughter, employing three live-in servants – a housekeeper, a cook and a page boy. The lady with the bicycle is Mrs Roberts, Mother of Rev G.W. ‘Glop’ Roberts, who was a previous vicar of St Mary Magdalene Church.
Water Lane
Water Lane houses some of the oldest cottages in the village, dating back to the 13th Century. A former stonemason’s house at no 11 (formerly known as Stoneways) includes a piece of decorative stonework dated 1863.
This 1920s picture shows Water Lane viewed towards Church Street, with the pathway up to the church on the left. The little boy with the scooter on the right is Bernard Beadsworth.
The remains of a c17th Century limekiln are located in the field at the end of Water Lane and a small stone building on the right, as you head from the church, that used to be an Assay Office, where trucks would stop to have the lime weighed before heading out of the village.