SANTON FARM, PRESTON, KENT COLLECTION

Contains: Correspondence and related papers concerning the development of Santon Farm 1922-1963; farm account books of The Grove, Manston, Ramsgate, Kent 1915-1919; sales ledgers of The Grove 1917-1923; farm account book of Santon Farm, 1928-1931; lease for Preston Farm, St Lawrence, Ramsgate, Kent 1906; wall maps of Santon Farm, 1939, 1954, 1959; bank pass book of Arthur Edward George Solly of Manston, Kent 1886-1900, 1918-1926; three photographs showing the condition of the marshland on Santon Farm 1947; sundry papers including statistics relating to Santon Farm, 1929-1964

The donor's family have been established farmers for many years. His father farmed at Manston, Kent until the end of the First World War. The donor himself began poultry and fruit farming on 38 acres at Wingham Kent and occupied Santon Farm in 1928. He survived the depression and made money from poultry and broccoli seeds. His reclamation of marshland and poor pasture at the lower end of his farm was of some importance. The history of this activity is recorded in correspondence and a series of large farm maps prepared for Wye College, Worcester

Farm size: 153 acres; medium loam-alluvial soils; owner-occupier

• CORRESPONDENCE
• BOOKS OF ACCOUNT
• LEASES
• MAPS
• PASS BOOKS
• PHOTOGRAPHS
• SUNDRY PAPERS

Open for consultation

Presented 29 July 1966 by S.W. Solly, (Farm Records Accession Number 305)

Compiled by Caroline Gould, 27 February 2003

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

Please contact the Archivist