Finchley: Other estates

OTHER ESTATES.

Matthew of Ditton (? Ryfton) granted 40 a. and a house in Hendon and Finchley to the Knights Templars in 1243. (fn. 1) The estate presumably passed on the Templars' suppression to the Knights Hospitallers, who in 1364 held Temple Croft of Bibbesworth manor. (fn. 2) After the Dissolution it was granted by the Crown in 1544 to Sir John and Ralph Allen and Sir John Champnez, (fn. 3) whose title seems to have lapsed. In 1526 the Hospitallers had leased Temple Croft, with other land probably in Hendon, to Henry Barker, smith of Hendon, and in 1571 John Barker leased it for 99 years to Simon Scudamore (d. 1609), goldsmith of London. (fn. 4) In 1620 Scudamore's widow Jane leased it to Nicholas Luke, who assigned it in 1621 to John Ore, to whom Thomas Barker quitclaimed in 1623. (fn. 5) By will proved 1630 Ore bequeathed his interest to his daughter Elizabeth, wife of William Rolfe, who assigned it in 1640 to Joseph Devereux, from whom it passed in 1666 to Samuel Neale. (fn. 6) In 1668 the Rolfes quitclaimed to Neale, who in 1675 claimed that he held by inheritance, not by lease; (fn. 7) Neale's title was confirmed and in 1690 he conveyed Temple Croft to Thomas Ingram, who in 1732 sold it to Thomas Allen, (fn. 8) in whose Bibbesworth estate it was absorbed. It lay on East End Road near Church End, (fn. 9) and Avenue House, the home of H. C. Stephens, was later built there. (fn. 10)

About 1528 the abbot of Westminster held a field of Bibbesworth manor, probably in Hendon, although Westminster had sold the manor in 1386. (fn. 11)

Among property inherited by John Ore's daughter Elizabeth was Gibbs, 8 a. in East End which she and William Rolfe conveyed to Christopher Sutton in 1642. (fn. 12) By will proved 1660, Sutton devised it to his son Richard, who in 1717 conveyed it to John Lyons, from whom in 1718 it passed to Christ's Hospital, still the owner in 1887. (fn. 13)

The largest medieval freehold estate apart from the manors was Grotes or Grass farm, between Church End and the Hendon boundary. It was held of the bishop for rent and was probably the house, 86 a., and rent conveyed by Agnes, widow of William atte Welle, to Thomas of Blechenham and his wife Olive in 1315. (fn. 14) Olive and her second husband Edmund Laner were in possession in 1336-7 and tenants of Laner were fined at the bishop's court in 1393. (fn. 15) Roger Grote, in possession in 1394, had property in Finchley worth £3 6s. 8d. in 1412 (fn. 16) and was succeeded by Andrew Grote between 1427 and 1429. (fn. 17) Andrew, pardoned for outlawry for debt in 1468, lost his estate between 1462 and 1467 to John Alfrey. Grotes was held by John Plomer (fn. 18) and thereafter descended with Bibbesworth and Normans until 1602, when Thomas Compton sold it to Sir James Altham, baron of the Exchequer, who in 1615 settled it on his wife Helen. (fn. 19) On her death in 1639 the estate was divided between Lady Ann Astley (d. 1662) and Charles Tryon, her daughters' children. After the Astley line had died out in 1688, (fn. 20) all the lands were held by Charles Tryon, who in 1724 conveyed them to Thomas Inwen, merchant of Southwark; (fn. 21) his daughter Sarah (d. 1776) married successively Henry Howard, earl of Suffolk (d. 1745), and Lucius Charles Cary, Viscount Falkland (d. 1785). (fn. 22) In 1794 Francis M. Austin, devisee under Lady Falkland's will, sold Grotes to John Peter Hankey, a banker whose widow Isabel purchased more land in 1819 and owned 118 a. in 1841. (fn. 23) In 1856 Sir William Hankey sold it to John Harris Heal, grandson of the founder of the furniture firm, who in 1861 also bought Sabin, 65 a. later called Furzby farm, from Philip S. Worsley. (fn. 24) After Heal's death in 1876 his widow Annie held the estate until her death in 1890. (fn. 25) Frank Heal then lived at the house and still owned some of the land in 1900, although the rest had been sold in 1894 to James Williamson of Elm Grange, who had built on it by 1906. (fn. 26) In 1911 the farm was owned and occupied by Edward Wormald. (fn. 27)

