Bury Road

Flint Cottages at the eastern end of the village.

Village Hall see separate article

Kentford Cottage/ Clifton Lodge
This cottage, now the Kentford Kennels, is at least 160 years old, appearing on the 1843 Tithe Map as owned by Mary Webb and occupied by William Bartholomew. Mary Webb also owned the land where Mr Fothergill's Seeds now stands.

Airey Houses in the late 1940's
The 12 Airey houses in Herringswell Road (built in the 1940s) were replaced by the District Council in 1993 with an award winning scheme on part of the original site plus a further 11 dwellings being provided by a Housing Association on the remainder of the area.

Herringswell Road 

Regal Lodge / The Langtry
The house was first built about 1850 and later was much enlarged.
The first owner was George Algernon Baird, one of the first trainers to be warned off by the Jockey Club. He later got back into favour, helped by selling to the Jockey Club land which is now part of Newmarket Gallops.

The next owner was Lillie Langtry (The Jersey Lily)  who was closely involved with Baird. She was a member of King Edward VII's, then Prince of Wales, set and was his mistress for a while, signified by stained glass windows featuring the Royal coats of arms, Prince of Wales feathers and the Jersey Lily. During her ownership she played host to many of the most renowned society members of the day

In July 1899 the house was put up for auction by Messrs Griffiths & Chennell of Newmarket on the instructions of Mrs Langtry. There were then three reception rooms, nine bed and dressing rooms, two bathrooms and a billiard room as well as a complete suite of 'domestic offices'. There was stabling for 18 horses, a large paddock, enclosed kitchen garden and two cottages with gardens occupied by a gardener and coachman, all totalling about 6.5 acres. It would appear that the property was not sold at this stage!

In 1920 Mrs Langtry, now Lady de Bathe, sold the house to Major Grigg and went to live in Monte Carlo.

The Langtry, 1999
The property changed hands three more times up to 1956 when it was sold to Mr A R Paske. Previous owners were an Army officer from 1935 - 1946 (he was killed in Newmarket High Street) and Major A C Bonsor, an executive at a brewery.

By 1980 the Savino family owned the house. It was next sold in 1985 when it became the Langtry Hotel up until the end of 1990 when it was closed for redevelopment as apartments.

Bury Road
The cross roads of Herringswell Road and Gazeley Road and Tollgate Close 

Old maps of Kentford show the area below the trees (above) as being a pond up until the middle of the last century. In 1770 the road between Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds was turnpiked and travellers had to pay to pass through the tollgate where Tollgate Close now stands.

 The Cock Public House is a Grade II Listed Building. It is over 440 years old and was noted in the 1563 Survey of Kentford and Kennett

Between 1823 and 1844 David Elisha Davey recorded his tours of Suffolk. In 1828 on 21st August he came to Kentford from Newmarket:
"After dinner we went to Kentford, where we had agreed to take up our residence for the night at the Cock. We found the house a very miserable one, in a wretched state of repair, and bearing traces of considerable antiquity, but found attention and civility, and that made amends for what was otherwise wanting. As soon as we arrived we walked to the church to see what it might produce; but having obtained the key, we found so little to detain us that we completed our notes there before it was dark. No memorial of any kind appears in the church for any interment therein."
Friday 22nd August

From Kentford Cock, as soon as a heavy storm would permit us we set off for Moulton, about 2 miles; the road is one apparently but little used and is miserably bad…….."

In 1871 the inn, then known as the Old Cock, was purchased by Greene King for £370. Three generations of the Filby family were licensees of the Cock continuously from 1872 until 1983

The Cock Inn, 2000
Regal Cottage, opposite the Cock, is also a Grade II listed building and was probably created from several dwellings.

Kentford Lodge, home of the Lord family for many years. Members of the Lord family were closely involved with village affairs from the very first Parish Meeting in 1894 until 1973 when Colonel Lord (below) did not seek re-election, having served as Chairman of the Parish Meeting for 25 years. 

St Helier, Bury Road, 1934

Fox and Ball 1900 
The public house known as the Bull or the Fox and Ball (or Bull) at different times is now a private house, having served as the village Post Office for much of the intervening period.

In 1783, when the inn was known as the Bull, a highwayman, James Steggles, was apprehended here after robbing Mr William Macro of Barrow Hall of the parish tithes which he had been collecting at the Red Lion in Barrow. James Steggles was executed at Bury St Edmunds on what the Judge described as no positive proof but a connected chain of evidence - a horse shoe print and a handkerchief amongst them.

On the Tithe Map of 1843 the inn was still known as the Bull but the next year, White's Suffolk refers to the Fox and Ball Inn as unoccupied and in 1896, shortly before the picture above, William Norman was the owner.

Fox and Ball 1920 and then again in 2000

Thatched cottage with further properties to the rear, Bury Road, in 1934. Site now occupied by 'St Margarets'

Mr and Mrs Peachey outside their semi-detached cottage which stood next door to the church. The site is now occupied by 'St Johns'

Kentford Street 1913

Bury Road 1934 

Kentford Post Office 1924, later Fisher's Stores, Nancy's Hairdressing Salon, and now a private house 

Meddler Stud and Ravensbury Cottages

Bury Road looking west from the Church

Meddler Stud

Bury Road Bridge
Kentford had its own Pack-Horse Bridge which, although known as the Old Roman Bridge, was contemporary with the more famous 15th C Moulton bridge. It was considered a very fine example with at least four arches of brickwork and flint rubble. The remains of the arches were visible until the mid 1970s when they were finally washed away in floods.

The Will of Richard Haddenham who died in 1542 details a bequest: 'To the reparation of the causey from Kentford Bridge to my door 6s 8d'

There was always a ford to the north of the bridge. The single track hump back bridge was built shortly after WW1 

In 1929 the County Surveyor was asked to change the site where steam lorries drew water from the river from the position being used opposite the entrance to Meddler Stud, where it was causing an obstruction, to one nearer the bridge. This was agreed and a proper draw up was constructed.

Even when the bridge was replaced in 1948 the original bridge could still be seen

This new bridge was upgraded in 1999 by Suffolk County Council to carry over 40 tonnes weight in accordance with EU regulations and was declared open by County Councillor Jane Andrews-Smith in December that year.

The double sided village sign, standing to the west of the bridge, is perhaps unique in being on the borders of two villages and on the boundary of two counties. Kennett on the reverse depicts the story of a Danish sword found in a tree. 

Bury Road looking west towards Kennett End

The houses shown are in Cambridgeshire with the County boundary running in front of them. At the crossroads beyond the Bell public house two counties and three parishes meet - Suffolk/Cambridgeshire and Kentford/Kennett/Moulton. Moulton Avenue would be built later on the left of the road.

Thurlow Nunn Standen's premises in Moulton Road on the site of a WW2 Army Depot. 

The current Post Office and Village Stores, the lifeblood of the village, at the entrance to Moulton Avenue.

Moulton Avenue Green

The site of Thurlow Nunn Standen, together with Moulton Avenue and Edgeborough Close, was transferred to Kentford Parish from Moulton in April 1984.