Old Farm Potsgrove

Old Farmhouse May 2012

Old Farmhouse has an exposed position on the Potsgrove ridge, standing just over 500 feet above sea-level. As a result it commands excellent views all around. The farm is a significant one. The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed to determine its rateable value. The valuer visiting Old Farm [DV1/H3/14] found that, like most of the rest of the parish, it was owned by the Duke of Bedford. The tenant was Ernest Scrivener whose rent, for 314.25 acres, was £312, set in 1924. The previous rent, set in 1914, had been £210.

The valuer commented: "Saw Miss Scrivener Nearest Station Woburn Sands. Uses Leighton and Northampton Markets". Another hand wrote: "A very poor sort of Farm. Large sheds. The Arable is very heavy and wet".

The ground floor of the farmhouse comprised three reception rooms, a kitchen, a scullery and a pantry with two dairies. The first floor contained four bedrooms and four attics lay above them. The valuer noted: "Water from pump".

The valuer also noted: "Entrance to Homestead for carts, stock etc. through gate and field". The homestead, shown on the map below, comprised the following:

• North West Block A: a brick, wood and slate henhouse; a cow stall for two; a stable for five with a brick floor and a loose box.
• Block B: a six-bay open shed
• South East Block C: a brick, wood and slate cowhouse for six; a calf pen; a food store and cow house standings for four.
• At rear of Block C: a root store; three pigsties; a five-bay open shed; a wood and slate barn; at the rear of the barn a wood and slate three-bay open shed and hovel with tie ups for nine beasts.
• In Field 103 as numbered on the Ordnance Survey map: a wood and tile implement shed and a three-bay open shed.

Old Farm annotated on the 1925 rating valuation map