No. 497 August 2012 Edited by Sue Willetts
HADAS DIARY 2012-2013
Lectures are held at Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley, N3 3QE and start promptly at 8.00 pm with coffee /tea and biscuits afterwards. Non-members welcome (£1.00). Buses 82, 125, 143, 326 & 460 pass nearby and Finchley Central Station (Northern line) is a short walk away.
Sunday 26 – Thursday 30 August: Summer trip to Ironbridge
Sunday 30 September: Outing to the St. Albans area with June Porges and Stewart Wild.
Enclosed with this newsletter is the booking form for our summer outing at the end of September to St Albans and environs. At £25 the all-inclusive price is lower than Chatham last year. We have done our best to design an attractive day out, catering to a wide range of interests. From the Iron Age to the Romans and the Saxons, and from the Middle Ages to the Second World War, we cover a lot of ground in one day! Do join us.
Please book as soon as possible; any queries can be made to the email addresses shown on the booking form.
Tuesday 9 October: The Life and Legacy of George Peabody – Lecture by Christine Wagg
Tuesday 13 November: Archaeological Discoveries in Southwark – Lecture by Peter Moore, Pre-Construct Archaeology.
Sunday 2 December: Christmas Party at Avenue House, 12 noon – 4.30 pm (approx.)
Tuesday 8 January: The Reign of Akhenaten: Revolution or Evolution? Lecture by Nathalie Andrews
Tuesday 12 February: From Longboat to Warrior: the evolution of the wooden ship. Lecture by Eliott Wragg, Thames Discovery Programme.
Tuesday 12 March: The Railway Heritage Trust – Lecture by Andy Savage.
Church Farm House and Barnet Council’s Review of the area
Don Cooper’s report (see below pp.2.-6) has been passed to Barnet Council to assist with the Review of Hendon Church End and Hendon the Burroughs Conservation Areas which ends on 30th July. Two illustrated documents, Hendon Church End Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Proposals (51 pages) and a Public Consultation Exhibition (14 pages) are available using this link: http://engage.barnet.gov.uk/enviornment-planning-andregeneration/conservationareasconsultation
Church Farm House, Hendon — a history, chronology & building descriptionDon Cooper
Introduction
In March 2011 Church Farm House Museum was closed by the London Borough of Barnet Council and much of the collection is in the process of being disposed of. The Grade II* listed building and its gardens have been put up for sale (April 2012). This is a time of great danger for this wonderful old building and important heritage asset. This short report is designed to summarise the history and importance of the building in the hope that it might be saved to remain in public ownership for the benefit of everybody. Note: For consistency I will call the house – Church Farm House rather than Church Farmhouse.
Comments on Church Farm House
Here are some of the comments on the building and its importance as a heritage asset:
“Church Farm House, house 30 yards W.S.W. of the church, is of three storeys. The exterior retains two late 17th -century (C17) windows with solid frames and the central chimney stack that has a four grouped diagonal shafts. Inside the building is a considerable amount of original panelling and some panelled doors” (Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, 1937).
‘Church Farm House, on the N side of Church End, now a museum is a delightful survival from rural Hendon, acquired by Hendon Council in 1944 and restored in 1954. Chiefly C17, with red brick three-bay front of two stories divided by a platband; three widely spaced gables with original dormer windows. Other windows with later sashes; early C19 brick porch. Fine grouped chimneystack with four flues, between parlour (l.) and hall (r.). Kitchen to the r. of the hall, with large rear fireplace. Behind is a C18 service wing, later heightened to two storeys. The lobby entrance in front of the main stack now leads to a passage cut through the stack in the late C19, with early C19 staircase beyond. Some reused C16 panelling in the hall, formerly upstairs. Upstairs the main chamber lies over the hall, with closet over the entrance lobby.’ (Cherry & Pevsner, 1998).
‘The sole survival is Church Farm House, Church End, a gabled brick building dating probably from the early 17th century and one of the most complete examples of Middlesex vernacular architecture of its time.’ (VCH, vol.5 P6).
‘One of the oldest structures in the parish is probably the house at Church End, occupied by Mr Andrew Dunlop, of Church Farm…. Judging from the general style of the building, and especially from the massive red chimney stack which surrounds its three gables, it appears to date from the early part of the 17th century, although the windows sashes and doors, with other details are modern.’(Evans, 1890).
Next to the Greyhound Inn is a building which constitutes Hendon’s most valuable legacy from the past- Church Farm, whose snow-white gables (the house was white-washed every year — ), old tile roof, and massive chimney-stack eloquently bespeak a “sixteenth-century” (sic) origin. (Gunn, 1912, p.95).