A house formed part of the estate in 1315 and Grotes farm-house stood within an ancient moated site in the centre of its land, a little west of the main Church End settlement. (fn. 28) An old house there, assessed for six hearths in 1664 and 1674, was demolished in 1923. (fn. 29) From c. 1610 until 1762 the farm was leased to the Nicholl family. (fn. 30)

During the 16th century a branch of the Peacock family of Redbourn (Herts.) acquired freehold land in northern Finchley and Woodside as part of an extensive estate embracing Totteridge manor (Herts.), Frith manor in Hendon, and land in South Mimms. (fn. 31) Richard Peacock, a younger son of Walter Peacock of Redbourn, had property in Finchley by 1577 and bought other estates, originally belonging to the Bigmore or Bekmore family, the Smiths, and the Copwoods. (fn. 32) In 1589 and 1598 Richard was assessed for tax at £30 on land, the highest amount in Finchley. A separate estate was held there by his nephew Sir Edward Peacock (d. 1605), marshal in the King's Bench. (fn. 33) After Richard's death in 1615 another of his nephews, William Peacock, was accepted as his heir (fn. 34) and in 1623 was succeeded by his son Richard (d. 1671), who devised the estate to his widow Rechord for life with remainder to his sons in tail male. (fn. 35) One son, William, was in control at Finchley in 1673 but his mother had regained the property by 1674. (fn. 36) Rechord outlived all her sons and in 1689 was succeeded by her daughters' descendants, Rechord Wilson, Mary Williams, and Dorothy Walker, who between 1710 and 1718 sold the estate to Sir John Lade, Bt., a brewer. (fn. 37) Then including nine houses besides the main seat and 212 a. in Finchley, the estate was devised by Lade in 1740 to his brother's grandson, John Inskip, who was to take the surname Lade. (fn. 38) Inskip, who became Sir John Lade, Bt., in 1758, in 1759 left a posthumous son, another Sir John Lade, Bt., gambler and friend of the Prince Regent. (fn. 39) During the 1790s he sold the heavily mortgaged estate, Crockford's farm (80 a.) at Woodside in 1794 to John Bacon, Cobley's farm (68 a.) at Fallow Corner in 1796 to William Clulow, and Court House and 21 a. in 1797 to William Leader. (fn. 40)

The Peacocks' mansion, assessed on fourteen hearths in 1664, (fn. 41) was probably the farm-house at the northern end of Nether Street, called Court House possibly because the courts of Frith manor were held there. (fn. 42) It was the main house on the estate until Frith manor-house was built in Hendon in 1790. (fn. 43) When William Leader died in 1829, the house and surrounding lands passed to his son John Temple Leader, who conveyed them in 1886 to Mrs. Ethel W. Burridge, who sold them for building in 1936. The farm-house, a red-brick building, was extended in 1863 by the tenant Samuel Wimbush and demolished in 1936. (fn. 44) In the late 1880s it was leased to Jersey Farm Dairies, forming part of a 200-a. farm. (fn. 45)

Fallow or Cobley's farm, so called after its 18th- and 19th-century lessees, descended on the death of William Clulow in 1822 to his son William Whitaker Clulow and then to George and Francis William Child, children of his daughters Elizabeth and Martha. Francis was declared insane in 1865 and his portion passed to his brother Charles. The estate, by that time called Etchingham Park after the Clulow home in Sussex, was sold on building leases from 1880. (fn. 46) The farm, still owned by the Child family in 1900, disappeared soon afterwards and the farm-house made way for suburban housing in the 1920s. (fn. 47)

