SANDLEFORD FARM, NEWBURY, BERKSHIRE COLLECTION

Contains: Agreement for a variation in rent of Sandleford Farm 1882; agreement for the purchase of the interests of the Trustee in bankruptcy in agreements made by Sinclair Campbell Lumsden 1890; agreement for the formation of a partnership to undertake the business of farmers and dairymen 1915; account book of Monkton Farm, Tarrant Monkton, Dorset 1874-1877; accounts of Sandleford Farm, 1918-1945; sale catalgoue of part of the Sandleford Priory Estate 1920; agreements for employment 1889; crop books of Sandleford Farm 1905-1942; account book of sheep bought and sold 1906-1909; labour account books of Sandleford Farm 1931-1944; leases of property in Newbury 1879-1890; lease of Sandleford Farm 1887; lease of pasture land 1903; bank pass books 1905-1911, 1931-1942;

The donor's family were originally tenant farmers at Chipley, Somerset. In 1873 they moved to Berkshire, first as sheep and cattle farmers and later as dairy farmers. A dairy shop selling cream and butter was opened in 1886, possibly linked with a dairy and cheese cooperative organisation. Sandleford Farm, which had been in continuous occupation for some 300 years, was the home farm for Sandleford Priory Estate. One third of it was arable: about 140 acres were devoted to corn.

In the time of the donor's grandfather, there were 18-20 acres of water meadow on the farm. The Grandfather's two brothers, Charles and Thomas Butler, were both farmers, the latter at Manor Farm, Shalford, near Guildford, Essex. Another brother built motor cars in the early years of this century. He owned the first petrol cycle in Britain, and installed a refrigeration plant in a boat. The donor, an only son, has one daughter. His father, Stanley Webb Butler, was also an only son

Farm size: 341 acres in 1887, subsequently rising to 500 acres and falling after 1931 to about 300 acres; gravel soils; tenants on the Sandleford Priory estate; since 1947 the farm has belonged to a property company

1. AGREEMENTS

2. BOOKS OF ACCOUNT

3. CATALOGUES

4. CONTRACTS

5. CROP BOOKS

6. FLOCK BOOKS

7. LABOUR BOOKS

8. LEASES

9. PASS BOOKS

10. VALUATIONS

Open for consultation

Presented on permanent deposit 21 June 1966 by S.D. Butler, (Farm Records Accession number 40)

Compiled by Caroline Gould, January 2003

A detailed catalogue is available at the Museum of English Rural Life

Please contact the Archivist