Church Farm Whipsnade

Church Farm and church January 2009

The Historic Environment Record contains details of all historic buildings in the county. Summaries of each entry can now be found on-line. The entry for Church Farm [HER 15377] states that the barns set around the farmyard are timber-framed constructions and clad in weatherboarding, with a tile roof and are thought to date to the late 18th or early 19th century. The Farmhouse dates to the 19th century and replaces a previous cottage. It is a brick building with a tile roof.

The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed as to its rateable value. The valuer visiting Church Farm [DV1/N23/26] on 7th September 1926 found it owned by the trustees of the Ashridge Estate and tenanted by James Sinfield whose rent had been fixed at £85 in 1922, having been £100 since 1917 and, before that, £85 since 1896. The valuer commented: “Been here 30 years” and “Nice House, Decent Homestead”. The land comprised 65 acres.

The house contained a reception room, a kitchen, a scullery and a dairy on the ground floor with four bedrooms upstairs. The homestead comprised the following:

• North Block: a weather-boarded and tiled store shed, cow shed for eight (“bad”) and a loose box;
• East Block: a stable for four horses.
• South Block: a barn, two fowl houses and three loose boxes.
• South-East Block: a three bay open-fronted cart shed and a loose box.

Church Farmhouse March 2013