The houses now called Step Cottages were built on part of the plot that went with the house now named Harveys, bought by John Tugwell in 1763. The house has a date stone (1782) with the initials T J E above the date. The initials stand for John and Elizabeth Tugwell. The house was lot 3 of the freehold property in Glynde sold in five lots at auction by Mr Fisher at the Bear Inn, Cliffe, on Tuesday 8 May 1825, at four o’clock in the afternoon. In the sales particular the house was described as ‘a dwelling house, adjoining lot 2 (Daffodil Cottage), and comprising parlour, kitchen, wash-house, pantry, cellar, and two bedrooms, with garden; the whole being about 99 feet in front, and in the occupation of Mr Thomas Avis. This lot is to have a right of using the well in lot 1 (paying a proportionate part of all repairs) and a right of using the path in front of lot 2, for that purpose only’. It would appear at this time that the building was a single house and it as sold to Richard Tugwell of Lewes, cordwainerShoe maker and son of John Tugwell, for £110. A conveyance of Daffodil Cottage in 1833 suggests that Richard Tugwell owned more than one house on the site of Step Cottages and when Richard Tugwell took out a mortgage for £110 on his property with Philip Jenner in June 1837 the property was described as a messuageHouse or dwelling,
inc. outbuildings &
orchard, courtyard
or gardens or tenementRented dwelling
or land and a newly erected messuageHouse or dwelling,
inc. outbuildings &
orchard, courtyard
or gardens.

Richard Tugwell died 17 April 1843 and in his will he left his property in trust to Sarah Tucker and his nephew Richard Tugwell, both of Lewes, and if they decided to sell the property by public auction then the executors were to use Odey Wenham of Hailsham. The house, described as a single, brick-built, dwelling house with a cellar, parlour, four bedrooms and a garden, was sold by public auction on Tuesday 6 June, 1843, at the Crown Hotel, Lewes. John Thorpe the younger of Horsham, draper, bought the house for £175. In the sale deed the house was described as divided into two tenementRented dwelling
or lands in the occupation of Gideon Tugwell and George Eager.

In 1852 John Thorpe sold the cottages, then occupied by James Edes and Benjamin Edwards, to John Harvey of The Cliffe, Lewes, wine merchant, along with Harveys, for £775.