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Farming at Turvey

Turvey is in a fairly rural part of North Bedfordshire. There are a number of farms in and around the village.

Turvey Abbey Estate Farms 1919

In 1919 the following farms belonged to the Turvey Abbey estate.

Farm	Tenant	Acerage	Rental
Priory Farm	Mr GW Mardlin	222	£175
Grindstone Hill Farm	Mrs Davies	167	£90
Mount Pleasant Farm	Mr G Newman	174	£120
Grove Farm & Baden Farm	Mr C King	403	£258

Grove Farm

Grove Farm was owned by John Higgins, and then his son Charles Longuet Higgins.

At the beginning of the 20th Century it was well known for its excellent corn.

Grove Farm in 1941

Great Oaks Farm, Turvey

In 1846 Great Oaks was leased by George Boulton.

Great Oaks Farm was owned by G. Francis Higgins until 1900.

It is currently (2015) owned by WG Payne & Son and is used for livestock farming.

Mount Pleasant Farm, Turvey

Mount Pleasant was owned by Charles Longuet Higgins and leased for ten years to John Whitworth in October 1849. The annual rent was £210.

The current house is stone and brick with tiles. It was built in 1911.

In 1919 the farm house contained the following:

Small hall
Dining room - about 16 foot x 13 foot

fitted with small combustion stove

Large kitchen with good range, tiled floor & cupboards

Scullery with tiled floor and sink

Dairy

Large Washhouse with fitted copper

Four Bedrooms

Box room

Pict's Hill Farm Priory Farm

Grove Farm farmhouse is stone built and tiled.

In 1919 it had the following rooms:

Entrance hall - about 15 feet square

Drawing room - about 18 foot x 15 foot

fitted with combustion stove & marble mantelpiece

Dining room - about 18 feet x 15 foot

with bay window & fitted tiled slow combustion stove

Kitchen - about 16 foot x 14 foot

with tiled floor and good range

Pantry with sink (hot & cold water) and dresser

Scullery and Dairy, Brewhouse and Coalhouse

Five bedrooms on the first floor, one bathroom

bedrooms all have fitted fireplaces

bathroom has fitted hot and cold supplies & WC

Three bedrooms on the top floor

The house had “Company Gas” and got its water from a well.

The garden featured lawns, flowers and yew hedges

The farm buildings included:

Four-bay open cattle shed
Loose box

Calf pen

Pig-stye (pigsty) and mixing barn

Brick and iron cow shed for eight

Calf pen and three-bay open cow shed

Brick stabling for six

Corn barn, wood & coal store and five-bay cart lodge

Grindstone Hill Farm

This was a dairy and stock farm, close to the railway.

In 1919 the farm house was described as “old fashioned stone and tiled”.

It contained:

Small hall with tiled floor
Sitting room with beamed ceiling and hob grate
Kitchen with range
Large scullery with sink, open fireplace and baking oven
Dairy with beamed ceiling
Cooling house
Five bedrooms

The farm buildings comprised of:

Nag stable for two (sic)
Hen cote
Three Cow sheds for six, five and nine
Loose box
Barn
Timber and tiled open shed

Crown Farm

Click the image to enlarge.

This picture is from 1906 and shows men threshing the wheat harvest. The machine on the left is a mechanical thresher.

Click the picture to enlarge.

Crown Farm was occupied by George and Maria Maycock and their 5 adult children in 1881.

Cecil Rouse was the farmer at Crown Farm in 1898.

This postcard shows the horse drawn reapers which would have been a regular sight each year. Right up until the middle of this century, the villagers would attend the harvest - small children would scurry around the fields after the reaper, looking for any odd ears. This was called gleening.

The Great Oaks farmhouse has been a grade II listed building since 27 August 1987.

Here is a link to the English Heritage details of the building in 1987.

Great Oaks Farmhouse 1987