Bells Road, Belchamp Walter
The houses in Bells Road, Belchamp Walter just North of the pond are a row of rather attactive flint cottages. These houses were built in the 19th Century probably for Thomas Ruggles . There is another similarly built dwelling on Gestingthorpe Road, North Croft Cottages, that has an inscription: J.M.S.R. on its facade.
The flint cottages seem to have been referred to as "Waver Cottages" and by indiviual names: Fern Lodge, Rutland Cottage, Shephards Cottage, Brent Cottage, Flint Cottage, North Waver Cottage and Pond Cottage.
The date of construction is likely to be mid 19th Century but as records were not kept it is a specuation and dates can only be determined from references in other documents relating to their occupants. The early residents were likely to have been farm workers employed by the Raymonds or their farm managers (Stunt, Firmin, Prigg etc.). The Post office Directory of 1878 doesn't mention anyone in the Waver Cottages but George Washington Brownlow, who died in 1876, lived in Fern Lodge probably as a tenant of John Mayne St. Clere Raymond who had commissioned him to paint in St. Mary's church.
The Post Office Directory - 1878
As farm workers the residents were not likely to have received any mail, however, George Washington Brownlow, was a literary man but died two years before the Directory was printed. If he had correpondence it was likely to have been c/o the Raymonds. The pulpit in St. Mary's was painted in 1866 and George's earliest documented painting from Fern Lodge was 'A Claddagh Fisherman's Fireside', 1865. George was resident in Chelsea, London in 1861 and 1871 - may or maynot have been a resident at that time. Fern Lodge is a small dwelling and possibly just his studio and he split his time between Belchamp Walter and London. He did play a part in the construction of the new Village School, built and opened in 1872, being on the School Management Committee.
Samuel Phillip's Speech - Belchamp Walter School - 29 July 1972
I have a PDF scan of this speech (link below for the original copy).
Other houses that can be seen on Bells Road are The Old Town House and Waits Farm house. Waits is not listed but does feature in the 1891 census and there are former residents that are buried in the churchyard at St. Mary's Belchamp Walter.