Continue past Barn House and on your left is Tinker’s Cottage. This is named after a previous resident, Charles “Tinker” Clark. He spent most of his working life on the navigation and Tinker was the name of his barge horse. He and his wife ran a shop selling tobacco and sweets in a lean-to beside his cottage.

Cross the road from Tinkers and you may catch a glimpse of the original cottage through the arched gateway next to this modern extension. Dora Batty (1891-1966) lived here from the 1930s until her death. She was an influential teacher at London design schools from the 1930s to the ’50s, head of the Textile Design Department at the Central School of Art. She is best known for a series of posters she did for the London Underground.

She named her cottage Starlings and this is one of her textile designs- also called Starlings.