Hill House Farm
Although they were tenants at ‘Burton’s Farm’ in Ashwellthorpe Road, the Burton family owned other village farms in their own right. Hill House Farm, on the Turnpike, was one of those.
In 1856, William Burton had appointed John Bullimore as Farm Steward for (the rented) Burtons Farm plus the other (Burton-owned) farms, including Hill House. Following William Burton’s death the next year, Maria Burton retained Bullimore in the same role.
As steward, Bullimore operated all three farms as a single unit with a common team of about twenty farm workers. A double-page from one of Bullimore’s notebooks (below) shows his arable cropping scheme covering the three farms in 1857.
On her death, Maria Burton had bequeathed both Hill House Farm and Elm Tree (George’s) Farm plus a substantial amount of money to John Bullimore. As the new landowner, Bullimore was farming a significantly smaller acreage than under the Burtons, and he retained just under half of the previous workforce. At about the same time, he married Martha Thurston and Hill House Farm became their home from where he also controlled Elm Tree (George’s) Farm.
Bullimore’s aunt (and widow), Barbara Denny, was already resident at the Hill House farmhouse. She had previously been a Burton tenant, so John Bullimore became her new landlord. The farmhouse was conveniently divided into two halves, enabling each to maintain their separate lives. Barbara Denny had also benefited from Maria Burton’s Will: in her case, £200 and a silver teapot!
Barbara Denny died in 1875 and John Bullimore inherited a substantial amount of money from her. This may have been connected with the significant renovations to the farmhouse which took place in 1876/7 and detailed by Bullimore in his records as ‘Rebuilding House‘. Surviving documents show he spent about £270 and the work was largely undertaken by a team led by William Long. The comprehensive schedule of works with task-by-task costings remains in Wreningham today.
1881 – further construction at Hill House Farm
In 1881, John Bullimore undertook further building work at the farm. Spending a total of £258, he created a new piggery and dairy in the yard and also had a small private chapel constructed adjacent to the orchard behind the farmhouse.
The chapel was for the sole use of John and Martha Bullimore and their guests. It had a largely timber construction but included a slate roof and stained glass windows. In subsequent farm tenancy agreements, whatever the rights of the tenant, a paragraph was always included to give the Bullimore family exclusive access to the chapel. This building finally collapsed during the 1900s. Although shown on the 25 inch OS map at the beginning of the 1900s, no photographs of the private chapel have come to light.
All the above construction was carried out by Mr Long, an Ashwellthorpe carpenter working with builder, George Rix and his team, who laid the floors, constructed the brick walls, tiled floors etc. A Mr Westgate from Morningthorpe supplied the roof tiles, bricks and other building materials.
John Bullimore appears to have taken a step back from running the farm in the early 1880s when Dennis William Long took over the operation of Hill House Farm as the tenant farmer. The Long family now occupied one-half of the farmhouse.
As a relatively wealthy man, John Bullimore appears to have given opportunity and guidance to those in their early careers. We might speculate that Dennis William Long fell into that category. Long also became the village Surveyor in 1884 – a post previously held by John Bullimore who, perhaps, had influence in nominating his successor.
In 1891, Dennis William Long moved to become the tenant at Fir Grove, relinquishing his tenancy at Hill House Farm.
Bullimore Farm Auctions – 1887 and 1897
During the period when John Bullimore owned the two Wreningham farms, we know of two farm auctions; there may have been others which have not yet been discovered. We have full catalogues for both sales, together with the prices achieved for every item. The two auctions were held ten years apart (in 1887 and 1897) when Bullimore was 60 years and 70 years of age, respectively. However, no farm is identified in either catalogue.
It’s possible that each auction was organised to sell off the animals and equipment from a single farm – if so, which one? As neither auction date aligns directly with the arrival of a tenant, for now, which items and animals originated from which farm(s) must remain a puzzle.
The 1887 auction made £564 14s 6d and the 1897 auction made £757 9s 4d.
This photograph, taken outside the front door of the farmhouse, is from the late 1800s.
Standing to the left is believed to be the young James Day (son of George and Hannah Day) who is understood to have acted as the ‘farm servant’.
It seems likely that this was after Dennis William Long and family had moved to Fir Grove in 1891.
If so, had John Bullimore missed being in the driving seat at the farm and now wanted a deeper involvement in making decisions?
In due course, a new tenant farmer was appointed: George Mutimer. The 1901 Census lists Mutimer as only 22. Hence, in 1901, it’s unlikely he had been in post for very long.
One of John Bullimore’s old farm notebooks (from the 1870s), appears to have been flipped over, and blank pages at the opposite end repurposed. The new details, written in a different hand, are dated 1902 and 1903.
The text appears to provide listings of George Mutimer’s farmhands and their wages. They were paid once every two weeks. We can also see the number of days each worked within the two-week periods.
The 1901 Census also shows the young George Mutimer had been appointed as Wreningham’s census enumerator. Was this on John Bullimore’s recommendation? Having previously been a Census enumerator himself, Bullimore should have been able to provide excellent guidance and support.
In 1902, John Bullimore had remarried (to Anne Amelia Barker) following the death of his first wife, Martha. One of his pocket books lists a great deal of expenditure at this time. Was it his new wife who encouraged this or new investment requested by his tenant?
