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A TOUR OF OLNEY MARKET PLACE - NUMBERS 29 & 30
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In William Cowper's day the building was divided into two separate houses. Number 29 was probably the number given to what is now the Museum building. Number 30 is always understood to be Cowper's House. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the building was further divided into tenements. After Cowper left Orchard Side to go to Weston Underwood, he knew that a shoemaker and an alehouse keeper were keen to occupy the property but it is not certain who acquired it. In the 1850's, a school, possibly the Lace School of Ann Brittain, occupied Number 30, as advertised in 1844. The evidence of a door inserted into one of the ground floor windows gives proof of its later use as business premises, with access from the Market Place. At some time part of the premises was used by a dressmaker, Mrs Sarah Sleath, whose husband was a glazier. She ran her business there in the l880's. By 1890 the Misses Daniells had their Millinery and Dressmaking establishment there and they also advertised themselves as Mantle Makers. To mark the centenary of Cowper's death in 1900, the then owner, Mr Collingridge, gave the house to the town to be used as a Museum. Mr Thomas Wright was appointed as the Secretary of the Museum. The Museum was originally only in the two ground floor rooms. Four tenants occupied the rest of the premises, one of whom was the father of Thomas Wright, and another, William Samuel, was a painter and photographer. The 1936 Register of Electors recorded Robert and Helen Whiting as living in Number 29 and Edward Abbott, a decorator, and his wife Alice as also residing in the building.
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