Poplar Farm - 13 Ford Lane Roxton

Poplar Farmhouse March 2010

Poplar Farm was listed by the former Department of Environment in August 1983 as Grade II, of special interest. The department dated the property to the 17th century with 19th century alterations. The farmhouse is built of colour washed roughcast over a timber frame, has a clay tile roof and is built in an L-plan, with one storey and attics.

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 Poplar Farm [DV1/H13/6] found it owned by Joseph Banks and occupied by Robert E. Dalton who had paid £120 per annum in rent since 1924.

The farm comprised 52 acres. The valuer commented: “Took over from Yates 1924 till 1926 will go on at perhaps higher rent. Water from well”. The T-plan, brick, plaster and tiled farmhouse comprised two reception rooms, a kitchen and scullery, pantry, dairy and four bedrooms above. The homestead comprised: a stable for four horses; a hay store; two loose boxes; a four bay open hovel; a loose box with a loft over; four more loose boxes; a barn; a six bay implement shed; a three bay cart shed; a garage with a loft over and a mixing house. The homestead buildings were mostly constructed of weather-boarding and slate. 

Directories for Bedfordshire were published every few years from the mid 19th to the mid 20th centuries. From these it is possible to see when occupiers were at Poplar Farm. Naturally, the dates below are not beginning and end dates of their stays but simply the first and last dates they are noted in directories: 

1924-1928: Robert Dalton;
1936-1940: Bates Brothers

Poplar Farmhouse 13 Ford Lane March 2010