Preston’s Farms: Castle Farm
Castle Farm estate in 1945
Note: Wain Wood and land surrounding
it to the south-east, east (sandwiched
between the wood and the Hitchin
Road) and to the north was owned by
the Radcliffe family and was sold to
James Barrington White of Temple
Dinsley in 1902.
Hunsdon House aka Castle Farm in 1844
Castle Farm in 1898
To the north of Chequers Lane at Preston, a mansion, Hunsdon House, was built near the site of
Preston Castle. Nearby was a well which was 270 feet deep. Hunsdon House fell into disrepair in
the early nineteenth century and was a ruin by the 1850s. Nearby, a stable was converted into a
farmhouse – but this was destroyed by fire in 1868. Castle Farm, as it is known today, was then
built and a lodge was added in the twentieth century.
The area of farmland (which is both arable and pasture) associated with Hunsdon House and Castle
Farm was remarkably unchanged between 1861 and 1945 at about 278 acres. It included a chalk pit
and a pond to the north of the farm that was large enough to provide water when the fire brigade
attempted to save the house and buildings in 1868. The land was divided by the parish boundaries of
Hitchin and Ippollitts and fell within the manors of Temple Dinsley and Maidencroft.
The farmland bordered Wain Wood which was owned in the nineteenth century by the Radcliffe
family. In 1945, when Castle Farm was sold, the 95 acres of Wain Wood was included as part of the
package.
The Foster family and Hunsdon House
In the 1660s, Hunsdon House at Preston was home to the Foster brothers – six of them (three
married, three bachelors) lived there. The owner of the mansion was John Foster and he and his
family farmed the land which is today known as Castle Farm.
They were ‘intimate friends and enthusiastic followers’ of John Bunyan, offering the preacher a
welcome and shelter in their home during troublesome times. They were ‘steadfast and true men’,
‘distributing to the necessity of saints, given to hospitality’. More than once, because of their
knowledge of the lie of the land, they were able to spirit Bunyan away from the troops searching for
the dissident who had surrounded Wain Wood.
On one occasion, ‘Bunyan was sitting with the Foster Brothers in their house at Preston when
someone asked him to explain a biblical verse....(he replied) “all that I can say in answer to that
question is that the Scripture is wiser than I”’.
When the Great Plague swept through London in 1665, some fled to Hitchin carrying the deadly
disease. In one month alone, more than thirty died of the plague. During the panic that ensued, the
Baptist followers of Bunyan were almost the only ones who risked their lives to minister to the sick.
Included among them were the Fosters, whose disregard for their own well-being won the admiration
of their opponents.
It is told that during the time of Bunyan’s imprisonment, when a sympathetic jailer allowed him leave
of absence in advance, he was met by one of the Foster brothers with two horses and a farm labourer
was left behind in his stead while Bunyan rode away to preach to his flock.
Later, Bunyan arranged for his second-in-command, John Wilson, to minister to his followers in the
area around Hitchin. After his trial in 1677, there was a church meeting at Brother John Foster’s
home. When, Wilson was incarcerated in Hertford Gaol, more than fifteen miles away, each week
one or more of the devoted Fosters travelled from Hunsdon House to Hertford with a ‘basketful of
fresh country-fare’ to sustain him.
The Fosters were among the founder members of the Baptist Meeting House built at Hitchin in 1692.
When Wilson was succeeded by John Needham in 1705, Needham was met in the vestry of the
chapel by Edward Foster and told, ‘And need enough we have of you’.
Several Fosters and their descendants served the Hitchin Baptist Church for three hundred years –
when the new church was built at Tilehouse Street at Hitchin in 1844, among the speakers at its
inauguration was John Foster, then of Biggleswade. When Bunyan’s Chapel was built at Preston in
1877, the two foundation stones were laid by Edward and Ebenezer Foster, descendents of the
Hunsdon House family. The foregoing may not tell much of Hunsdon House and Castle Farm but it
does inform us about the character and beliefs of its owners and a frequent visitor almost three
hundred and fifty years ago. More can be gleaned from this article - Link: Of Sterne
Later owners of Hunsdon House/Castle Farm
The Maidencroft manorial roll reveals that the Fosters sold Hunsdon House and its farmland to
Joseph Roberts. In 1723, Roberts sold the property and land to Robert Hinde (1st) who financed the
purchase from the profits of his brewing business at Holborn, London. When Robert died in 1737, his
son Robert (2nd) inherited the estate. In turn, Robert’s (2nd) son, Robert Hinde (3rd) was bequeathed
the property in 1755. His life is described in a separate article. (Link: Capt. Robert Hinde)
After his army career, Robert applied himself to farming – yet his military training asserted itself even
in this pursuit. When he summoned and dismissed his labourers, it was proclaimed by a chorus from
his Light-Horse bugle. However, he took his farming seriously – ‘I pursue the following method: wheat
after the fallow, then peas, turnips, barley, oats, clover, wheat’. He suggested improvements to Arthur
Young’s swing-plough and trialled the Hertfordshire great-wheel plough and the one-handle Essex
plough.
