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Bull Baiters Farm, Elstree A.K.A. Bullbeggers Farm September, 2010 |
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Alan Hambrook (a.hambrook29 @t btinternet.com) of Oxford has a family photograph of Bull Baiters Farm, somewhere in Hertfordshire, which was occupied by Walter Hambrook, as tenant farmer, in the early part of the 20th century. He has had difficulty locating the farm.
The reason you could not find it is that the area has been redeveloped while older records give the farm a different name.
The 19th century 1" Ordnance Survey map (above) records the farm as Bullbeggars and it was in Elstree, north east of the village. The area has been built over and the farm was approximately where Bullhead Road, Boreham Wood is now. Bullbeggar meant "hobgoblin" or "scarecrow." (The Place-names of Hertfordshire).
In the 1861 census (I haven't looked at the other censuses) the occupant of Bullbeggars Farm was 60 year old William King, who farmed 190 acres and employed 3 men and 2 boys. In addition to his family two farm labourers also lived in the farm. The next building listed was called Thrift Farm (see map) , but was occupied by a farm labourer - so it may have been used as a farm cottage. Quite often, especially involving what had been smaller tenanted farms, the fields would be combined into a larger farm and the "redundant" farm house used as farm cottages.
Kelly's Trade Directories for Hertfordshire show the farmer for what was now called Bull Baiters Farm were Herbert Charles Dunell (1908, 1912), Alfred H Marsh (1914), W. J. Hambrook (1917, 1922, 1926), Samuel Szapira (1929). I note that in 1922 a P. J. Hambrook was farming Thrift Farm.
There are pictures of the Bull Baiter's Farm and the Hambrook family in Elstree & Boreham Wood in Camera.
September, 2010
Aileen Gaye McKAY nee PAVIOUR-SMITH (pavioursm @t gmail.com) of Whangarei, New Zealand, writes My ggg grandfather, Charles GRAY, stable keeper of Oxford St and South Molton Street, St Geo Han Sq. (site of Bond Street Underground station today) died after 15 Aug 1819 when he signed a will and before 4 Sep 1819 when probate was granted. His will starts :
I Charles GRAY of Shepherd Street Oxford Street in the parish of Saint George Hanover Square in the Liberty of Westminster and County of Middlesex Stable Keeper and of Bullbriggars ffarm Bowham Wood South do make this my last Will and Testament this Twentieth day of ffebruary 1819. (He actually signed it five days earlier, so he must have been very unwell and had to do it sooner)
Also his widow Elizabeth GRAY nee WILSON b 1760 Elstree d 1833 at the same stables, which was hers till death then divvied up between their children. Her father was William WILSON, a carpenter / builder. His will left everything to his son also named William WILSON.
I wondered how he met his wife from Elstree - spelt Idlestree on our family tree. But there it is , the nearest village to his ffarm. I just googled for the ffarm and found your site and a few others in the vicinity. They married on 1 May 1780 at St George Hanover Square.
A link between the Elstree area and London (particularly the West End of London would actually have been seen as quite natural. London was becoming a major city with a growing population. Horse drawn traffic, both stage coaches for passengers, and horse drawn wagons bringing in food and other goods, packed the roads. (I understand that traffic jams were a serious problem then, as now.) Most of the traffic from the Midlands and Northern England and North Wales passed along the ancient Roman roads which crossed Hertfordshire. One of these Roman raods, which by 1800 had been upgraded to a turnpike (toll road) passed close to Bullbeggars Farm,
The vast number of horses involved meant there were many large stables in London. These provided accommodation for the horses - and the horses would have needed oats and hay - mush of which would have been carted in from the rural parts of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It would make a lot of sense for the owner of stables in the Oxford Street area to have a farm on the road to the north. where he could grow fodder for the horses, or perhaps breed replacement horses. A significant amount of this trade rapidly came to an end with the arrival of the railways, starting in 1837.