The Transformation of a Rowhook Farm

Introduction

Many members will be aware that Stan Smith, our President, was taken to Honeywood House Nursing Home when he really could not cope with being cared for at home any more, and so he died there some days later. Apparently he asked the staff on his arrival why such a wonderful building had not been listed. A good question! Perhaps you too have known a relative or friend who has been or is a resident at this beautiful care home, and wondered what its history is. Honeywood House is located right on the Surrey-Sussex border in the north east corner of the parish, part of Rowhook. Until the matter was corrected in the 1990s the parish/county border went right through the present house from the middle of the drive! Before the demolition of the old farmhouse and farm buildings, the house was in Rudgwick, the farm buildings in Wotton parish.

Left, Honeywood House 2006. The old farmhouse was to the right of the post

Hedgecock’s (old name Hitchcocks) has a relatively ordinary history prior to 1871. Its origins are in the manor of Denne in Warnham, later Stroud. The name ‘Hitchcock’ (and its variants) means ‘son of Hick/Hitch, i.e., nickname of Richard’ (with ‘cock’ as in ‘the lad’), especially common in Kent. Possibly, like many others in Rudgwick, this farm was named after an early occupant. It was “East Hitchcocks” in Land Tax documents.

There are two other Hitchcocks/Hedgecocks and a Hencocks in Rudgwick parish.

Chapter 1 - Nash of Hedgecock’s, and others

My interest is also very personal, as I believe my grandfather’s older siblings were born at Hedgecock’s (or Hitchcocks). George and Betsey Nash lived in what was then Hedgecock’s Farm at the time of the 1871 census, whilst George’s parents John and Sarah were at Ridge Farm on the opposite side of the Horsham Road. They had lived at Ridge (or Rudge, its older name) since before the 1841 census, and another John and Sarah Nash before them certainly back to the 1780s (source: Land Tax Returns). However, the link between the two John’s is tenuous and unproven – that is another story. It is however the case that George Nash, my great grandfather, was farm steward at Hedgecock’s in the 1870s. I believe he was farming at least three holdings, Hedgecock’s, 98 acres, Ridge, 75 acres and Millfield House, 180 acres (300 in all). His father, John, was an elderly man who died in February 1881 aged 82, so I assume he was not actively farming. A gentleman farmer named Timothy Coleman Johnson

of London Irish ancestry and formerly a property developer in Shoreditch lived at Millfield House (to which he gave the title of ‘House’ – it had been referred to as Great Millfields in the past to distinguish it from Little Millfields) in 1871 and 1881. Johnson seems to have been a law-abiding fellow as there are two cases heard at The Old Bailey where he or his father are witnesses for the prosecution for miscreants who were convicted. One case saw petty thieves transported for seven years on his evidence.

He had acquired Millfields from another incomer, John Hack who was born near Berkhamstead, had a Canadian wife, Matelina and a string of Canadian-born children. His origins are otherwise rather obscure. He farmed only 100 acres in 1861 as did the Stanfords who preceded him in 1851.

My grandfather was baptised Timothy Coleman George Johnson Nash in 1878. Was this in deference or gratitude to the fact that his parents were employed by Johnson? By the way, grandfather, was never known as anything other than George! The family moved into Ridge immediately after John’s death, as they are located there in the 81 census, the elder George now described as Farm Bailiff. His mother Sarah had moved to Hoopwick, in Surrey, on the other side of Furzen Lane, which I believe she farmed separately, helped by sons William and John, who had previously also been at Ridge. Significantly, Johnson, at Millfield House, had increased his acreage in 1881 to 300 acres (now describing himself as landowner, not farmer). In 1874, Kelly’s Directory lists Johnson at Millfields and John Nash at Ridge, both farmers. But in 1878, Johnson is listed at Millfield House and George Nash as his farm bailiff at Hedgecock’s, John Nash having dropped out of the list. In 1882, the year Johnson died, Kelly’s Directory again listed George Nash as Farm Bailiff to the executors of JC Johnson Esq, but George was now at Ridge.

Now, the size of these holdings in the Tithe Apportionment Schedule were: Hedgecock’s 25 acres, with a further 40 acres of copse and shaw (and further land in Surrey, 98 acres all told), Ridge 59 acres, with a further 21 of ‘underwoods’, Millfields 106 acres. One may speculate but the difficulty is that land was constantly shifting ownership, tenancy and occupation, and better evidence is just not available.

