ROWLEY FARM, Holt

Rowley means rough clearing (ruh+leah) in Old English, the language of the post Roman, pre Norman Conquest era. Thus Rowley Farm's name may date to the time when farms stood in clearings in the forested landscape of which Ockeridge Wood is a remnant. In 1794 the farm was recorded as Rowley's Farm, which suggests a connection with the Rowley family who are represented in the area to this day. This was a misnomer however as earlier documents indicate that the present-day name was in use at least two generations earlier than that. It is possible that the family took their name from that of the farm before the mid-fifteenth century, when surnames were finally universally adopted in England. Rowley is a not-uncommon place name however and the family could well have moved to the area already bearing the name of their place of origin.

The farm today straddles the Holt-Little Witley parish boundary at the point where the rolling Herefordshire countryside gives way to the Severn Valley. The soils are mainly clay-loam that can get waterlogged in winter but retain moisture during the summer. Although the farm is exclusively pasture today, in previous centuries it has been a mixed or even entirely arable holding.

The earliest tenant so far identified was Edward Smith. He was apparently at Rowley in 1727 when he served as Parish Constable. He was a juror on a view of frankpledge of 1729 and a churchwarden in 1749. As well as serving on the manors' jury he also appeared in front of it, for in 1734 he was threatened with a three guineas fine if he didn't immediately 'cleanse' Rowley Brook. He carried out the work at that time but three years later was fined 6s/8d for again not 'cleansing' the Brook as instructed. This would equate £20 in 1990. 

The cleansing operation was a continuing problem to Smith for the following year, 1738, he was threatened with a 13s/4d (£40 in 1990) fine if he didn't clear the brook within one month of the court meeting. He was again a juror in that year, despite his frequent appearance in front of the court. The actual cleansing operation may have been related to the point where Rowley Brook crosses Ockeridge Lane; perhaps debris was obstructing a ford or bridge there.

Smith died in September 1751 leaving a widow, Anne. His health must have been failing noticeably for he put his mark to his will less than two weeks before his death. In his will he left fifteen pounds each to his sisters, Elizabeth Edwards and Anne Meed, with the balance going to his widow, who stayed on at the farm. She died thirteen months later, having made her will shortly after Edward's death. In it she left £1 per annum for ten years to her daughter Anne Rumney and the remainder to her son William Walker(sic). Her children must have been the offspring of an earlier marriage; hence Edward didn't mention them in his will. The children named in his will may have been the products of an earlier marriage on his part, as Anne mentioned neither in her will.

The next known tenant of Rowley Farm was William Winnall. Like Smith, he served as Parish Constable, in 1771 and 1772, and as a churchwarden, in 1776, the year of his death. In 1775 he was noted on the list of inhabitants under the Lord of the Manor, Thomas Foley, but not on the Frankpledge of the same year.

On November 12th 1776, in a faltering hand, William Winnall signed and applied his seal to his last will and testament. He described himself as a Yeoman at that time. William's friend John Lowick, of Holt Castle, was to hold his estate to distribute to his widow, Mary, and children, Elizabeth, Ann, Susannah, Sarah, Hannah, Richard, Leticia, William and Joseph. William's household effects, cattle, corn, hay and farm implements were to stay with his widow until her demise when they were to be shared equally between their three son's. Henry Mays and William Ford witnessed the will, which was proven only eighteen days after it was written, indicating how near to death William Winnall was when he wrote it.

Following William's death his widow, Mary, took an active role in the running of the farm. In the year of her death, 1787 the land tax due amounted to £4.13/6. Mary Winnall wrote her will in 785, signing it with a cross. She made many bequests, listing her daughters, their husbands and their abodes.

