1977 - Cornforth Cottage, 4 Manor Road, on the left and 2 Manor Road before alterations to Number 2.
Number 2 has 1758 scratched into the left part of the stonework, which may indicate age of original stone (the right hand part is newer). Number 4 is probably circa 1700 stone and thatch.
These are part of a block of four properties on the corner with Haynes Lane, owned by George Smith according to the 1910 Revluation. The vertical scores on the stonework are sharpening marks for the slate pencils that children used on their slates, indicating that this may once have been a school. See "Slate pencil sharpening" in slhs archive.
It may be that this was the location of the Dame School, with the 1841 census showing an Alice Haines, schoolmistress living here aged 60. (Was Haynes Lane named after this family - it was the era of naming streets e.g. Drings Lane, Waterloo, Johnsons Road). It was a small fee paying private school, which closed down in 1872.
Image Reference: 0499
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