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14 Buckden Roundabout
September 2018
(£2.10p) a quarter. So the
total rental income for the
two was £16-4-0 (£16.20p)
per year.
The cottages were bought
by Gertrude Gale, widow of
Buckden – presumably a
member of the well known
Gale family.
In 1929 Gertrude Gale sold
the properties on again.
They were bought by James
Wooley, a retired game-
keeper. In 1949, James
died, having appointed
Richard William Wooley to
be his sole executor. There is no indication in the deeds what
relation, if any, Richard was to James. He is described as a
Railway Ganger, living at 6 Council Houses, Holme.
In 1950 he sold one of the cottages to his wife, for £150. Mrs
Wooley then held onto the property until 1976. When she
sold it she was still living in
Holme, so she had probably
rented it out all this time. She
sold it to Dorothy Ivy Owens
who was then living in Cranfield
Way. She paid £3,600 for it. Ms
Owens made a very good bar-
gain, because 6 months after
buying it, she mortgaged the
property for £6,950. Perhaps
she used the money on doing it
up and possibly extending it.
The interest rate she paid was
10.75% - unthinkable today. In
1978, just two years after she
bought it for £3,600, Ms Owens
sold it for £15,500 to a Mr and
Mrs James. They borrowed £13,950 – a 90% mortgage, at a
rate of 9.75%. 90% mortgages are not a new phenomenon.
But the Jameses were probably well pleased with their bar-
gain, because in 1980, they sold it again to a Mr and Mrs
Payne for £26,500. So from 1976 to 1980, its value rose by
over 70%. It sounds a lot, but in those 4 years the RPI went up
by 66%, so house prices only increased slightly more than in-
flation.
In 1994 Mrs Payne sold it to a Mr Gosschalk and Ms Whittall,
of the Lion Hotel Buckden for £38,500. In 14 years it had gone
up in value by 45%. The RPI in the same period went up 248%!
Buckden has many old properties and if any of our readers
have any old deeds that they would be willing to lend, or even
give, to Buckden History Society, we would be very grateful as
it will add to our picture of the history of the village. Please
contact blhschairman@btinternet.com
(Based on a talk given by John Thelwall to Buckden Local His-
tory Society on 6th June 2018. A fuller version can be found on
the Roundabout website here: http://tinyurl.com/y8luvnl5 )
(Continued from page 13)
A Buckden House
Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box Appeal, 2018
Buckden Community will be taking part in the above appeal
and shoe boxes will be collected in November. Operation
Christmas Child is a worthwhile charity making a difference
at Christmas, by giving shoe boxes containing small gifts to
children in poor countries.
Gift suggestions:
Toiletries: Toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, comb, hair
clips, bar of soap, flannel, etc. No Bottles or liquid items
please.
Educational Supplies: Felt pens, pens, pencils, pencil sharp-
ener, eraser, colouring book, notepad, picture or puzzle
book, chalk, pencil case, stickers, solar calculators, etc.
Toys: Cuddly toy with CE LABEL, doll, toy truck, skipping
rope, yo-yo, ball, small puzzle, etc.
Other items: Hat, scarf, gloves, sunglasses, hair accessories,
wind up torch, jewellery set, sweets (best before date of at
least March 2019)
Are you able to knit a puppet, hat, scarf, gloves for a Christ-
mas shoebox please? Patterns are available
Of course, you may like to do your own shoebox and this
would be very welcome.
Donations of money always welcome for transportation as
this year it will cost £5 to transport each box. Thank you.
If you would like more information, contact Carol Swepstone
810053 or visit samaritans-purse.org.uk/occ which has lots
of interesting information such as “The journey of a shoe-
box”, Stories from children who have received a shoebox
and are now an adult, the impact a shoebox gives a child and
lots more.
A view of Lucks Lane from the south—
one of the oldest streets in Buckden
Cambridge Building Society
Community Magazine Awards
The annual award ceremony for community magazines in Cam-
bridgeshire, sponsored by the Cambridge Building Society was
held on Monday 23rd July. Two representatives from the
Roundabout editorial team attended. Although we didn’t win
an award this year, the judges had this to say about the Buck-
den Roundabout: “Not too many adverts, strong editorial con-
tent, great photos and plenty of relevant local news”.
Your editorial team wants to keep improving the Roundabout.
We would like to publish more articles of interest to our resi-
dents and we encourage all our readers to submit articles
about anything that you think would interest our readers. We
are also interested in including reports and photos of local
events. You can submit material through our website here:
www.buckdenroundabout.info/contact-us or by e-mail to
editor@buckdenroundabout.info