When Robert Hinde (3rd) died in 1786, the house and land was passed around his sons, John,
Samuel and Peter until it was sold to the beast salesman, James Earl in June 1815. (Link: James
Earl) Five months later, Earl sold the property to William Mellish. He allowed the house to quickly
deteriorate and five years later Mellish sold his holding to a group comprising: Revd. George Millett,
Thomas Flower Ellis, John Hayton and William Davies.
In 1820, the consortium sold the mansion and land to William Curling (snr) and it remained in his
family for more than a century being passed down to William’s son, William Curling (2nd) (1842),
William’s (jnr) wife, Flora Jones Curling (1865) who sold the property to her son, Major Edward
Spencer Curling (1904). Major Curling purchased the freehold to the property in 1919. The estate was
sold in 1945 and is now part of the Pilkington estate.
Occupants of Castle Farm from 1837
John Wright (1837 - 41c)
George Wright
Samuel Kirkby (1851 - 1861c)
Stephen Marriott (1871 - 1885c)
Charles Davis (1886)
John Dew (1891-1905c)
Joseph Thrussell (1910 – 1915c)
Ernest and Christobel Smith (1920)
Herbert and Phyllis Jenkins and Frank Currell; Joseph and Mary Armour. (1925)
Herbert and Phyllis Jenkins and Frank Currell ; Eli and Daisy Free. (1930)
Herbert and Phyllis Jenkins; Ronald and Eileen Foster. (1951 - 1955)
Horace and Doreen Jenkins; Miriam and John Bartlett; Arthur and Hilary Dearmer. (1961)
Horace and Doreen Jenkins; Miriam and John Bartlett; Doreen and Michael Brown. (1966)
Ian and Ann Clark (1971 -)
(Note: Castle Farm farmhouse, built around 1870, was divided into two homes in the 20thC)
Hunsdon House becomes a ruin
After Robert Hinde’s occupation, the mansion quickly became abandoned. On 8 May 1832, there was
an advertisement to let Preston Castle which provided a glimpse of its features:
The approach, past a neat entrance lodge, was by a gravelled road through a meadow. There were
four bedrooms and a large bedroom for servants on the upper floor of the mansion. On the first floor
were three spacious apartments opening into a gallery, dressing room, water closet, three other
bedrooms, apple room and staircases. The ground floor had a drawing room (30’ x 20’), a dining room
(20’ x 18’), a billiard room, kitchen, pantry, servants’ hall, wash-house and dairy. There were also wine
and beer cellars.
The outbuildings included a double coach house, five-stall stable over which was a granary and a loft,
a coal house and wood barn. There was a 23-feet long greenhouse adjoining the breakfast room, a
20-feet long grapery and a mushroom house. The grounds occupied four and a half acres,(including
the Wilderness) which were thickly studded with lofty firs, chestnut and lime trees. There was a well
planted orchard and garden and walks ornamented with evergreens, American and other flowering
shrubs.
In 1873, the daughter of William Curling wrote these poignant observations about Hunsdon House:
‘This old country-house was then unoccupied, and standing, forsaken and dilapidated, in the midst of
its still beautiful gardens. A narrow lane, running south from Preston, led you to a simple lodge. You
then passed through meadows, well fenced with hawthorn and holly, to the north front of the house.
Over a low, strong hedge of sweetbrier, you saw a massive grey porch, a little overhung with virginia
creeper; venerable casements looking out on the broad carriage-road which led to the hall-door, and
a circle of flower-beds with a central sun-dial. Wide walks, fair lawns, huge evergreens, each one a
kingdom of leaves, met the eye as you entered the gates. Well do I remember those grounds, and the
wood of pines and chestnuts at the end of them! In the gardens, one saw everywhere a happy
blending of modern art with the dear, old, stately formality of other days. But the house had suffered
loss at the bands of some individual who had preferred convenience to the charms of antiquity ; and
had been still more injured by another, who had given a castellated front to a pile half manorial, half
Georgian. Preston Castle, when I remember it, stood silent and forsaken, a fit haunt for the ghosts of
my childish imagination. The ancient hall and many chambers centuries old, were on the north side;
on the south were the Georgian rooms. Even there, one's footsteps echoed strangely, and the mid-
day sun, passing into them through an outer blind of sweet roses, starry jasmine, and climbing
creepers, could not lighten the gloom within. The sight of the mildewed walls, the faded, falling
papers, the blank, deserted hearth, would have saddened any heart but that of a child, full of "life, and
whim, and gaiete de coeur"’.The full text of Miss Curling’s article in Gentleman’s Magazine can be
found here: Link: Hunsdon House.
