Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

BRIDGE HOUSE, CHURCH STREET: A SHORT HISTORY 135 lime mortar. The lime mortar is softer than the bricks, so any moisture escaping from the chimney passes through the mortar and not the bricks. With cement pointing the faces of the bricks are blown off in frost. Any badly damaged brick was carefully removed and, where possible, turned around so the fresh face was showing. Where necessary the gutters and downpipes were repaired with matching cast-iron products. Most of the original gutters were cleaned up and repainted. The front door was sympathetically repaired by splicing in replacement timber where there was a need for repairs. The whole of the exterior walls was lathed with oak laths. These were fixed to oak counter battens fixed to the frame. Stainless steel fixings were used as the tannic acid in green oak quickly attacks plain steel. To fix the laths I used over 12,000 nails. Once they were complete, lime render was mixed on site using pre- mixed lime putty and plastering sand. These were mixed and then stored in a heap, covered with tarpaulin for at least three months. This allows the render to improve with age. After three months the render is re- mixed and at this stage goat hair is added to provide more strength. The render was applied in three coats. The walls were protected by hessian which was hosed down daily to prevent the render from drying too quickly and to limit cracking through shrinkage. Once the render had dried, at least six coats of limewash were applied by brush, the wall first being dampened. As previously mentioned, the finish was limewash containing sulphate of iron to produce the distinctive rusty orange colour. As the ground level outside is still higher than the internal floor level, a French drain was installed around the whole house. This consists of a perforated drainpipe buried in a trench of pea shingle. The pipe drains away from the house and I arranged it to outfall into the underground stream in the culvert. This drain carries away any water in the ground directly adjacent to the house. I am hopeful I may be allowed to replace the missing projecting window from the front gable of the cross-wing, which is at the moment is just an opening uncovered by the removal of the modern render. Internally, there is much work left to complete, which I am now concentrating on. A final word of thanks to all the family who have helped tremendously with their tireless support and practical help, and to my friends who have kept me cheerful throughout. A special thank you to my fantastic neighbours Richard, Melanie, Heather and Howard for their constant support and cups of tea. And finally to all the residents of Buckden, including members of the Local History Society, to whom I have so enjoyed chatting. Ghost stories In a house that has been occupied for five and a half centuries, there are bound to be a few residents reluctant to leave... With a property of such age, built in 1458 during the reign of Henry VI, it is inevitable there are stories of ghosts in residence. I can only recount my personal experiences and leave it to readers to come to their own conclusions. The first night I stayed in the house, having only just moved my possessions in that day, I was sat alone in the sitting-room. The room was lit only by two small wall lights either side of the large inglenook fireplace, which at that time was bricked up to form a small grate centrally. The rest of the house was in darkness. Suddenly both lights began flashing, on off on off on off... this continued for approximately thirty seconds whereupon they returned to normal. I put this down to the old wiring but this incident was never repeated. Peggy, a friend of the previous owner Miss Beckwith, called in to introduce herself. In the course of our chat Peggy was telling me what a lovely house Bridge House was. She recounted happy memories of her time spent here among friends. Her only reservations concerned the bedroom in the cross-wing at the front of the house. When I told Peggy that I was currently sleeping in this room she became concerned. Peggy had slept in this room when she was staying with her friend whilst she was searching for a house in Buckden. In the morning, she was awake but lying in bed dozing with her eyes shut. The room door was closed and there was no one else in the room with her. Suddenly she became conscious of an animal having jumped up on to the bed. She could feel the weight of the animal upon her and then felt it walking up her body, turning round and round upon her chest in the manner of a dog settling down. Then the weight of the resting animal could be felt on her chest. At this point Peggy realised that she was alone in the room and opened her eyes with a start. The pressure upon her vanished and there was nothing to be seen. One evening I invited some friends round for drinks. We had a very pleasant evening sitting in the old kitchen. One of my guests, who had an interest in the house, said that if there were ghosts I must talk to them, letting them know my plans for the restoration. Well, after a few drinks and a long evening I bade farewell to my friends and was left alone sitting in the kitchen. Mindful of my friend’s advice, and conscious that the kitchen was due to be demolished, I took