Elizabeth's husband was Francis Watkins husbandsman (= farmer) of Droitwich. Leticia's was William Ford, farmer (probably of Wood Farm) of Holt, having married in 1775 at Little Witley. Ann's husband was Thomas Maybury, forgeman of The Ren(sic.) Nest in Salop (the Wrens Nest in Dudley). Hannah's married name was Chance, and she lived in St Peter's in Worcester. Each was to receive £10. Mary's other daughter's, Susannah and Sarah, who were married to Thomas Smith and Thomas Brettell respectively were each left  £5. Of these latter two daughters, the will specified that the monies were for their sole use, not their husband's, and that it was to be held in trust for them by Henry Bray. Richard was to receive £100. The remainder of Mary's estate and personnel effects were to go to Joseph, who was also to act as executor. Henry and Patrick Bray witnessed the will.

When his mother died in 1787 Joseph Winnall took over Rowley Farm. His brother Richard having married Sarah Rawlins in Crowle five years earlier no-doubt invested his legacy in his farm in that parish. Joseph's other brother, William, had died prior to his mother writing her will. Joseph's younger sister Mary was not mentioned in her mothers. An extant Australian branch of this family, who claim to be descended from her, witnesses that she survived to become a mother.

The farmhouse was rebuilt around 1790. It probably replaced a timber-framed dwelling and was constructed of brick and tile. It is this house that stands today. In 1794 the farm buildings were still mostly of board or clay, and all were thatched. They were in 'indifferent repair' at that time. They consisted of a barn, stable, cider mill, hop kilns, beast house and wagon lodge. The red brick farm buildings that stand to this day were probably built soon after 1794 as they are of a similar style and construction as the house.

Today the only external evidence of pre 1790's building is in the brickwork of the eastern portion of the mainly late eighteenth century farmhouse. Here there appears to be signs of an earlier phase of the house, possibly a brick built extension to an earlier, probably timber framed, house that survived the rebuilding of the 1790's.

In the early 1790's the farm ran to some 96 acres, 93 acres of which were down to arable which included 10 acres of hops. Even the fields named Plumb Tree Leasow and Rowley's Orchards were arable or hops. There was only one acre of grass. This would not have been enough to supply grazing for the farms working horses, let alone cattle or sheep. Perhaps the horses and any stock were grazed on neighbouring farms. At that time this was the largest proportion of cultivated to uncultivated ground of any farm in Holt or Little Witley.

The annual rent was increased in 1794 from £43.10/- to £65. For each of the years that a land tax was collected Joseph Winnall paid the same as his mother before him, that is £4.13/6. In 1798 however that increased by 8/- to £5.1/6, with the acquisition of a small piece of New Inn Farm. Rowley then ran to 109 acres.

It appears that Rowley Farm was unaffected by the Holt Enclosure Act of 1810.

Joseph Winnall served as Overseer of the Poor in 1799 and 1808. By his wife, Rebecca nee Morris, Joseph had eight children born between 1796 and 1815, namely John, Martha, Joseph, Mary, Thomas, Sarah, William, and James. He retired from the farm in 1817, living another ten years until April 1827, when he died at the age of 74. He left no will.

Brick making then became very important to the Winnall family. Thomas had the brick kiln and yard near Hurst Farm in partnership with Mary Morris who was probably of the Red Lion and probably related to Thomas's mother. William moved first to Little Witley then to Abberley to work in the brickyards. John farmed about 17 acres on Ockeridge Waste before moving to Abberley perhaps also to work in the brickyards.

Rebecca outlived Joseph by nearly forty years. She probably died at the home of her daughter, Martha, in Great Witley. In the mean time she had lived with her son Thomas on Ockeridge Waste and in Abberley.

John Ford took over Rowley Farm on Winnall's retirement. He may have been related to Benjamin Ford who was at Hollingshead Farm at that time, or William Ford of Wood Farm. Joseph Winnall's sister, Leticia, married William Ford in 1775, if John and Benjamin Ford were children of that marriage then they would have been Joseph's nephews. John Ford continued to farm the same area as his predecessor until at least 1824, paying the same amount of land-tax. He served in only one parish post that of Overseer of the Poor in 1817. The following tenant served in that post for Rowley in 1834. There should have been someone representing the farm in about 1825, but no one is listed.

