BEACON HILL FARM, HILMARTON, WILTS, IDSTONE FARM, IDSTONE, BERKSHIRE, MANOR FARM, STANTON ST. BERNARD, WILTSHIRE, RECTORY FARM, ASHBURY, BERKSHIRE ROUND ROBIN FARM, SEVENHAMPTON, WILTSHIRE, STALLPITS FARM, KINGSTON, DEVERILL, WILTSHIRE COLLECTION

Contains: ledger by client for a mill at Stallpits Farm, Kingston Deverill, Wiltshire 1888-1932; farm account books kept by R H Lawrence at Round Robin Farm, Sevenhampton, Wiltshire 1912-1921, Manor Farm, Stanton St Bernard, Wiltshire 1921-1928, Rectory Farm, Ashbury, Berkshire 1928-1940; agreement for the conveyance of Beacon Hill Farm, Hilmarton, Wiltshire to Bryan Rumboll 1825; farm diaries of Rectory Farm, Ashbury, Berkshire 1928, 1930; maps of Rectory Farm, Ashbury, Berkshire 1881 and Idstone Farm, Idstone, Berkshire 1881; certificate of valuation of Bignell Farm, Compton, Berkshire 1809; acts of husbandry on a farm at Idstone, Berkshire 1822; valuation of hay, straw, tillage, fixtures of Rectory Farm, Ashbury, Berkshire 1911; letter from John Ilott describing the conditions of lease for Idstone Farm, Idstone, Berkshire 1821; receipt from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for rent on Rectory and Idstone Farms, Idstone, Berkshire 1910

The donor's family appears to have occupied Beacon Hill Farm until about 1825. Idstone farm, occupied by the family from 1822 to 1911, made considerable profits during the Crimean War and enabled three sons of the family to take up large farms during the eighteen-sixties. Rectory Farm was held by a great uncle of the donor from 1870 to 1911 when it passed out of the family's possession. The donor himself has successively held Round Robin Farm, Sevenhampton, Manor Farm, Stanton St. Bernard and Rectory Farm, Ashbury, the last of which came once more into the family's possession in 1928. Rectory Farm previously devoted to sheep and corn, then became a dairy farm.

Farm size: Idstone Farm circa 600 acres; Rectory Farm circa 680 acres

1. BOOKS OF ACCOUNT

2. AGREEMENTS

3. DIARIES

4. MAPS

5. VALUATIONS

6. SUNDRY PAPERS

Open for consultation

Presented October 1967 by R. H. Lawrence, (Farm Records Accession Number 431)

Compiled by Caroline Gould, February 2003

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

Please contact the Archivist