Lock cottage for sale

[ditchcrawler]

The cottage at the top of the Stockton flight is up for sale. I looks a nice property Details HERE

[Southern Star]

It seems bizarre that back in the 1930s this would have been provided to a lock keeper as part of his employment, whereas 80 years later there is no way a lock keeper would ever be able to afford to live there.

[twbm]

It seems bizarre that back in the 1930s this would have been provided to a lock keeper as part of his employment, whereas 80 years later there is no way a lock keeper would ever be able to afford to live there.

 

Same as pretty much every other form of tied accommodation: farm workers, mills. They could only 'afford' to live there because it came with the job. Colleague of mine has just been given 4 weeks to get out of his company provided house so it can be sold, as he has just tendered his retirement notice. He reckons he's about £200k to 300k short of the purchase price on what he'll get a mortgage on.

[Kendal]

The buyer will need to like walking. No access by car and 0.5km from the nearest parking place. My wife wouldn't fancy that twice a week with all the shopping! Could always deliver it by boat I guess, but sadly no mooring included.

 

I suspect the parking issue might be a showstopper for some.

[Machpoint005]

Not a lot of point living beside the canal if you can't moor your boat there, IMO. But if there were a BOTG mooring, I wouldn't need all those bedrooms.

[David Schweizer]

The buyer will need to like walking. No access by car and 0.5km from the nearest parking place. My wife wouldn't fancy that twice a week with all the shopping! Could always deliver it by boat I guess, but sadly no mooring included.

 

I suspect the parking issue might be a showstopper for some.

 

And there is no designated parking space, you have to compete with dog walkers, people living on boats etc, The other cottage is still lived in by the former lock keeper, he parks an old car in the layby to reserve his spot and parks the car hwe uses behind it blocking in the old car.

Edited April 4, 2014 by David Schweizer

[Laurence Hogg]

It seems bizarre that back in the 1930s this would have been provided to a lock keeper as part of his employment, whereas 80 years later there is no way a lock keeper would ever be able to afford to live there.

Not bizarre at all, we should still have lock keepers with a salary to reflect the accommodation supplied, we wouldn't need CRT volunteers then who don't know how to use Ham Baker paddle gear,

[Ange]

 

Same as pretty much every other form of tied accommodation: farm workers, mills. They could only 'afford' to live there because it came with the job. Colleague of mine has just been given 4 weeks to get out of his company provided house so it can be sold, as he has just tendered his retirement notice. He reckons he's about £200k to 300k short of the purchase price on what he'll get a mortgage on.

Very true. My grandfather was a shepherd, and they lived in a tied cottage that recently sold for a quarter of a million.

 

The sad thing is that young people born and brought up in that village (Pluckley, Kent for anyone that knows the area) have no chance of owning or renting a property in the village that generations of their family lived in.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Ange

[Derek R.]

There is much that could be written of the move from an agricultural land to an industrial land, to a socially changed land – and indeed has been. At the root of all is the desire for big business to reap the profits of industry, and that business takes no account and has little concern for ways of life of those individuals who make up the working masses. Amongst those masses are many who seek to better their lot – better job, better home, better car. With rising prosperity and rising population, the market is fed with the desire for increases in more than wages – better living conditions, and shopping conveniently at supermarkets which rang the death knell of the corner store. Likewise, the drive to 'own' property fuelled a housing boom, and so prices - whether owned or rented - climbed ever higher due to demand outstripping supply. The old adage of a job being the acronym for keeping one Just Over Broke is most apt. Hence the credit lifestyle of so many, and in that there is only one winner.

 

We live in a rented house that was originally built for farm workers in the 1950’s. Those workers are many fewer than back then due to mechanisation in agriculture, and the quality of the property was not sufficient to warrant selling off, so they are rented out with maintenance costs kept to a minimum. The tenant can make certain improvements at his own cost, but they become the property of the landlord, and on a rolling six month tenure – is there any incentive?

 

Looking at the interiors of both the recently displayed houses, it is clear where the influence has been derived – profit, and spare no expense - even if it's a gamble. The various TV programs of 'developed' houses has inspired many I'm sure.

 

Here’s another lock keepers cottage which I photographed in the early 1980’s still in the ownership of British Waterways. Some of you will recognise it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll wager it is very different today, though still probably without vehicular access.

 

The character of Mr. Turnbull from 'The Bargee' and his like, are pushing up the Daisies now, though there are many who still seek the simpler life. Sadly, the market will be denying them the chance - unless of course that market collapses, and I believe that is not about to happen - though things will get tougher.

[jelunga]

 

And there is no designated parking space, you have to compete with dog walkers, people living on boats etc, The other cottage is still lived in by the former lock keeper, he parks an old car in the layby to reserve his spot and parks the car hwe uses behind it blocking in the old car.

And he is a thoroughly nice man. We were moored opposite the pub (Birdingbury?) and he comes down the towpath. I asked where the nearest rubbish bin was. He very kindly took our rubbish in his car to the household waste station half a mile down the road.

[roland elsdon]

We used to moor on that pound before it got popular and then turned into moorings , lovely spot nice walk to car, if it's still there. Then lethal turn or cross canal bridge. Used to leave my car at work in rugby and cycle. Would never buy a canal side property specially a lock cottage. noise arguments smoke and blood. Buy a nice house in a village away from the cut then you appreciate both.

[Athy]

Would never buy a canal side property specially a lock cottage. noise arguments smoke and blood.

 

 

 

Ah, the peace of the waterways, eh? Your experience of canals would appear to differ from many people's.

 

We have lived waterside for seven years now (though not in a lock cottage) and have not noted any of the things you mention.

[lydfordcastle]

 

And there is no designated parking space, you have to compete with dog walkers, people living on boats etc, The other cottage is still lived in by the former lock keeper, he parks an old car in the layby to reserve his spot and parks the car hwe uses behind it blocking in the old car.

 

I'm surprised that the existing owner didn't sort out the car parking problem for this cottage. There is a driveable track from the sharp bend in Stockton Lane which ends close by the concrete canal bridge between locks 4 and 5 (counting downhill) and a temporary roadway was made from that point in the early 1990's by the contractor installing fibre optic cables which terminated just by the cottage which is for sale. The driveable bridle track and the temporary roadway up the top four locks were used for some months by the contractor's vehicles. I don't know if the current occupier of the top cottage is the former lockie who was there in the 80's and 90's but I'm pretty sure that at that time he had at least two road vehicles in his back garden and he also kept a boat moored at the far end of the top lock landing that he was working on for some time.

[ditchcrawler]

Traveling up the S Oxford to the Thames I see that Claydon Lock Cottage is up for sale again, Full details here

[archie57]

Sorry to be pedantic, but the Lock Cottage at Claydon was demolished many years ago, the building for sale was formerly workshops

[ditchcrawler]

Sorry to be pedantic, but the Lock Cottage at Claydon was demolished many years ago, the building for sale was formerly workshops

Fine by me, that is quite correct