Plaque 15: Lena Cottage, 144 High St

Lena Cottage 144 High Street is a weather-boarded mid-terrace building, the oldest in the terrace. A house in this location is indicated on a 1634 estate map of Halling. As the plaque notes, this group of cottages were once called “Tramway Cottages” because of the line that used to run from the chalk pits at Upper Halling down to the Hilton & Anderson cement ‘Manor Works’ that used to occupy the land on either side of the church. The tramway crossed over the railway line (the crossing keeper’s box existing until around 1950) and then across the High Street just to the south of Tramway Cottages via another level crossing to the riverside factory.  There is evidence of a tunnel from the basement of next door at number 146, going under the front room of number 144, to St John's Church opposite, but there is no apparent exit under the church. Previous residents of number 146 can recall entering the tunnel as children but it was blocked up some years ago as a hazard.