Woodside farm, for a while part of the extensive Bacon estates, was sold by John Bacon (d. 1816) to Joseph (d. 1820) and Joseph Douglas Holden, who held it in 1841. (fn. 48) Henry Holden, to whom mortgage interests in the Bacon estate were conveyed in 1877, began to build on Woodside in the 1880s and the rest was put up for sale by his executrix in 1900. (fn. 49)

Richard Utber in 1647 began to build up an estate on either side of Ballards Lane by the purchase from Bartholomew Clerk of a house and 20 a., including Frithfield which had belonged to Bibbesworth. Thomas Compton had sold Frithfield in 1594 to George Shepherd, whose son John sold it in 1600 to Stephen Haughton; thereafter it had been sold to Robert Marsh in 1623, to Robert Nicholl, and in 1641-2 to Robert Alden, who had conveyed it to Clerk in 1646. (fn. 50) Alden had acquired a house and Crossfield in Ballards Lane from Thomas Banks in 1626 and Colefield, south of the junction with Nether Street, from William Sherman in 1638. (fn. 51) Alden built a new house in Ballards Lane which in 1664 was assessed for seventeen hearths, the largest in Finchley after Bibbesworth, (fn. 52) and in 1669 Richard Utber sold it, with other houses and 21 a., to John Searle (d. 1682), who had made his fortune from a sugar plantation and who left his estate to his widow Anne. (fn. 53) Searle and his widow, who married Sir William Hedges, alderman of London and former governor of Bengal, acquired more land in Finchley in 1673, 1682, 1683, and 1690. (fn. 54) Anne (d. 1724) and her sons John and Charles Hedges bought out the interests of her daughters by her first marriage, Elizabeth, wife of Thomas, Lord Trevor of Bromham (d. 1730), and Hester, wife of Sir James Bateman. (fn. 55) Administration of Charles Hedges's estate was granted to his brother John in 1784 and Charles's grandson Hugh Bisshopp, son of his daughter Susan, had control by 1800. (fn. 56) In 1841 Bisshopp had 69 a. of old inclosure and 13 a. of allotted land mostly at Ballards Lane. (fn. 57) The estate was offered for sale as building land in 1848. (fn. 58)

The demesne lands of both the bishop's and Bibbesworth manors formed beneficial leasehold estates from an early period. Bibwell, west of Hornsey great park and amounting to 170 a. in 1647, (fn. 59) was leased in 1434 by the bishop to John Sanny for 40 years. (fn. 60) Thomas Sanny was lessee in 1489 (fn. 61) and Robert Shepherd leased Bibwell for 46 years in 1497. (fn. 62) At about that time Lordsfield, to the north, and Little Redings, to the east at Parkgate, became part of the Bibwell estate; they later amounted to 13 a. and 15 a. respectively. Little Redings had been leased out by 1447 (fn. 63) and in 1464-5 William Osborne leased both Little Redings and Lordsfield from the bishop, (fn. 64) as did John Osborne in 1476 and Robert Shepherd in 1514-15. (fn. 65) In Henry VIII's reign both Robert Rolfe and Robert Lister claimed to have derived a title from Robert Shepherd. (fn. 66) In 1537 the bishop confirmed the lease of Bibwell for 46 years to John Kellet, who was dead within the year and whose widow Joan, who married Thomas Walker, merchant tailor of London, was granted the lease on the same terms. (fn. 67) Lordsfield and Little Redings were leased to Robert Rolfe for life in 1542 and to Agnes his widow in 1547. (fn. 68)

