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Ivan Cooke Collection – c 1980’s
Rear view Manor Farm Door open to Ivan Cooke’s kitchen. Window on right next to it was utility room. Our dining room was the only other room the family used it was known as the “Sunday Room”. Jack Jones used the small room at the west end of the front range as his office. Between the kitchen outshot and the front range was a small sitting room and some stairs running up behind the Inglenook. Electricity came into house by one strand to Jack’s office and the Cooke family sitting room and kitchen up until 1989! The rest of the house had to be lit with Gas / Oil lamps ?. There was no access from the 1st Floor Georgian day rooms to the Medieval range behind. The current recess was put in during the 1989 building works. The rest of the house not used by the Cooke family was storage for seed; fruits grain etc. At the east end of the rear range where the beams are finely moulded Ivan said that the floor went down steps c 3 feet. This would probably have been for meat or cheese storage. This is described in a Will relating to this house.
Jack Jones lived at Hills Road in Cambridge. He did not like the house and thought it dark and horrid. He was furious when Phyllis Brown suceeded in getting the building Listed. He would have pulled it down if he could. It was his neglect which meant the house was nearly lost to the village. Luckily we still have a significant amount of the Medieval timbers remaining but sadly in 1989 this little manor house was pretty much in tact and not overly modernised since theInglenook was added in the 16th Century (excluding the Georgian frontage of course!)