John's wife, Elizabeth had three children in the time that they were at Rowley; Catherine in 1818, Sarah in 1819 and James in 1823.

John Goodwin of Holt Mill and neighbouring Gatley took on the farm for one year, 1825. His brief tenancy, which undoubtedly left the house unoccupied, was followed by that of Joseph Rutter. Rutter paid £5/1s/6d Land Tax plus an additional 6/8 for Gatley, which he also took over from Goodwin in 1826.

Joseph was followed in 1833 by (?his son) John Rutter who was a middle-aged bachelor at that time. Although Gatley remained attached to Rowley, John paid 8d less Land Tax for that part of the farm. Perhaps the double cottage was retained 'in-hand' by Lord Foley for estate workers. By 1839, for the Rowley portion of John's holding, pasture had still only increased to thirteen acres. There were 7.5 acres of hops and 88 acres of arable.

Between 1793 and 1839 the farm underwent dramatic changes, with the re-alignment of many hedges and the digging of several marl pits. Rowley Brook was straightened, and, in response to the demands for war ships made by the Napoleonic Wars, the woodland probably planted during that period. John Rutter was employing two house servants in 1841; Mary Norris and Emma Russell, both of whom lived-in. Rutter appeared on the electoral register from 1843 until his death four years later, in the spring of 1847. He was by then farming nearly 104 acres and paying an annual rent of £145. On Rutter's demise the farm was split between neighbouring tenants. For the following forty years no single person was listed as tenant of the farm in it's own right.

The house was apparently empty for nearly a year. The land was divided between Michael Ashmore of Hurst Farm (58 acres), John Cowell of Bentley Farm (19 acres), Edward Powick of Row Farm (5 acres) and James Winnall of Ockeridge Waste (39 acres). Ashmore's portion was the low-lying part of the farm on the opposite side of Rowley Brook to Hurst Farm. Cowell took the two fields to the Southwest of Roadfields. Powick acquired the single field opposite Rowley farmstead, which formed a natural part of Row. Winnall's 39 acres consisted of five fields rising to Yew Tree and Huck's Hill, known collectively as 'No-gains'.

James Winnall was probably Joseph's son born in 1815. Winnall took Rowley house in the winter of 1847/8 but gave it up in the summer of 1850. He continued to farm his portion of the land from Ockeridge Waste until November of that year, at which time Thomas White took over his 39 acres. It was probably at that time that James Winnall took on Wood Farm. Certainly by February of the following year 'No-gains' was vacant and remained so for two years, when John Cowell of Bentley took it on. After Winnall relinquished the house in 1850 it was retained in-hand by Lord Foley and occupied by gamekeepers and estate labourers.

The first of these who occupied the house in late 1850's were Benjamin Ludlow, gamekeeper, from Staffordshire and his London born wife, Jane; with Henry Hill, carpenter, from Little Witley. In March 1851 the Ludlow's had a guest, Maria Ruether, staying with them. She was a dressmaker from the same part of London as Jane. Ludlow was in the house until at least 1855. Hill's father, Samuel, was a carpenter in Little Witley. Hill was still at Rowley in 1871 but had left before 1881. 

By 1860 another gamekeeper, Edward Turnbull, who was quickly succeeded by William Lawley, had replaced Ludlow. Again a gamekeeper, Lawley like Benjamin Ludlow came from Staffordshire. Before arriving in Holt, Lawley had worked in Chaddesley and Kinlet. His wife, Ann or Hannah from Warwickshire bore at least five children. Their last child, George Edward, was afflicted by measles as a child that rendered him an invalid. The Lawley family remained at Rowley until at least 1881.