Chronology of Church Farm, Hendon and its residents
1688 The first definite date, when we know that the house was owned by the Lords of the Manor of Hendon, the Powis family, and tenanted by a local man Daniel Kemp. Daniel Kemp married Mary Nicholl in February 1682. (St Mary’s Hendon Parish register). She was the daughter of George Nicholl and cousin of Randall Nicholl. It was Daniel’s second marriage. They had seven children. (Hitchen-Kemp, 1902 p.46 & 47).
1711 Daniel Kemp died and his will was proved in 1712 and the tenancy passed to his son Daniel the younger.
1749 On the death of Daniel the younger, the farm was occupied by his son also called Daniel.
1753 There is an apprenticeship indenture of 1753 by which a poor child of the parish was apprenticed to a local blacksmith, the indenture bearing the signature of Daniel Kemp recorded as tenant of Church Farm. (Anon. 1955).
1753 Thomas Browne, land agent for the Lord of the Manor of Hendon, the Earl of Powys gives us an insight into the letting value of land when he says “The land (one of Earl Powys’s farms is let at £1.10 an acre) at an average is no better than Kemps which is let at about £1 per acre.”
1754 Messeder (1754) records that “Daniel Kempe held Church farm for a year0ly rent of £240 for 255 acres”.
1754 (Act 27 George. 2) page 19. Earl and Countess of Powis’ estate: sale of the manor of Hendon for payment of William, late Marquis of Powis’ debts and incumbrances and settling the barony and lordship of Powis in Montgomeryshire in Lieu thereof.
1756 David Garrick bought the manor, but Church Farm House, the farm buildings and 153 acres of land were sold separately to a Mr Bingley for £4890. Daniel Kemp remained tenant-at-will.
1763 Daniel Kemp died leaving only a daughter called Dinah.
1764 The ownership and freehold of the farm passed to Theodore Henry Brinckman whose father had married an Anne Bingley. Anne Bingley’s parents were John Bingley (the probable original purchaser of Church Farm House) and Margaret Broadhead (Burke’s Peerage, 2003). Theodore Henry Brinckman changed his surname to Broadhead by act of parliament in accordance with the will of a brewer uncle and later the family changed it back to Brinckman in 1842 by royal licence. See grave monument in St Mary’s Church graveyard, Hendon.
The Bingley / Brinckman / Broadhead family were the freeholders of Church Farm House and farm from 1756 to 1918. The name of the farm was changed from Church End Farm to Church Farm.
1774 Dinah Kemp married Edward Clarke and left Church Farm.
1796 We don’t know how much of the time T. H. Broadhead actually lived at Church Farm. Cooke (1796) “House and buildings at Church End:-
Freeholders’ name – Theodore Broadhead, Esq.
Name of House and Field – A large farm house with yards, barns, stables, Garden etc. Mowing Grass and Tythe Measure – Demesne
Measure with hedge and ditch – 5 perches
Tythe free – Freehold”.
We don’t know if the Bingley / Brinckman / Broadhead family lived there as it seems most of the time the house was occupied by and the land farmed by tenants. There were many tenants of Church Farm in the 18th and 19th centuries. Between 1780 and 1843, for example, there were sixteen, representing eleven families.
1817 – 1823 Mark Lemon Co-founder and first editor of Punch lived in Church Farm House. There is a Blue Plaque commemorating him on the front of the building
1870 Andrew Dunlop, a Scotsman from Ayrshire, became the lessee of the farm house and land.
1874 Andrew Dunlop made many alterations to the house. He cut a passageway through the massive chimney stack which dominates the building and added the front porch (this front door away from the farmyard to which the old main entrance led, reflects the shifting status of Dunlop from farmer to semi-suburban gentleman.) The bay window was added and steps to the cellar were built. The upper rooms to the eastern extension were made accessible to the rest of the house; before they had been separate and kept as accommodation for itinerant farm workers.
1904 Andrew Dunlop died.
1918 George Dunlop, Andrew Dunlop’s son, bought the freehold of the farm from the owner Sir Theodore Francis Brinckman.
1939 The farm ceased being a dairy farm.
1944 In February the house was bought from the Dunlop family by Hendon Council with the intention of demolishing it.
1947 Due to post-war housing shortage the house was converted into three flats for Council tenants. 1949 A second recommendation was made for the house to be demolished. After much discussion the Council called for an Architect’s report in case the building was worth saving.
1950 The house was listed on 3rd February 1950 as Grade II* and described as “Mid C17. “L” plan with wing projecting back on east side. Brick faced, tiled roof. Stack of grouped diagonal chimney shafts. Main (S) front, 2 storey with 3 dormer gables. Three widely spaced windows in each floor, but position altered in some cases. Early C19, enclosed porch, brick with hipped tiled roof to left of centre and splayed bay on west side of house, ground floor.”
