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Helmdon Historical Articles The History of Falcutt House An article by Charlotte Sandilands ____________________________________________
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| These are the notes that I took when John Barford visited Falcutt House in August 1988. John Barford was born in 1910 at Astwell Park, near Falcutt.
His grandfather, (also called John Barford) moved to Falcutt House in 1850 when the Falcutt Estate belonged to the Earl of Southampton and his grandfather was a tenant farmer of Lord Southampton. By 1910 it was sold to the Hon. Mrs Douglas Pennant (a relation apparently of Lord Southampton). She owned Astwell Estate as well as Falcutt House Estate. Mrs Pennant didn’t actually live at Falcutt House (which was still occupied by the Barford family) but John Barford (the younger) said that her nephew, Captain Fitzroy, was the agent for the Estates. Captain Fitzroy was made Lord Daventry after being the MP for South Northants for many years and then Speaker of the House of Commons. John Barford (grandfather) had 13 children, so the kitchen was extended or possibly even built on entirely plus the room above the kitchen. He passed the tenancy of the farm (Falcutt or Astwell?) to Frank Barford (one of his sons). Falcutt House Estate was auctioned in about 1919 and a Mr Smedley bought it and “made no success of it” and sold it to Captain Lees who “turned it from a farmhouse into a gentleman’s residence”. Mr Smedley paid £900 for the house (in 1919) and 400 acres of farmland – he had no farming background. Grandfather John Barford who died in 1911, is buried in Helmdn Churchyeard – he was a Churchwarden for 37 years. Frank Barford’s son, Philip Barford who lives at Dodford, Weedon Bec, Northants, is a first cousin of John Barford the younger. Philip lived at Falcutt for the first 10 years of his life. Jock Humphrey, the father of Mervyn, Douglas & Ben Humphrey, used to work on the Falcutt Estate as a boy – he was “the best judge of sheep in the Midlands”. Falcutt House Today
John Barford the younger lived at Astwell Park until he was seven and would ride over and spend the day with his cousins at Falcutt. The Barfords were a very united family. Grandma Barford was very strict. She was Miss Stops before she married and was an aunt of Gervase Jackson-Stops’ father. John Barford the younger’s father, William Barford, had the offer to buy Astwell Park (presumably around 1919?) but the land was not thought to be very good and so he didn’t buy it. The Barford family came from Foscote near Abthorpe, a few miles from Falcutt. John Barford’s great grandfather, called Thomas Barford, lived in Silverstone. He was a “leading light “ in Silverstone and was a butcher/baker/ farmer and a churchwarden in Silverstone. The Barford family can be traced back to Charles II’s Restoration (1660). John Barford the younger’s address in 1988 was Swinehead Road, Kirton Holme, Boston. Lincolnshire (tel. Hubberts Bridge 387). As he was then 78 it is unlikely he’s still alive today 2006 – he’d be 96. Visit by Margaret McDonagh to Falcutt House in June 1997
Margaret thought that John Barford, her great great?grandfather?, was probably born at Falcutt – although we were told by John Barford the younger that his grandfather “came to Falcutt in 1850”. His wife was called Elizabeth, formerly Stops. They had 13 children, one of whom was Charlotte born 1872 who was Margaret’s (great?) grandmother (I think). Charlotte left school at the age of 13/14 to look after the family of 13 – the mother, Elizabeth, having died young. Charlotte Barford married Joseph Ginson in 1899 at the age of 27. She was a governess in Ulverston, Cumbria at the time she married. She had been engaged twice before that. She had 3 children, including John Ginson born 1900. Margaret McDonagh said the Barfords left Falcutt in 1918 and that Captain & Mrs Lees bought it in 1920, so between 1850 and to date there have been only four families who’d lived in it:- 1. Her great grandfather John Barford 2. Her great uncle William? 3. Captain & Mrs Lees 4. Paul & Charlotte Sandilands (In fact a Mr Smedley bought Falcutt Estate in ?1919 and sold it to the Lees’ in 1920 so there have been five owners or families occupying it between 1850 - 2006 ). (There was also a visit on 25th April 1990 by Deryck Martin whose great grandfather was the son of a groom (born c. 1820) who worked at Falcutt – the groom’s father lived in Helmdon. The great grandfather was a police sergeant in Northamptonshire from 1852-1888.) Charlotte Sandilands 2024 Ed note: Paul and Charlotte Sandilands kindly open Falcutt House whenever there is a village Garden Open Day. Tea in the courtyard See also: "In Service at Falcutt House in the Thirties" by Phyllis Ballinger, first published in Aspects of Helmdon, no.6. And "History From Falcutt Fields" by Michael Smith, first published in Aspects of Helmdon, no. 4 |
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