Hurrells Row

Hurrells Row has generally been thought to have been built around the 1860s by the Hurrells and named after them – they had moved back into the village in 1854 when they had Park House built. However, an 1860 Dec newspaper advertised the sale of: 12 cottages or tenements with blacksmith’s shop. Outbuildings and gardens in the several occupations of Joseph Webb and others, at rents amounting to £37 per annum, in the centre of the village.  This suggests they had been built before 1860 and it is likely Hurrells bought them then and kept them until their sale in 1910. 1861 is the first time the name Hurrells Row appears in the census.

The 1861 census, however, only lists 5 families, all born in Harston, as living in Hurrells Row so maybe only the first 5 cottages were occupied as late as 1861. These families were:

Henry Rayall? age 27, agricultural labourer with wife & 2 children
Thomas Covell age 57, agricultural labourer, with wife & visitor
Matthew Stittle age 37, groom, with wife & 2 sons
Owen Cambridge age 38, carpenter, with wife, 5 sons & 5 daughters
William Northrop age 35, agricultural labourer with wife, 3 sons & 3 daughters.

We know from previous research that the 1799 Inclosure map showed Thomas Hatley owned land that included the buildings from the Queen’s Head to Hurrells Row. However, there only appears to be a small row of cottages then – certainly not twelve.

George Hatley, blacksmith from at least 1825-53, lived in a house next to Hurrells Row until about 1853 when the Hatleys left the village. Prior to it being named Hurrells Row it may well have been called Hatley’s Cottages as a newspaper advert of March 1835 refers to a sale of the land to the west of the cottages: Paddock to let, 1 acre 2 roods 26 perches and orchard 2 roods, behind Mr Hatley’s cottages. The 5 cottages could possibly be the first part of Hurrell’s Row, before it bends.

Christopher Wedd, a saddler had moved to the village and bought all the properties and cottages facing the west side of The Green around 1849 around the time the Hatleys were leaving the village. We know from adverts that he then improved and extended the two large houses (Nos 40 and 46 Royston Rd) in the late 1860s and may well have extended the Hurrells Row cottages prior to 1860.