Hedgecock’s has a relatively ordinary history prior to 1871 when I have shown it was in the Johnson-Nash holdings. Way back, the published West Sussex Land Tax 1785, ed A Readman et al, SRC Vol 82, 1997/8 shows Hedgecock’s in the hands of James Woolven, occupied by Thomas Chennell (written as Channol), and paying a tax of £9, which was not a very high amount.

In 1830, the same tax list has Richard Gates, a farmer and timber merchant, owning and occupying Hedgecock’s.

The next evidence is the 1841 census, when the house was occupied by Michael Jay, 40, a journeyman carpenter, his wife Ann, & his mother in law, 75 year-old Ann Chennell lived there. Jay was born in Ewhurst, his wife in Abinger. Are Ann Chennell and Thomas Chennell related? This surname was widespread in neighbouring Surrey parishes at the time.

In 1844 the Rudgwick Tithe Apportionment tells us Hedgecock’s, Honeybush and Godleys were owned by Richard Gates Esq, of Bramley, a yeoman farmer in Thorncombe Street, and Hedgecock’s occupied by Daniel Mann, as below:

2365   Apple field Arable 3 3 202313   Garden field Shaw   1 52314   Garden field Arable 2 2 152315   Garden field Shaw     242362   Great stable field Arable 2 0 232362 ½ Great stable field Shaw     202363   Great stable field Shaw   1 202363 ½ Great stable field Shaw   1 332316   Hanger Shaw 3 1 352367   Honeybush Meadow 1 2 382368   Honeybush Meadow 2 0 342317   Kiln field Arable 2 2 12318   Kiln field Shaw     232319   Meadow Meadow 2 1 32360 ½ Orchard Orchard   2 132360   Stable Meadow 1 3 352361   Yard and Building     1 1

        25 0 232366   Copse Wood 37 0 192354   New piece Shaw 2 2 222373   New piece Shaw 2 2 8

The 41 acre woodland/shaw at the foot of the table was listed with Godley’s underwoods, retained by Gates for his own use for timber. The tenant of the farmland may be Daniel Mann, 70, a carrier living in Church Street, whose son James was next door at Honey Lane in 1841, probably farming it for him. Richard Gates brother John was married to Mary Wooolven, daughter of Richard Woolven, possibly indicating a connection between Gates and his predecessor at Hedgecock’s. The Woolvens have been in the area for centuries, as there is a Woolven Farm not far away in Oakwood Hill.

Subsequent censuses give: 1851, John Nye, farm labourer, 52, b Duncton, wife Mary and 4 children, eldest also farm labourer; assumed to be still owned by Gates. Gates sold Hitchcocks, with Douce Ryde on the Surrey side, to Sarah Marshall in 1855.

1861, William Walker, farmer, 64, b Worth, wife Ann, 2 sons, one labourer living in. Sarah Marshall may have installed Walker as her tenant. She was the wife of well-off timber merchant George Marshall, They lived at Farncombe near Godalming. George owned Ridge Farm opposite Hedgecock’s, but she was widowed by 1861, though she remained in the Farncombe property. George and Richard Gates are known to have done land deals together, for example at Godleys in Rudgwick. Their interest was undoubtedly the timber on these farms. The Marshalls daughter Sarah, married to Charles Fairclough (1859) and soon widowed, by 1861, at some point inherited Hitchcocks and other contiguous land in Wotton, Surrey, and Ridge, Rudgwick, comprising the Broadstone Estate. They were copyhold of different manors: Ridge of Dedisham manor, Broadstone of Wotton and Westland manors, and Hedgecock’s of Stroud manor.

1871, George Nash, farm steward, 29, b Rudgwick, new wife Betsy, a son, Walter, and George’s niece. Walter was born at Hedgecock’s. We may assume George was steward to his elderly father John at Ridge Farm, and that the two holdings were farmed together. Further

children, Emily in 1873 and Elizabeth in 1876 were also born at Hedgecock’s. Hence, the last child to be born in ‘old Hedgecock’s farmhouse’ was Elizabeth Nash, born 9 February 1876 (below). The next child of George and Betsey Nash was George, the author’s grandfather, born 27 October 1878 at Ridge Farm on the opposite side of the turnpike road. It is in this window that the next buyer acquires the property.