In 1570 the bishop leased Bibwell, Lordsfield, and Little Redings to William Kirton, gentleman of London, and his sons Israel and John for three lives. (fn. 69) The estate was leased to Henry Kerry of Southwark for 21 years in 1588 and to John Stone, haberdasher of London, for the lives of Anne Kerry and her cousins in 1592. (fn. 70) Bishop Juxon leased it in 1639 to his kinsman John Juxon of London for three lives and thereafter such leases continued until 1902. Leases were made to Sir William Juxon, Bt., of Little Compton (Warws.) in 1710 (fn. 71) and to trustees for his widow Susannah in 1755. Susannah married Charles Fane, Viscount Fane (d. 1766), and on her death in 1792 devised the lease to the Revd. Henry Jerome de Salis. (fn. 72) Alexander Murray of Elm Place became lessee in 1810, under an agreement with de Salis of 1799, (fn. 73) and sold the lease in 1821 to Lewis Loyd (d. 1858), a City banker, from whom it descended to his son Samuel Jones Loyd, Lord Overstone (d. 1883), and granddaughter Harriet Sarah Loyd-Lindsay, Lady Wantage. In 1902 the trustees appointed under Lord Overstone's will sold their interest to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. (fn. 74) In 1874 the estate was called Park Farm, after the freehold farm-house near by in East End Road. (fn. 75) By 1905 Park Farm had been leased by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to the circus proprietor Lord George Sanger, who was murdered there in 1911. (fn. 76)

Ballards Reding, a small area of demesne cleared from Finchley wood at Ballards Lane, was leased out by 1447, (fn. 77) and from 1540 was leased with Hornsey great park (fn. 78) until William Strode, lessee of the whole estate, split it up in 1788. It consisted of 22 a. in 1811, when John Bacon sold it to Thomas Harrison Andrew (d. 1824) of Moss Hall, whose devisees conveyed it to Samuel Wimbush. (fn. 79) In 1854 Wimbush's sons Samuel, Joshua, and Henry inherited the leasehold as tenants in common, buying the bishop's remaining interest in 1855. (fn. 80) In 1841 the Wimbush estate, centred on Fallow Corner, consisted of 45 a. of freehold and 113 a. of leasehold land. (fn. 81) It remained with the family until 1901, when Barnes Wimbush sold it to E. L. Perry. (fn. 82)

Much of Hornsey great park, including Oxleas, meadow land in its north part, lay within Finchley. Oxleas was leased with Ballards Reding and the herbage of the park from 1540 until 1788, (fn. 83) when William Strode sold the largest portion, 117 a. mostly in Finchley and containing Ballards Reding (22 a.) (fn. 84) and most of Oxleas, to John Bacon. Robert Jordan bought 56 a. of Oxleas and John Thomas 35 a. The other 115 a. of the great park lay within Hornsey parish. (fn. 85) In 1811 Bacon sold 111 a., including most of Oxleas, to Elizabeth Adamson, whose heir in 1815 was Margaret, wife of the Revd. John Harrison. (fn. 86) Harrison and Ann Bassindale held 90 a. in 1841, (fn. 87) and their lease had been sold back to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners by 1887. (fn. 88)

The 56 a. of Oxleas purchased in 1788 by Robert Jordan and held by his family as under-lessees at least since 1756 were known by 1810 as Park Gate. It descended from Robert (d. 1797) to his brother Edward (d. 1797) and to Edward's son Edward, who by will proved 1810 devised the estate to his mother Sarah (d. 1835), with remainder to the child of his sister Mary, wife of John George Graeff. Mary's son John George Graeff sold it in 1838 to Anthony Salvin, who in 1878 sold his leasehold to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. (fn. 89) Fothergills, the 35 a. of Oxleas purchased by John Thomas in 1788, had been held by him as under-lessee at least since 1781. (fn. 90) By will proved 1797 he devised it to his daughter Sarah Smith and her heirs, in 1817 it passed to Sarah's son John (d. 1847), and in 1873 John's son John sold his interest to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. (fn. 91)

Hornsey woods, including 266 a. in Finchley, were leased from 1645 until 1885, when the leasehold was surrendered to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. (fn. 92)

A new demesne estate was created at inclosure when 40 a., formerly part of Finchley common between the Great North Road and Coldfall wood, was let on 21-year leases. (fn. 93) In 1813 it was leased to John Honywood Randolph of Fulham, who sold his interest in 1828 to Lewis Loyd, who assigned it in the same year to Isaac Sutton Cooper. (fn. 94) Cooper, in 1855 of Park Hall, Finchley, bought the bishop's reversionary interest in 1865.

