The following information is taken from deeds of the properties held by owners in 2011.

 

Cox's Clump was originally the piece of land which now includes numbers 47 – 57 Newport Road, Hanslope.  The map at the right shows the properties as indicated on current Land Registry documents.

1779 map of Barn Close on the
north side of Newport Road

 

In 1854 Henry Cox, carpenter, purchased approximately 2½ acres on the Newport Road, then called Kingston Lane, from Charles Chapman, cordwainer of Tattle End, for £240 with a mortgage of £200 (at 4½%) from Rebecca Freear, spinster of Newport Pagnell.  The land, known variously as New Close, Barn Close, or Rookery Close, came thereafter to be known as Cox's Clump, now comprising numbers 47 – 57 Newport Road.  Previous owners as indicated on earlier maps had been Stephen Hoddle (1779), Charles Kipling (1828) and according to deeds, William and Thomas Kitelee, at some time.
By 1889 (the date of the Will of Henry Cox) there was a house on Newport Road, known as Elm Tree House, divided into two dwellings occupied by Henry Cox and George Herbert.  There were another nine houses (Elm Tree Cottages) down a lane behind Elm Tree House, all of which had been built by Henry Cox on the property.  The tenants of those houses are listed below.  None of the houses exist today, having been replaced by properties at numbers 47 – 53 Newport Road.
Elm Tree Villa about 1950
In his will of 1889, Henry Cox left his property to his wife, Charlotte and upon her death to his five daughters: Julia Elizabeth, Annie, Sarah (Cox) Ward, Ellen and Mary Eliza (Cox) Whitbread.  Henry Cox died in 1904 and Charlotte in 1910, predeceased by Julia Elizabeth, who left her interest in the property to Ellen Cox.


1900 map showing buildings
on Cox's Clump

It is not known when the pair of semi-detached houses at 55 and 57 Newport Road were built on Cox's Clump.  An 1851 church survey indicates that the building was being used as the Bethlehem Chapel for a short time, so they are certainly the oldest extant buildings on the site, and are shown on the 1900 map of Hanslope.

On Charlottes Cox's death the property was purchased by Harry Percy Ward, Sheffield schoolmaster and husband of Sarah (Cox) Ward, for £1,200.  The proceeds were divided, as per the terms of Henry Cox's will, between Sarah (Cox) Ward (£320), Ellen Cox (£560) and Mary Eliza (Cox) Whitbread (£320).

Both Sarah (Cox) Ward and her son Stanley died before Harry Ward, so on his death in 1942 the property passed to their two daughters, Mary and Nellie Ward.  They were by then living in Hampshire and Norwich, respectively, and sold the property to Charles Henry Smith, haulage contractor of Sherington, for £1,600.  By this time, some of the nine cottages had been combined, so that there were only six.

On the death of Charles Henry Smith, the property passed to his wife and subsequently his daughters.

In 1979 Elm Tree Villa and numbers 1 – 6 Elm Tree Cottages, including an allotment ground to the north - but not the semi-detached houses - were sold for £20,000 by Charles Smith's daughters, Florence Mary (Smith) Blake of 11 Rectory Lane, Barby and Margaret Joan (Smith) O'Donovan of 7 Lisburn Path, Aylesbury.  The purchasers were James Henry Nash and his son James Nash, both of 52 Park Leys, Harlington, Beds.

James Nash then demolished Elm Tree Villa and the six cottages.  He rebuilt two houses facing Newport Road and a further two houses on the lane behind.  These are 47, 49, 51 and 53 Newport Elm Tree Villa about 1950

The semi-detached houses, numbers 55 and 57, were sold separately.  It is not known when 55 was sold, but number 57 Newport Road, has been owned since 1995 by Gerald Ditum and still carries the name Cox's Clump.
Fire Place
55 Newport Road today		 Roof
57 Newport Road today

Appendix

Ownership of Cox's Clump (dates as indicated on maps and deeds):

1779 Stephen Hoddle
unknown date – William Kitelee
1818 Charles Kipling
1854 Charles Chapman
1854 – 1904 Henry Cox
1904 – 1910 Charlotte Cox
1910 – 1942 Harry Ward
1942 Charles H Smith
1979 James Nash

Occupants of Elm Tree Cottages known from deeds and IRS:

prior to 1889 at 1889 1910 IR survey 1943 (six cottages)
Joseph Gobbey Joseph Denton William Ditum William Ditum
William Mills John Nichols Dinah Jones Frank Powell
Charles Brownall Thomas Evans Thomas Evans Eric Ditum
Joseph Stanton John Meakins Charles Cook Reginald Ditum
Henry James Cook Ann Latimer Thomas Cook Mrs Nellie Peppiat &
daughters, Ann & Betty
(London evacuees)
Joseph Rainbow William Frost Sarah Meakins Miss Esther Moss (former housekeeper to
Harry Percy Ward)
George Nicholls Jane Burbidge William Smith  
Thomas Banks Joseph Herbert    
Joseph Denton [another]    
Occupants of 55 and 57 Newport Road:

The 1910 Inland Revenue Survey shows occupants were S Herbert and Thomas Young, respectively. In 1943 the tenants of 55 and 57 were Mrs Perry and Percy Evans.
Source of above information: Deeds