The Squatter's Cottage

When this was common land, there was an unwritten understanding that if someone could mark out a cottage,build a hearth, light a fire and boil a pot before they were discovered by the commoners and evicted, they had the right to go on and build a cottage incorporating the fireplace and a chimney.

This is the only survivor in our parish. Until three years ago the cottage was lost in the woods and derelict, with a corrugated tin roof on which a laurel tree rested, threatening the whole structure. The cottage was taken over by English Heritage, stabilised and sold on to a young couple with two small children. They moved a caravan onto the site and painstakingly rebuilt the cottage using traditional techniques and with expert help when needed. This is the finished result. The clearing in which it sits is completely tranquil and undisturbed.