In 1884 Thomas (Tom) William Jones took over the largest part of Rowley from Hurst Farm. He also farmed Row having moved there three years previously. Jones was born in 1846 in Shrawley. His father, Thomas, farmed Bonefields Farm in that parish from 1855 until his death in 1886. Tom's mother, Margaret, was born a Powick, a family name that has been written about in some detail in recent years by other authors. Margaret was first cousin to both Edward and Samuel Powick who farmed at Row up to 1881. Before moving to Holt, Thomas William Jones held Glazenbridge Farm in Shrawley.

Jones lived at Row but may have spent a little time in Rowley house. His ninth child, May, was baptised from Rowley in February 1886, despite having apparently been born at Row in May of the previous year. By April 1890 Jones was back at Row, where three more children were born.

The tenancy of Rowley Farm and house is in some doubt in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Thomas William Jones may have held the primary agreement and installed secondary tenants, or the house and a portion of the farm may have been let separately to farmers other than Jones. In April 1891 35 year old Edward Drew and his wife Priscilla were farming Rowley. They had two guests, Edward's sister Alice Davis, who was a farmer’s wife, and her son George Davis. Edward and his sister were both born in Whitbourne, Hereford. Priscilla was born in Martley and George in Kingsland, Hereford.  

From before December 1896, until at least 1900,  Edward/Edmund James Davies was in occupation. His wife, Mary Anne, had two daughters during their time at Rowley; Beatrice Alice in 1896 and Ethel Maud in 1898.

Before 1904 Thomas William Jones’s second son, Thomas Henry, who moved across from the home farm, Row, briefly farmed Rowley. All the evidence indicates however that Thomas William was still the primary tenant, sub-letting to his son. By 1909 Thomas Henry had left for Shrawley where he farmed the 13 acres Sankyns Green Farm with his wife Annie and three children.

In addition to the Jones's several individuals and families shared the accommodation at Rowley as witnessed by the birth of Richard Carr's son in 1911 and the death of Thomas Andrew Spearman in 1915; all at Rowley House. Until as recently as the 1950's two schoolmistresses from Holt School were lodging in the house.

In 1920, when the farm was put up for auction, Thomas William Jones was farming 53 acres. In addition William James Dorrell of Bentley still held the 39 acres known as 'No-gains' and G Munslow of Holt village had the 2 acres of apples and plums in Gatley Orchard. The three paid annual rents of £43, £35 and £3 for their respective portions. At auction the complete 102 acres lot sold for £3175, plus £100 for the standing timber, to Jones. The conveyance was completed on 16 August  1921. Pasture made-up nearly two thirds of the area at that time, along with a small pear orchard and some woodland. The latter had not been included in the area of the farm previously as it was for the sole use of the landlord. In addition to the Georgian house that had been extended in Victorian times, there was a fowl house, two cow houses, a three horse stable, three pigsties, an open cattle shed, loose box and a cart and wagon shed. The sale lot also included the pair of dwellings known as Gatley Cottages, which were also let to Jones.

After purchasing the farm Thomas William Jones moved into Rowley house. 1926 tithe assessment of Little Witley and 1928 assessment of Holt showed that Jones was still farming 102 acres for which a commuted tithe charge of £20.6/9 was payable. He died at Rowley in 1934, Elizabeth (Eliza), his wife, died five years later. Their youngest child, Joseph (Joe), who was born in 1891 at Row, succeeded them. He moved from Gatley Cottages where he had been living up to that time.

Joseph married Annie Willie who bore two daughters, Ethel (Irene) and Gladys May. George Henry (Harry) Cooper was employed as stud groom. He lived at Gatley Cottages. His wife was Margaret Elizabeth Howe Jones, daughter of Thomas Henry Jones who had left Rowley for Sankyns Green Farm before 1909. When Ethel Irene and Richard (Dick) Alec Gill, farmer of Norton, married in 1946 their bungalow, 'Irena', near Rowley was not ready for occupation so they moved to Holt Mill for a time. Meanwhile Joseph carried on farming in much the same manner as his father before him.

