Originally just a small cottage, this was enlarged at considerable expense in the 1880s by Mrs Windus of the publishing firm Chatto and Windus. She also owned Arford House, where her son Edward lived.
A later owner, Mr Rothera, built an attractive bridge in 1921 to carry his drive across the Brae footpath , but this of course was not strong enough for the amount of traffic resulting from two more houses built after WW2 and sharing the same drive, so it was taken down, it is said by Gary Glitter, who bought the house but never lived in it.
The most notable owner was Sir Harry Brittain, journalist, traveller, MP and founder of the Pilgrim’s Club to foster British-American friendship. He bought the house as a weekend retreat but moved out of London to escape the air-raids and settled in Headley with his wife, Dame Alida. They quickly became part of village life, she leading a make-do-and-mend sewing group, and he walking to the Post Office, resting on his shooting-stick to talk in a friendly way to all and sundry. He was born at midnight on Christmas Eve 1874, and he delighted in reading the lesson at morning service on Christmas Day. During the course of his long life he had done this so often that he scarcely needed to glance at the Bible, and he read for the last time in as strong a voice as ever at the age of 99 in 1973.
Subsequent owners completed an enlargement and modernisation, without destroying the original character of this old cottage with its eventful life.
recorded in the Domesday book, web enabled since 1997