diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/common/Ref8U.java b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/common/Ref8U.java
index 900d2e7658..fbd4e6a750 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/common/Ref8U.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/common/Ref8U.java
@@ -58,7 +58,35 @@ public final class Ref8U {
 		out.writeShort(lastCol);
 	}
 
-	protected int getDataSize() {
+	public static int getDataSize() {
 		return 8;
 	}
-}
+
+	public short getFirstRow() {
+		return firstRow;
+	}
+	public void setFirstRow(short firstRow) {
+		this.firstRow = firstRow;
+	}
+
+	public short getLastRow() {
+		return lastRow;
+	}
+	public void setLastRow(short lastRow) {
+		this.lastRow = lastRow;
+	}
+
+	public short getFirstCol() {
+		return firstCol;
+	}
+	public void setFirstCol(short firstCol) {
+		this.firstCol = firstCol;
+	}
+
+	public short getLastCol() {
+		return lastCol;
+	}
+	public void setLastCol(short lastCol) {
+		this.lastCol = lastCol;
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/common/TestRef8U.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/common/TestRef8U.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..41e90a8354
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/poi/hssf/record/common/TestRef8U.java
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/* ====================================================================
+Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+(the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+==================================================================== */
+
+package org.apache.poi.hssf.record.common;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+
+import org.apache.poi.hssf.record.TestcaseRecordInputStream;
+import org.apache.poi.util.LittleEndianOutputStream;
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+public final class TestRef8U extends TestCase {
+ byte[] data = new byte[] {
+     (byte)0x02,(byte)0x00, 
+     (byte)0x04,(byte)0x00, 
+     (byte)0x00,(byte)0x00, 
+     (byte)0x03,(byte)0x00, 
+ };
+
+ public void testLoad() {
+    Ref8U ref = new Ref8U(
+          TestcaseRecordInputStream.create(0x000, data)
+    );
+    assertEquals(2, ref.getFirstRow());
+    assertEquals(4, ref.getLastRow());
+    assertEquals(0, ref.getFirstCol());
+    assertEquals(3, ref.getLastCol());
+  
+    assertEquals( 8, Ref8U.getDataSize() );
+ }
+
+ public void testStore()
+ {
+	Ref8U ref = new Ref8U();
+	
+	byte[] recordBytes;
+	ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+	LittleEndianOutputStream out = new LittleEndianOutputStream(baos);
+	
+	// With nothing set
+	ref.serialize(out);
+	recordBytes = baos.toByteArray();
+    assertEquals(recordBytes.length, data.length);
+    for (int i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
+         assertEquals("At offset " + i, 0, recordBytes[i]);
+    }
+	
+	// Now set the flags
+    ref.setFirstRow((short)2);
+    ref.setLastRow((short)4);
+    ref.setFirstCol((short)0);
+    ref.setLastCol((short)3);
+	
+	// Re-test
+    baos.reset();
+	ref.serialize(out);
+	recordBytes = baos.toByteArray();
+	 
+    assertEquals(recordBytes.length, data.length);
+    for (int i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
+         assertEquals("At offset " + i, data[i], recordBytes[i]);
+    }
+ }
+}