Many sorts of stock were reared and wheat, barley, oats and a variety of fruit were grown. The remaining portion of Rowley Orchard was planted up with plums and apples, and damsons and plums were planted into some of the hedgerows. Joseph continued to use heavy horses until his retirement in 1953. At that time the farm buildings were little altered from when the farm was originally purchased in 1920, or even when they were built in the 1790's.

Before 1952 Joseph Jones sold off the three fields to the west of the farm, known as 'No-gains', along with Gatley Cottages and their associated meadow. H. Barrington Esq. was the purchaser, but in 1952 sold 'No-gains' to Elt, who in-turn sold the following year to Sidney Millichip of Hurst Farm.

A bungalow was built in Gatley Orchard, to which Joseph Jones retired in 1953. Francis (Frank) John Hancocks, garage owner of Birmingham, bought the remaining 49 acres of the farm at auction on  30 July 1953 for £6800. At that time the annual rate charge was £7.8/-, tithe redemption £9.9/10 and land tax 16/3. After National Service in the RAF and attending Agriculture College at Avoncroft near Bromsgrove, John Peter Hancocks, Francis John's son, worked the farm.

Jones had allowed scrub to invade field margins on the farm boundary. Much effort was put into clearing this using a bulldozer and dynamite! The overgrown hedges were relayed and new fences erected. Shortly before the farm was purchased a violent storm blew down most of the conifers in the woodland. These were cleared and replanted in the proceeding ten years.

Hancocks senior and his wife, Florence Dora (Dot) Kate lived in the old farmhouse. John with his wife, Patricia (Pat) Ruth nee Eggleton of Hallow, lived in a mobile home until their house, 'Grasmere', was built in 1962. John and Pat have two sons, Peter John and David Francis who are a wildlife consultant in Bristol and police constable in Newport, Shropshire, respectively. Both have young families. The former and his wife, Carolyn nee' Jones of Ormskirk, are the authors of this work. Francis Hancocks died in 1966, his widow in 1994.

Since about 1964 the farm has been exclusively pasture. In the 1950's the farm was stocked with sheep, pigs, poultry and dairy cattle. This variety was reduced in proceeding years, such that by the mid-1960s only Guernsey dairy cattle were kept. The dairy herd was dispersed in 1988. Up to the summer of 1994 a few Guernsey's were retained as suckler cows with calves’ at-foot and beef cattle were reared and fattened. The last bought in calves left the farm as fattened beasts in the spring of 1995. The grass 'keep' was then let to neighbouring farmers, mainly Peter Field of Row Farm.

Plum, damson and apples trees that were planted between the wars are now aged and collapsing, but what are some of the oldest and largest surviving examples of 'Worcester Black' pear trees still fruit regularly on this and neighbouring holdings. The standard and coppice woodland is not managed as such but much conservation tree and shrub planting has been undertaken since the late 1980's. This continues, as the farming becomes less intensive.

In 1993 work began on renovating the farmhouse. During re-roofing the original timberwork was exposed. This consisted largely of re-used oak beams. The present house is just over two hundred years old, the beams may have been reclaimed from a two hundred year old house or barn, and the beams may have been cut from two or three hundred years old trees. Thus the timbers are probably over six hundred years old. The existence of re-used medieval timber in most of the eighteenth century farmhouses in Holt and Little Witley is possibly to be expected.

The restoration work also revealed several stages of expansion and alteration to the house. An open-hearth inglenook fireplace was discovered behind a fireplace built earlier this century. A number of original timbers have been left exposed in the final decoration. John and Pat Hancocks sold 'Grasmere' in February 1996 and moved into Rowley Farm House. In the spring of 1997 John Hancocks gifted the farmland to his sons, Peter and David. He retained the farmhouse and buildings.

Rowley Farm House