Not to be confused with Hill Farm, Cadmore End or Hill Farm, High Wycombe. A mixed farm. In 1833 was 90 acres in size. The farm of this post was near Marlow Bottom. It did not apparently have a farm house on site until a few years after 1833. In 1853 was 100 acres, 66 of which had long been part of the farm, the remainder was in Marlow Common Field rather than with the main part.
Occupiers (not necessarily same as owners) and history timeline, gaps in occupiers are gaps in our knowledge, we will endeavour to fill them as and when we can=
1833= James and David Webb who had other local farms and lived off-site.
1851= William Stanmore. Wife Fanny.
1853= Richard Gibbons. Tenant. Farm for sale with a newly erected brick and tile farmhouse "prettily situate with commanding views" [Bucks Herald 27th August 1853 advert]. The property was sold privately. Bought by Mr Wethered.
1854-61. Thomas Batt farm bailiff for the Wethered family who were the owners. He and his wife Ann lived on the farm. On the 1861 census live in carter George Brown, odd job boy 16 year old Joseph Dark and 14 year old carter's boy John Ellick were also recorded. By 1863 the Batts had gone to Little Marlow as steward to the manor there. Thomas Batt had previously been bailiff at Old House Farm, Little Marlow and prior to that in Hampshire. For his grave see here. The funeral was paid for by his employer Mr Ellames of Little Marlow Manor. Ann as a widow lived in the Oxford Road Almshouses where she died age 86 in 1898.
1864= John Hewett, then later in the year Thomas Carter moved in.
1865= Thomas Carter, who complained bitterly at the terrible state of the road that ran near his farm and on towards High Wycombe but the court found that he himself was messing up the road and causing difficulty for the parish road workers. He dies seem to have been something of a prickly individual. Thomas' staff were constantly leaving him resulting in him then taking them to court trying to force them to return as per their labour contract. For whatever reason it does not seem working relations were at all good at the farm. On at least one occasion Thomas was told by a magistrate that he would get good workers when he behaved kindly to them, which implies the bench thought that wasn't happening. Accusations of abuse were levelled at Thomas more than once by disgruntled workers. He wasn't always to blame however- his employee James Bohey who stole sacks of oats from Hill Farm, after he got out of jail sued Thomas for unpaid wages not given to him while he was in jail! He was contracted to be paid a regular wage he argued. Unsurprisingly the bench decided that the contract was annulled by James going to jail. Mrs Carter seems to have had some problems problems with her indoor servants too, sending a 14 year old girl back to the workhouse she had come from because she "didn't suit".
1868= Thomas Carter. His farm worker Edward Wingfield or Winfield died almost instantly of sunstroke while labouring in a field during the hot summer of 1868. [Sources included the South Bucks Free Press 25th July 1868] He was one of two Marlow agricultural workers to die of sunstroke while at work that year, with others affected too.
1870= just about everything on the farm put up for sale- cart horses, beef cattle, sheep, pigs, dung carts, market waggons etc as the farm was up to let.
1871= James Child. Wife Caroline. James retired and moved to Hendon, Middlesex after 1876 but before 1881.
1881= Joseph Blackwell was the resident farm bailiff (for who? Presumably Wethered family). Lived at the farm with his daughter Elizabeth there. Joseph had recently recovered from insolvency when he moved to Hill Farm. He was previously a farmer at nearby Clay Lane Farm. See here.
1894-1911= Abel Dell. Advertised in the Bucks Herald 1895 for a strong girl fond of children to help in the farmhouse. Female farm servants would have been required to feed and tend any animals in the farmyard such as poultry and pigs as wells as take in domestic duties. Abel's daughter Alice Mary died at the farm aged 7 in 1899. He moved his home to nearby Bencombe Farm 1909 or 1910 but still kept Hill Farm until 1911. For his life at Bencombe see here.
1911-20 = Aubrey Croxford. Wife Ada. Aubrey was a grocer and baker before he took to farming.
1928= Farm also used for commercial timber growing.
1930 = A Mrs Whincup lived at the farm, daughter of James Henry price a horse dealer of Marlow whose books and business accounts she kept up for him. It isn't clear what her status was at Hill Farm.
1937-39= John Norman. Farm had at least some dairy cattle at this time. By this time there was a cottage apart from the farm house on the farm.
Researched and written by Charlotte Day.
Further information:
To find every mention however small of an individual or family here, use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu.
For info about other specific farms, check the index here
General agricultural related posts can be found listed here
Other Sources=
England and Wales Census, 1871, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KXS5-2BX : 26 June 2022), James R Child, 1871. Other censuses my transcriptions from microfilm. All census material remains Crown Copyright.
Bucks Herald 22nd June 1895. Bucks Advertiser. 27th August 1898. Bucks Herald 16th November 1928. All British Library Archives via the BNA.
South Bucks Free Press 25th November 1867, 8th Aug 1930 Bucks Free Press Archives.
1833 Great Marlow assessment notebooks, transcribed by Charlotte Day from originals in our possession.
1861 census transcribed from microfilm by Charlotte Day. Census information remains Crown copyright.
©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.
