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Barkham Street, Wainfleet
Barkham Street is a remarkable twin terrace of perfect, grade II listed early Victorian houses that you’d expect to find in London, built with a basement and three storeys in a metropolitan economy of space unlike anything else in rural Lincolnshire.
In the 18th century, much of Wainfleet and surrounding land was owned by Sir Edward Barkham of the East India Company who died in 1733 and bequeathed his estate to the Royal Bethlehem Hospital. By the 1840s, a number of properties were in a state of disrepair and the tenants asked to be rehoused, so the Bethlehem Hospital agreed to build new houses and engaged their usual consulting architect Sydney Smirke (brother of Sir Robert Smirke) to design the new street. Smirke had designed a number of similar terraces in Southwark near the Bethlehem Hospital and presumably never visited Wainfleet, simply re-using the design principles for Barkham Street.
Hull builders Forman & Frow built the 20 houses in 1847 for £7,449 and they remained part of the Bethlehem Hospital estate until 1920 when they were bought by local builders J.T.Turner & Sons who still own the entire street.
Local tradition asserts that somewhere in London is an equally incongruous row of Lincolnshire cottages as the architects mixed up the plans.
In the 18th century, much of Wainfleet and surrounding land was owned by Sir Edward Barkham of the East India Company who died in 1733 and bequeathed his estate to the Royal Bethlehem Hospital. By the 1840s, a number of properties were in a state of disrepair and the tenants asked to be rehoused, so the Bethlehem Hospital agreed to build new houses and engaged their usual consulting architect Sydney Smirke (brother of Sir Robert Smirke) to design the new street. Smirke had designed a number of similar terraces in Southwark near the Bethlehem Hospital and presumably never visited Wainfleet, simply re-using the design principles for Barkham Street.
Hull builders Forman & Frow built the 20 houses in 1847 for £7,449 and they remained part of the Bethlehem Hospital estate until 1920 when they were bought by local builders J.T.Turner & Sons who still own the entire street.
Local tradition asserts that somewhere in London is an equally incongruous row of Lincolnshire cottages as the architects mixed up the plans.
Created: Thu, 16 Apr 2015, Updated: Thu, 16 Apr 2015
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