The mansion was eventually sold to William Mellish a few years later and sold off as building material.
The battery of guns became scrap metal (except two which found their way to Preston Hill Farm); the
gazebo was used to repair a Kings Walden pigsty; the lawn reverted to pasture. Even the avenue of
walnut trees (remembered fondly by those who walked between them - including myself) which led
from Chequers Lane to Castle Farm, is no more. The Lodge was destroyed by fire in 1912. Only the
name remains – ‘Castle Farm’ – which adorns a nearby farm. There is also a two hundred and
seventy-feet deep well which is thought to be the original well of Preston Castle.
Castle Farm 1837 to 1868
The farmhouse of Castle Farm was converted from stables. The 1837 Rates Book and 1841 census
show John Wright (born 1761c) occupying the farm. John’s son, Samuel died there in 1839. John
himself died of debility on 11 December 1841 (the informant was Mary Jeeves; he left legacies of
more than £1,750) and his son, George Wright, briefly took over the tenancy but between 1845 and
1851 George moved to Preston Hill Farm. (Link: Preston Hill Farm).
By 1851 Samuel and Dorothy Kirkby were at Castle Farm. Samuel was appropriately born at
Hunsdon, Herts in 1807. He and Dorothy had seven children of whom one, Emma, married Frederick
Armstrong of Preston Hill Farm (Link: Armstrong). In 1861, Samuel was employing eight men and
five boys at Castle Farm. In 1862, one of his labourers, John Fitzjohn of Sootfield Green, left Samuel’s
employ ‘without cause’ thinking that he could earn more elsewhere. Another worker, John Sharp was
labouring at Castle Farm, when Samuel’s son, James, asked him why he wasn’t at work one day.
Sharp responded by hitting James and his horse with a stick.
Castle Farm destroyed by fire
Samuel Kirkby was still at Castle Farm in the summer of 1868 when fire destroyed the farm, its
outbuildings and much of the harvest. It was dramatically reported in the Hertfordshire Express:
“Some years have elapsed since any fires have occurred in the neighbourhood of Hitchin so
destructive as those we now have to record.
The first was at Preston Castle Farm, about three miles from Hitchin, belonging to Mrs William Curling
and in the occupation of Mr Kirkby. The farm is about 300 acres in extent and a larger proportion than
usual had this year been sown with wheat. There were also some fair crops of oats and barley, besides
hay, both old and new. The whole of the year’s produce was garnered in barns and stacks near the
house, which, with outbuildings, formed a kind of oblong square, enclosing the fold and rick yards. The
house itself faced towards Hitchin and was a long, low range of a brick building, with a well house and
lumber room at the upper extremity, nearest the village of Preston; the lower extremity joined on to the
stabling etc., being connected with the outer range by a small thatched wood-house.
The mansion known as The Castle was pulled down some twenty years ago and the farmhouse just
destroyed was converted from the stabling of the old house. The old place was historically interesting
as being the supposed scene of Sterne’s Tristram Shandy; and it is almost certain that the chief
characters in that racy work, including Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim, were delineated from local
celebrities with whom the author became acquainted during his periodical visits to the Whittingham’s,
the Hinde’s, and other local families then residing in the neighbourhood.
The fire was discovered shortly before eight o’clock on Saturday morning by one of the men working
on the farm. He called the attention of Mr Kirkby’s son to some smoke issuing from the long barn or
granary standing in front of the house and which was filled half with wheat and half with barley. An
alarm was immediately given and of course the family and all about the place were thrown into a state
of excited consternation. But a few minutes elapsed before Mr Kirkby had mounted a horse, galloped
to Hitchin, given the alarm of the fire and called out our local fire brigade. They received intimation of
the fire about a quarter after eight and by the time that four horses had been attached to the largest of
the engines, the following firemen were equipped and ready to start: Messrs. F Latchmore, F Shillitoe,
E Logsdon, G Pack, J G North, J Throssell and W Hill.
