Church Farm

Church Farm as the name suggests is situated on Far Street opposite St Mary's Church, Wymeswold, it was previously noted as being on East Road on some older official records. The farm is one of the oldest properties in the village, dating back to the 1500's.  The Archaeology Team at Leicester University have dated the property to be between 1510-1590.  They also found other timbers in the house that were even older than that, they may have been re-purposed ship's timbers. There is also  a different theory that possibly some of the older timbers are from Hall Farm on Brook Street, which was a hall house which were built for merchants who would have lived on the first floor whilst their beasts lived downstairs.  The basic frame is of a timber construction and you can see this in a  rather grainy cine camera video I took some years ago. It was taken at a point when all the timbers were  exposed when the house was being renovated.  Click here if you wish to view  the video.

In some of the  first official Census records for the farm we have a Fletcher family living at Church Farm. A Samuel Fletcher and his Wife Harriett are living there in 1861 and 1871 with their children. In the Census of 1881 we see the Follows family have now moved into Church Farm for the first time. Joseph Follows is the head of the house, plus Mary his wife and  children Henery and John. These are Betsy Sheppard (nee Follows) parents and siblings, Betsy is living with her Husband William Sheppard at Sheppard's Farm just outside the village at that time.

In 1891 Betsy Sheppard has actually moved into Church Farm, taking over from her parents, she  is a tenant there with her children. Betsy being noted as the head of the house, she is now a widow after the sudden death of her Husband William. In the 1891 Census Harry  is aged 18 and noted as a farmers son living  at East Road, Wymeswold. (Church Farm).  He is living with his Mother Betsy  and Brother Ernest, aged 16 and Sister Fanny, aged 15. 

Harry farmed with the help of his brother Ernest at Church Farm. During the hay making season on one Saturday Ernest had the job of tying the hay into bundles and stacking them up. Harry climbed up the stack on the Sunday and because one of the bundles had not been tied correctly he fell and broke his hip. This forced Harry to walk with a limp in later life, Ernest felt very guilty about what he had done and this contributed to him eventually leaving the farm to seek other employment elsewhere, leaving Harry at Church Farm.  Fanny Sheppard left after marrying John James.

Harry and  his Mother Betsy were tenants at Church Farm on 28th June 1909 when the farm and land came up for sale as part of 3 lots in a sale (Wymeswold, Burton-un-the-Wolds and Thorpe-in-the-Glebe) at the Bulls Head Hotel, Loughborough. Although they didn't buy it at the time.

Harry and his Wife Sarah Ann (nee Wootton) had one child in the December of 1909, a boy named Ronald Wootton Sheppard, my Grandfather.  In the 1911 Census young Ronald is listed as living with his parents at Church Farm, aged just 1, Harry's Mother Betsy has moved out after her son's marriage.

The farm again came up for sale on 22nd March 1926, Harry and family are the current tenants. The farm was forced into sale by the direction of the Administrator of German Property. The farm was partly German owned and because of the War all German held property was to be sold (the Treaty of Peace Order, 1924). An Agnes Susan Muller is mentioned in the Conditions of Sale. It was Lot 1 and Lot 2 of the original 1909 auction that was for sale this time around. Harry bought it for the princely sum of  £2250. 

After Harry passed away in 1933, Ronald his son, would take on the task of working the farm, he would live and farm at Church Farm for his entire life. In the register just prior to the war in 1939 Ronald is noted as a Dairy Farmer, living with his Wife Mona (nee Hallam), it also notes Ronald is a member of the Observer Corp. The farm ceased to be a working farm after Ronald's retirement around  1974 and has since been sold out of the family. Jo Ling and her family did an outstanding job completely renovating the property, exposing all the old beams and securing the ancient structure of the house. 

1909 Farm Sale

1926 Farm Sale

Newspaper Reports

Below are modern pictures of Church Farm.

Census Records.