Oxleas was sub-leased by 1576 and in 1647 Hornsey park, Oxleas, and Ballards Reding were divided among six under-tenants. (fn. 95) By c. 1788 there were twelve under-tenants on the Hornsey park and Oxleas estate and another ten on the Hornsey woods estate, (fn. 96) holding small amounts of land but sometimes the nucleus of a farm. The largest of the Oxleas under-leased estates consisted of 78 a. held from the mid 18th century until c. 1811 by the Ecken family, c. 1815 by Thomas Goodson, (fn. 97) and from c. 1841 to 1859 by Benjamin Briers. (fn. 98) By 1871 Lodge Farm had been built on the northern edge of the estate and occupied by John Cotton, (fn. 99) who was there in 1887. The lessee in 1900 was James Woodward and in 1911 Thomas Ewers. (fn. 100) Spaniards farm-house had been built at the southern part of Fothergills by 1814, when the estate, with adjoining woodland, was sub-leased to John Norbury. (fn. 101) The farm was sub-leased to Charles Hicks in 1859 and to James Doughty in 1880. (fn. 102)

The Hornsey wood estate, once entirely woodland within Hornsey park, had gradually been cleared until by c. 1788 it consisted of 273 a. of farm-land and 400 a. of woodland. The lessee, the earl of Mansfield, retained most of the woodland in hand. (fn. 103) After the Ecclesiastical Commissioners had bought out the mesne interest in the demesne estates, there was a rearrangement of boundaries, although the under-tenant sometimes continued as lessee. Spaniards farm had been increased by 11 a. from Salvin's estate in 1880 and by 120 a. of woodland c. 1885. Charles Bourn, who leased it in 1882, was ejected in 1890 and the farm, reduced to 83 a., was leased to George Medcalf (d. 1910) while Bishop's and Turners woods (109 a.) were kept in hand. In 1894 Hampstead golf club leased 38 a. of Spaniards farm-land and Medcalf received a new lease of 71 a., consisting of the rest of Spaniards and 23 a. from Manor farm. The golf club increased its area to 44 a. in 1907 and in 1930 bought the freehold. Medcalf's family still held the lease in 1931 when 15 a., including the farm-house site, were leased to Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust. (fn. 104)

Most of the former Hornsey park and Hornsey woods east of the Bishop's Avenue formed part of Manor farm, which in 1883 consisted of 466 a. in Finchley and Hornsey administered from the farm-house next to the Great North Road, just outside the Finchley boundary. It was leased from the mid 1870s to Joseph Wilmington Lane (d. 1903) and as Manor Farm Dairies continued to be leased to his family until 1932, although the acreage contracted with building and with leasing to Highgate golf club and other sports clubs. In 1926 some fields were sold to the Metropolitan Water Board. (fn. 105)

The main motive of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in buying out the long leasehold interests in the demesne estates was to profit from building. Land at the Bishop's Avenue in the heart of Hornsey park was offered on building leases from 1894. (fn. 106) In 1909 the Commissioners granted a 999-year building lease of 112 a., forming the southern portion of Bibwell or Park farm, to Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust. In 1911 300 a., comprising the rest of Park farm and the northwest portion of Hornsey park, were leased on the same terms to Co-Partnership Tenants Ltd. Building was not completed until the mid 1930s and Park farmhouse continued to be sub-leased until after the First World War. (fn. 107) Portions of Spaniards farm, totalling 50 a., were leased on 999-year building leases to Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust in 1914, 1931, and 1934. (fn. 108)