By the time the fire engine arrived, the greater portion of the damage was done and the flames had
got complete mastery over the whole area. A light shifting wind blew all the morning, driving flames
and burning sparks hither and thither from point to point of the property. From the granary in which
the fire began, it crept to another and so from stack to rick, from rick to barn, until it made its circuit
round to the stabling and having seized on the thatched wood house already referred to, got hold of
the dwelling house, which was quickly wrapped in a sheet of fire. So intense was the glare that even
in the brightness of the morning sun, the forks of flame showed lurid red high in the air and attracted
spectators from places far distant.
It would seem to a visitor who came to the spot after the worse was over that much could have been
saved if the efforts had been made to circumscribe the limits of the fire by pulling down some of the
connecting links; but it is more easy to be wise after the event than to do exactly the right thing at
exactly the right moment. What those on the spot did in the first panic of excitement was quite right
and proper to be done. They got out the horses and other living creatures as far as they could from
the fiery circle which so rapidly surrounded them and carried out the greater part of the household
furniture and personal property from the house before the fire laid firm hold upon it. Some bedsteads
and other cumbrous fixtures that could not be hastily removed were left to their fate but most of the
moveables were saved.
The poultry flew into the neighbouring wood and kept up a distressful noise all day at being driven
from their usual haunts. Not all the stock was saved for the half-burnt carcasses of two large fat
calves and two young pigs were found among the ruins of the farmyard. It is said that the men about
the place cut the flesh from the bones of these animals and ate it half-charred and half raw as it was:
for certain, the meat had been stripped from the carcasses and nothing was left but red bones and
entrails in the afternoon. So great was the heat that the fruit on the adjacent apple trees was baked
as it stood and this too was eagerly devoured when the fire subsided.
It was late in the afternoon before the fire had spent its fury. The farmhouse, the barns, the corn
stacks, hay ricks, implement shed, stables and all were reduced to a heap of smouldering ruins,
emitting fitful flashes of flame as the wind puffed round the embers. The upper end of the homestead,
consisting of the well house before-mentioned had been saved, for the firemen had mounted the tiles
and with their axes cut away the roof of the building so as to break the further spread of the fire. Also,
they managed by dint of great exertion to save one large wheat stack at the more distant extremity of
the yard, but this, although rescued from destruction, was damaged by water and smoke. A very large
quantity of valuable hay was destroyed including two ricks of old hay and the produce of this year’s
crop. Besides the wheat, barley and oats there were two ricks of oats and some dressed vetches. It
was pitiful to see the grain, left unconsumed by the fire, trampled underfoot in all directions. The hay-
stacks smouldered obdurately in dangerous proximity to the wheat stack that was saved and the
firemen played upon the burning mass until the pond was pumped dry and nothing but thick mud
remained. Then the engine limbered up and brought back to Hitchin on Saturday night. Between
twenty and thirty men – mostly labourers - worked the engine during the day, some of them standing
up to their knees in water for hours.
The unobtrusive heroism of a young married labourer named John Jenkins deserves special
attention. His task was to raise water by means of a windlass from the well at the end of the house,
said to be 270 feet deep: he worked away at his arduous task for several hours with uninterrupted
energy until at length he fell back senseless. He was laid down on the grass outside until medical aid
arrived from Hitchin: then it was discovered that his heart was suddenly affected by excitement and
unwonted exertion and he was carried home. For some hours his life trembled in the balance; but we
are glad to hear that a favourable reaction set in on Sunday and that he is now recovered.
The numerous family of Mr Kirkby was thrown into great fright and commotion, as may be supposed;
but they all found temporary refuge under the hospitable roofs of neighbours and friends.
We are informed by men on the spot that the origin of the fire is quite a mystery; that the granary
where it broke out was locked up in safety on the previous night and had not been since been opened
and that when the fire broke out only two workmen were known to be about the place. In the absence
of any reasonable explanation of how such a catastrophe could have been caused, the surmise is
that the fire was caused by an incendiary. The police are inclined to attribute this fire to accident. The
fire burnt with fluctuating vigour for several days and attracted numerous visitors from Hitchin and
surrounding villages. Mr Kirkby was fortunately insured in the County Fire Office, the damage is
estimated at between £1,500 and £2,000. The buildings were insured in the Royal Exchange Office.”
Although Samuel Kirkby was still at Castle Farm at the end of 1868 (William Pedder stole nine turnips
from him in December) perhaps the trauma of the fire and the effort of rebuilding the farm was too
much for him – he was 61 years old. He gave up the farm and moved to another farm at Eastwick,
Herts. In 1871, Castle Farm had a new tenant - Stephen Marriott.
Stephen and Emma Marriott
The new tenant farmer at Castle Farm in 1871 was Stephen Marriott. Born in around 1824 at Milton,
Northants, Stephen had been farming at Toddington, Beds. before his move to Hertfordshire.
