Preston’s Farms: Poynders End Farm and Tudor House
Map of Poynders End Farm and Cottages in nineteenth century
Poynders End is named after the Poydres family who owned land and property in the area at the turn
of the fourteenth century. There is a memorial brass in the north aisle of St Ippollitts Church which
reads, ‘Here lies Robert Poydres and Alicia his wife’.
The place name has been variously spelt - Pointers, Poynters, Poyters and the modern spelling -
Poynders End.
Poynders End is nearer Preston than Langley or St Pauls Walden and its inhabitants invariably
described themselves as being of ‘Poynders End, Preston’.
Although sharing the same place name, Poynders End (aka Jacks Hill) Cottages were in different
parishes and part of different estates in the nineteenth century. Poynders End Farm was in Ippollitts
parish. This ancient dwelling was extensively renovated in the middle of the seventeenth century, after
which it looked much as it does today. In 1703, Poynders End was sold to John Joyner and four
generations of his family farmed there. It was then purchased for Hester Thrall - ‘the place I earliest
attached my silly heart to’. She was a ‘dazzling hostess’ and counted Dr Samuel Johnson among her
social circle. When she decided to build a new home at Denbigh in 1792, she sold Poynders End to
Joseph Darton and thereafter it was included in the Temple Dinsley estate.
When Temple Dinsley was sold in 1873, the sale particulars stated that Poynders End Farm included
a bailiff’s house, a spacious homestead and ninety acres of ‘sound productive stock land’, seventy-
one acres of which were in Ippollitts parish. The annual rent was £137 10/-.
Incidentally, the farm had a well which was 329 feet deep - possibly the deepest well in Hertfordshire
at the time. The present-day house at Poynders End is Tudor House.
The four Poynders End cottages (aka Jacks Hill) were in the parish of Hitchin and were part of the Hill
End farm estate. They were semi-detached, built of red brick and tiles and were the homes of farm
labourers. The cottages had three rooms and a scullery and ‘good gardens’. The residents even had
their own well, which was 180 feet deep. Because the well was in the possession of another
landowner, the tenants of the two western cottages had to pay five shillings a year for the right to be
able to draw water. (See Link: Jacks Hill)
1799
SAUNDERS, Joseph
MERRITT, Widow
1821
BROWN, George
BROWN, William
ANDREWS, Thomas
HATTON, Elizabeth
ROBOTTOM, Thomas
LAWRENCE, Thomas
1841
SAUNDERS, George
PAYNE, James (to 1871)
MOULES, Peter and Ann (to 1851)
ANDREWS, Joseph
ANDREWS, Thomas (to 1851)
TITMUSS, James (Farmer)
PAYNE, James (to 1861, a farmer)
1861
WARD, William
WALKER, Ann
PAYNE, Sarah
1871
PALMER, John (to 1881)
CRAWLEY, John (to 1881)
CREWE, William
1881
PAYNE, John and Hannah (to 1891)
SHAW, William
1891
SMITH, Jesse (to 1901)
THRUSSELL, George (to 1901)
THRUSSELL, Joseph (to 1894/5)
1894/5
GROOM, Thomas
1897
WRAY, Alfred
1901
BARBER, Ernest (Farmer)
THRUSSELL, William
Residents of Poynders End in the nineteenth century
Farm outbuildings at Poynders End in 2006
Three views of Tudor House (built c1550) from the 1980s
Tudor House in 2006