Jag,

Re Walter's home. Jim describes it thus:

Walter's home was originally a single storey labourers cottage standing on its own small piece if land - it was 'modernised' in the 1950s)

To clarify "modernised", in the photographs to which I refer It is a two story house of quite reasonable size but there is a pretty clear distinction on the end wall showing the outline of a smaller single storey building.

So it seems to be correct that Walter did live in a small cottage until the 1950s. Jim's phrase "modernised" appears to mean doubled in height.