Among the news stories mentioning Stephen was a charge of killing three pheasants out of season in
1876. He claimed that he thought they were smaller partridges and escaped a fine. Among his
labourers in 1876 was George Hawkins of Hitchin. It seems from the court case in which Hawkins
was accused of theft that Stephen settled his labourers wages in The Chequers public house. In
1879, Stephen grew a crop of beans. Stephen died in the winter of 1883. His widow, Emma, moved
to Rose Cottage, Chequers Lane and died in early March 1908.
John Dew
John Dew was born in Cambridgeshire circa 1824 and occupied Castle Farm from approximately
1884 to 1905. He was also a surveyor of highways around Preston.
There was ill feeling between Dew and Preston hay dealer, Frank Brown. Brown was charged with
throwing a missile at Dew when Dew was driving towards Hitchin in 1891 and then threatened to
assault him. The following year, after Dew brought a charge of obstruction against Brown for leaving a
dog cart on the road, Brown threatened to ‘do for him’ and stated that Dew had ‘given him a great deal
of annoyance’.
‘On Monday morning at 9.30 a fire broke out at Preston which resulted in the destruction of the
picturesque lodge, tenanted by Mr. JG Dew, and standing in the field at the entrance to the Castle
Farm, which is owned by Captain Curling and in the occupation of Mr. John Dew.
The old cottage had something of an ecclesiastical appearance. Built of brickwork covered with
cement, the little building was remarkable for its Gothic windows with their diamond shamed lead
lights, while one end of the house had, as it were, a great Gothic moulding as if at some distant time a
large window had existed there. Moreover, on the plaster, covering the brickwork within the moulding
there appeared a rough representation in black paint of a diamond-paned window. Surmounted by a
thickly-thatched roof, the old building had always excited comment, and another local landmark has
now been added to the long list of those destroyed by fire.
The fire, it is thought, originated from a spark from the chimney falling upon the thatched roof. Mrs.
Dew was upstairs at, the time and as the thatch burst into flames she at once alarmed the villagers,
who gave ready assistance in removing furniture from the rooms beneath. The Hitchin Fire Brigade
were telegraphed for and it is worthy of note that, despite the distance of the fire station from the Sun
stables, from which the horses are supplied, the steam fire engine and the hose reel were on the way
to the fire exactly eleven minutes 'after the receipt of the telegraphic call. The brigade were under the
command of Captain Logsdon, Lieut. LC Barham, who happened to be in the neighbourhood, joining
the firemen at the scene of the fire.
Upon arrival at Preston at 10.30 it was seen that there was no hope of saving the burning building,
which now resembled a great, furnace. Attention was turned to the thatched houses whose roofs had
been well wetted and so further danger of their catching fire from falling sparks, was obviated. At
12.30 pm the fire had practically burnt itself out, only a portion of the walls and a chimney stack
remaining. The brigade thereupon returned to Hitchin, having made the further spread of the fire an
impossibility. The property destroyed included the house and several barns, with a considerable
portion of their contents. It is understood that the loss is fully covered by insurance.’
Castle Farm in the twentieth century
From the early 1920s until 1959 Castle Farm was the
home of Herbie (shown right) and Phyllis Jenkins, my
great aunt.
When Douglas Vickers owned Temple Dinsley, he built
up a prize-winning herd of Wessex saddleback pigs.
These were managed by his estate manager, Reginald J
W Dawson, but the day-to-day running of the herd was
Herbie’s responsibility – he was described in 1951 as a
’Pig Farmer Herdsman’.
The herd was established in 1921, so it is likely that
Herbie was engaged at its inception. To illustrate the
scale of the operation, from 1921 upwards of 1,000 pigs
were reared each year. After 1925, the herd received 500
awards at leading shows. A quick trawl through news
reports of the time reveals almost 200 references to
Vickers ‘Saddlebacks’.
One consequence of this breeding success was that the
village of Preston was publicized as several prize pigs
were christened Preston this-or-that. So there was
‘Preston Laurette’, ‘Preston Officer’, ‘Preston Dilly’, ‘P
Orient’, ‘P Spot’, ‘P Dell’, ‘P Senator’, ‘P Vanity’, ‘P Onyx’
and so on.
A wallowing ‘Saddleback’ at Castle Farm
The farm, together with Wain Wood and its surrounding fields, was sold to the Pilkington Estate in
1945. It became home to the Prescas herd of pedigree Holstein Fresian cows.
Castle Farm Lodge destroyed by fire in 1912