Pitt Cottages

From The Muniment Room, a resource for social history, family history, and local history.

Pitt Cottages were a pair of semi-detached cottages at Downend on the Isle of Wight Estates.^[1] They were built sometime after the 1817 Survey.

Tenants

• Gus Read (1952), Estate Foreman
• --- (1952), and sublet to Downend Lime Co.

References

1. ↑ Memorandum concerning the disposal of the Isle of Wight Estates to best advantage, 1952  (WFMS:1587 ): "One further problem this raises is the pair of cottages in the North East corner of Arreton Down. These are both included in the lease of Downend Brickyard which forms part of Iot 1, and the question is whether to include them in the sale of the Brickyard or to make arrangements (which should not be difficult) to remove one or both from the lease and keep them with the land to be retained. They are semi-detached, one being sublet (contrary to the terms of the lease) to the Downend Lime Co., which we consider would be of much more value in the future to the Lime Co., than to the Brick Co. The other one is legally sublet to the Estate foreman, Mr. G. Read; we do not know whether the question of a pension to this man, who has been a very loyal servant to the Estate for more than 30 years, has been, or will be considered but it is possible that this question might be overcome by retaining the cottage for his occupation. It has, in any event, small capital value as his tenancy is a controlled one. This procedure would also greatly assist in the continued exploitation of turf from Arreton Down and, moreover, be of great advantage in regard to the Estates' liabilities for the land to be retained and such parts of the remainder of the Estate as may temporarily remain unsold."