From the mid 16th until the mid 18th century the Bibbesworth estate was divided, some portions being small. There were at least five lessees c. 1530, (fn. 109) and nine in 1623 and 1708. (fn. 110) Lessees frequently held land at opposite ends of the estate and even Normans, the forerunner of Manor farm and identifiable from the Middle Ages, had different fields in 1594 from those in 1598. (fn. 111) In 1708 Thomas Allen kept 56 a. in hand, mostly former woodland in the south-west part. Bibbesworth's largest leasehold estate then consisted of 130 a., mostly in the west, which were leased to Richard Bradford and in 1682 had been leased to Thomas Barnett. Thomas Sanny had leased 80 a. in the north-west part since 1691; Thomas Bradford had leased 49 a. south of the manor-house and Worthy House in East End since 1707; John Williams had leased 47 a. in the north-east part and Cotes Croft since 1705. Five other lessees included Daniel and Richard Clewin, who leased 17 a. and a house, which may have been Normans. (fn. 112)

Normans or Manor farm had emerged as the main leasehold estate by 1764, when Daniel Clewin leased 138 a. in four blocks. (fn. 113) Clewin, well known as a wealthy farmer, was robbed in his farm house in 1778 by a band led by 'Gentleman Harry'. (fn. 114) His son Richard succeeded in 1780 and by 1786 Manor farm formed a compact 150 a. on the eastern borders of the Bibbesworth lands. (fn. 115) After Richard's death in 1788 the bulk of his estate was held by Mrs. Sarah Clewin (d. 1795) and then by Thomas Verrall. William Fanning leased it from 1819, holding 175 a. in 1834 and 153 a. in 1841. (fn. 116) The lease passed in 1843 to Bruce Johnson, who held it in 1871. (fn. 117) From 1879 to 1897 Manor farm, then 204 a., was leased to William Whiteley. (fn. 118) It was held by George E. Arden in 1900 and James Scott in 1911, when all but 68 a. had been sold off for building. (fn. 119) The farm was later held by Deards, originally farmers who became haulage contractors. In 1956, after their move to eastern Finchley, the council acquired the site and demolished the old farm-house. (fn. 120)

Sheephouse (later College) farm originated in the leasehold estate held in 1708 by Richard Bradford, who was not a Finchley man (fn. 121) and may have subleased or sold his interest to John Odell (d. 1762), a hog farmer with property in Church and East End and lessee of much of Bibbesworth in 1756. John Jones, Odell's brother-in-law, leased 105 a. of Bibbesworth land in 1764 in three blocks, mostly in the south-east part. By 1774 they were divided into two, the larger being held by Edward Jordan and the smaller by Ann Jones until 1777, when they passed to James Bindley (d. 1818), the book collector, who was Odell's nephew. (fn. 122) By 1815 both portions were united in a block of 168 a. leased to Richard Claridge. (fn. 123) A building existed on the estate by 1814 (fn. 124) but may have been only a barn or sheephouse. In 1842 97 a., described as Hendon Lane farm, were assigned to one Hamilton, who acquired the rest from Claridge in 1843. (fn. 125) From c. 1857 to 1866 the farm, called Sheephouse farm, was leased to John Tanqueray. (fn. 126) In 1868 it was leased to George Barham of the Express Dairy Co., who renamed it College farm and employed Frederic Chancellor to build a model dairy on the site of the old farm buildings in 1882. (fn. 127) Although most of the land was sold for building, the farm-house and some fields continued to be leased to the company until it bought the freehold in 1909. (fn. 128)

Most of the north-west part of Bibbesworth which had been held in 1708 by Thomas Sanny was in 1764 leased to Mrs. Claridge. (fn. 129) It passed from John Claridge to Richard Carpenter in 1821 and at that date formed a block of 108 a., which was leased to John Caleb Simmonds in 1838 and to John Tomlin in 1843. (fn. 130) Most of the estate disappeared in the sales of 1849, some of the rest being incorporated into Manor farm. (fn. 131)