Sale particulars survive in Surrey History Centre: on 27 March 1876, John Nash (grandfather of the above children) was given notice to quit both Ridge and Hedgecock’s at Michaelmas next by the owner of the copyholds, Mrs Emily Fairclough (daughter of George Marshall, as described above). The Marshalls had been owners of Hedgecock’s since 1837. On 27 June, 1876, the whole of her estates, comprising Hedgecock’s, Ridge, Douce Ryde and Broadstone (including Pound), known as “The Broadstone Estate”, 675 acres, was to be auctioned in 4 Lots, one page of which appears below [the other two lots, which do not concern us here, were Leigh Fields, Ockley, 224 acres, and Pond Head in Abinger & Ockley, 115 acres, Add Mss 19879].

Lot 3 was a freehold estate known as “Broadstone” (including Sketchers, Frenches, Hitchcocks or Hedgecock’s). On Hitchcocks, using its older name, was a “small” brick and noggin-built and Horsham slate and tile-roofed Farm House, and Agricultural Buildings consisting of barn, capital stabling, cattle sheds, cart lodges, granary, and lewins, all of which would have been on the front lawns of the present-day house, only the well surviving. The total area of Lot 3 was 228 acres 2 rods 25 perches. The greater part (Broadstone) was let to Mr William Etherington, a yearly tenant, together with Lot 4. The remainder, Hedgecock’s, 98 acres in total, of which 24 acres were in Rudgwick parish (and 40 acres of woods in hand) was let to Mr [John] Nash (who was under notice to quit at Michaelmas next), a yearly tenant, at a yearly rent of £35, free of land tax, paying all outgoings except property tax. Hedgecock’s was subject to 2 heriots and a quit rent of 2/6, payable to the Manor of Stroud and comprised 98a 3r 39p. Shooting and sporting rights over the whole was let to Mr Lintott, as it was to Richard Gates in 1844.

The size of Hedgecock’s raises a question. If the Rudgwick acreage was 24 acres of farmland and 40 acres of woodland, 64 acres in total, then another 34 acres was in Wotton parish in Surrey, not an uncommon thing in the border farms. What was less common, was that as stated in the opening remarks above the farm buildings, despite being adjacent to the farmhouse, were in Wotton, Surrey! The total holding in Wotton was 117 acres of farmland and 45 acres of woodland. Etherington farmed 92 acres at Broadstone in 1881, so assuming the woodland can be discounted as ‘in hand’, that leaves 25 acres unaccounted for. Later in 1911, Pound Farm, 20 acres and a grocer’s shop adjacent to Broadstone, was included in the Oakwood Estate, successor to Hedgecock’s, so this is as close as we are likely to get solving this riddle.

George & Betsy Nash, a later photoHandwritten acreages noted on the sale particulars for Broadstone/Hedgecock’s are in the same hand as for Ridge, signed by TC Johnson Esq, who is confirmed as owner of Ridge by a conveyance of 3 November 1876. The 1878 edition of the Kelly’s Post Office Directory lists Johnson at his home Millfields Farm, George Nash at Hedgecock’s, “bailiff to Timothy Johnson”, and William Etherington, farmer, still at Broadstone. This suggests that a) Johnson bought Lot 3, Broadstone/Hedgecock’s and b) kept tenants Nash and Etherington on, promoting Nash to farm his estate centred on his home at Millfields, whilst leaving Etherington farming as tenant at Broadstone. Etherington and his wife Rachel continued to farm Broadstone until his death, and then Rachel continued for a while, assisted by her son James (aged 19 in the 1891 census). Curiously, Broadstone was enumerated in Abinger in 1881, but in Wotton in1891!

On 2 June 1877, The Times advertised 229 acres (the same as Lot 3 above) for auction on 14 June, presumably Johnson as vendor, broken down further into 3 Lots (as shown in The Times advertisement: Honeywood was now comprised of 144 acres. The buyer of Hedgecock’s was William Renton. He created his stable block and walled gardens on the Surrey side. By 27 October 1878 (possibly at Michaelmas, 29 September 1877), the Nashes had moved out as we know from the birth certificate. George Nash will have had notice to quit, but was still engaged as Johnson’s bailiff, now residing at Ridge, where he was in 1881. This tangled web of ownership is by no means proven, but seems to be the likely time line.