In due course, George Mutimer married Marion Louise Betts. They had a family and moved a few miles south to the village of Tibenham.
Tenant: George Huggins (and Arthur Morse)
A three-page legal agreement, dated 22nd September 1904 – describing the appointment of the next tenant – still survives in the village. The document names George Huggins of Blackhall, Fundenhall as the tenant for the 145 acre farm. However, also named in the agreement (as a man who might occupy the farmhouse in the place of George Huggins) is Arthur Morse. The inference is that Morse was Huggins’ undertenant – although the term was not used in the agreement to describe Morse.
From the agreement text, it appears that Huggins – or more likely(?) – Arthur Morse with his wife and family, would be occupying the tenant’s half of the farmhouse.
The agreement lists the other ‘half’ landlord, John Bullimore, would be occupying, which comprised:
Two sitting rooms, four bedrooms, an entrance hall and kitchen. Also: an Apple Chamber, loose box in the riding stable, gighouse, coal & wood house, water closet, and parts of the garden & orchard. Bullimore would also have rights to use the well and pump – with exclusive use of the private chapel for himself, family and guests.
A notable term in the agreement was that, should landlord John Bullimore die during the four-year tenancy, Huggins (or, presumably, Arthur Morse and his family) would be permitted to occupy both halves of the farmhouse for the remainder of the agreement period.
At the time the agreement was signed, John Bullimore had been married to his second wife for two years. The inference is that, following her husband’s death, Anne Bullimore would want to move out. In spring 1906, John Bullimore did die. As this was during the agreement term, Anne Bullimore duly relocated; she moved to Wymondham.
There should have been a new tenancy agreement signed in 1908. No surviving document or further reference to George Huggins has been found. However, it appears Arthur Morse must have been formally appointed as tenant at about that time.
Arthur Morse had a family friendship with the Folwell family who were pork butchers in Leicester. We presume the railway enabled the farm’s pigs to be transported to Leicester with ease. Eventually, young Horace Folwell decided to move to Wreningham and, in due course, married Dorothy Bothway – one of William Bothway’s daughters.
Morse was also a very active member of Wreningham’s Primitive Methodist Chapel and helped raise considerable funds for its rebuilding. He remained the Hill House Farm tenant until his tenancy agreement expired at Michaelmas 1912 following a disagreement with Anne Bullimore. This resulted in him and his family moving away.
Tenants: John Rowe followed by Mr Westgate
Morse was replaced as tenant by John Rowe who had previously been the tenant farmer at the nearby Potash Farm (once made famous in the Stanfield Hall murders) at Hethel. John Rowe retired after a long farming career at Michaelmas 1920 and moved to the nearby Highfields on Church Road. Some of his descendants remain in Wreningham today.
John Rowe’s successor tenant, Mr Westgate, contested the acceptability of the farm’s condition. He took legal advice and claimed John Rowe had been responsible for the dilapidation of the farm and claimed Anne Bullimore should fund the repairs and make her own dilapidation claims on the (now retired) John Rowe.
Each party involved a solicitor and arguments ran through the first half of 1921, resulting in Anne Bullimore collecting a large legal bill, but no solution. In frustration, Anne Bullimore told her own solicitor (Walter Joseph) she wanted to sell both Hill House Farm and George’s Farm. She sold neither, although she offered George’s Farm to its tenant – and he said ‘no’. Anne appears to have ended up funding the Hill House Farm’s ‘dilapidation’ repairs!
Anne Bullimore returns to Hill House Farm
Whilst living in Wymondham, Anne had adopted Violet (from London), who was her great-niece. (Prior to 1926, child adoption in the UK was an informal process and did not require external approval.)
Perhaps Anne Bullimore, her adopted daughter – about 9 years of age – plus their live-in servant, needed more space than their smaller property in Middleton Street, Wymondham could provide. As the Michaelmas 1920 change of tenancy date had approached, Anne decided she wanted to return to Wreningham and re-establish the landlord’s occupation of one half of her farmhouse. The next tenant (Mr Westgate) would revert to living in just half of the farmhouse, as before.
Prior to their arrival in Wreningham, Anne funded a series of improvements to modernise and completely redecorate her new home.
It must have been quite awkward to have moved back and then discover she was in a financial dispute with her tenant, who lived in the other half of the same building!
In 1923, the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Ltd described the Hill House farmyard property as: ‘a range of buildings comprising barn, cart horse stable, granary, riding stable, gighouse, wagon lodge, horse shed, cakehouse, covered yard, two cowhouses and turnip house all adjoining, brick and clay built and tiled‘. [NB The listing makes no reference to John Bullimore’s 1881 piggery! Had it been repurposed?] The 1923 insured value of the above was £600.
More Tenants: Ezra Green followed by A Hindry
Michaelmas 1928 saw the arrival of Ezra Green for a four-year tenancy.
By Michaelmas 1932, a Mr Peacock was lined up to take over from Ezra. The normal process had been followed; however, Mr Peacock changed his mind at the last moment and refused to sign the agreement; this left Anne Bullimore in the lurch. In the end, the tenancy was given to a Mr Hindry. Presumably due to Anne Bullimore being in a fix, Hindry agreed to his first year at the reduced rate of £60. This reverted to £100 for each of the remaining years of his tenancy.
To be continued ……