List entry Number: 1188513
1951 The report was favourable and the Council decided to restore the house and use it as a local history museum.
1954 The restoration of the building was completed in September
1955 Church Farm House Museum was opened by the Mayor of Hendon, N.G. Brett-James, on 30th April.
1955 – 2011 The Museum was set–up with two main displays as follows: A period area consisting of three period furnished rooms
(1) The kitchen, set about 1820, had a huge open fireplace containing a clockwork spitjack, a chimney crane and bread oven. A splendid refectory table and oak dresser showed off over a 100 Victorian Kitchen utensils.
(2) The scullery with its display of laundry equipment.
(3) The dining room furnished as it would have been in the 1850s.
The other display areas of the museum, mostly on the upper floor, housed temporary exhibitions featuring different but mostly locally relevant themes. Gerrard Roots, the last curator, & his predecessors in the j ob, worked tirelessly to put on at least 4 exhibitions a year.
1980 25th Anniversary of the opening of Church Farm House Museum. ‘Major repairs to the Museum were carried out at the beginning of this year’ (Roots, G., 1980).
2010 The Museum celebrated 350 years of Church Farm House with exhibitions on the history of the building, on the restoration, and the excavations in the garden and in Sunny Hill Park
2011 The Museum closed
2012 Museum building and grounds put up for sale.
Details of the Building
Church Farm House is an L shaped brick building, of two and a half storeys. It has a roof sloping in from all sides of the building, or “hipped roof’, with three original 17th century window frames, and a central square chimneystack. There is a bay at the west end, parapet walls between the gables at the front and a front porch.
Plan – The plan of the house is a development and blend of two common forms. Originally built with a solid central chimneystack, incorporating two fireplaces set back to back, it was altered in the late nineteenth century and an arch cut through the stack forming a passage to the staircase behind. The present plan is similar to the cross passage type. The staircase, c1800, has indications (a lowered window) that the original staircase ran differently. The bay at the west end, 19th century, was rebuilt
in 1947, after being damaged during the war.
Walling – The fourteen inch walls are red brick built, bonded with lime mortar, and laid directly on to the clay earth two or three feet below ground level at the kitchen end, and deeper at the cellar end. The use of bricks became popular following the Great Fire of London (1666). John Moxon (c1680), wrote “The common Bricks that are made here in England, are nine inches in length, four inches and one half in breadth, and two and an half in thickness; and sometimes three inches thick”, and this is true of the bricks of Church Farm House. The joining pattern of bricks at Church Farm is known as Flemish bond (oddly rare in Flanders itself). The little decorative brickwork is reserved for the parapets on the gables at the front and string courses, and the chimney (see below). Tie plates, on the centre gable at the front and to the left of the door at the rear, are used with tie bars to strengthen the brickwork.
Roofing – Heavy oak timbers support the roof. The tiles are originals held in place with oak pegs. The few replacements on the north gables are handmade. There is no ridge board, usual in this type of roof construction, and the rafters are halved. Laths, laid across the rafters, are covered with a thin thatch, providing insulation. Barley and walnut shells, discovered when the floor boards were lifted, show that at one time the attic was used for storage.
Fireplaces – The kitchen fireplace is of particular interest. This was revealed after the removal of modern brickwork and cement facing which housed a comparatively modern stove. The original oak beam over the fire recess remains and to the right is a brick baking oven. In the central bedroom there is an oak beam over the Victorian fireplace.
Chimneys -The main chimney is protected from the weather by passing through the ridge of the roof. It has six decorative and grouped diagonal stacks, with oversailing brick courses. The chimney stack on the east wall is a later addition which replaced another about four or five feet from the southeast corner. There was also a baking oven further north along the same wall. The kitchen chimney was built in the gable wall before the extension of 1754. There are two large flues and traces of a third.
Box gutters – Two lead-lined open box gutters run inside the east and west attics.
Flooring – The floors, supported by oak beams, had wide floor boards which have been replaced by pitch-pine boards. In the kitchen, half the stone paving (nearest the fireplace) is original. Ground floor middle room was probably stone paved on the same level as the kitchen. The cellar is also stone floored.
Windows — Nearly all the windows have been replaced over the years. The first floor east bedroom and the two attic gables on the north elevation are all examples of oak mullioned windows. These frames may originally have had solid wooden shutters with some woven material rather than glass. Early glass manufacture relied on spinning molten glass into a disc and cutting small diamond segments, which could be transported to where they were needed with less chance of breakage. This meant that the panes produced were small.
Doors – The oldest door at Church Farm House is in the ground floor middle room, and was originally from the east bedroom, and is, along with the panelling, 17th c. The door now marks the position of a former serving hatch. The front porch and door are 19th c; the general practice in the seventeenth century was for the front door to open on to the farmyard. The present “back” door is of interest being wider but lower than a more modern door. The doors into the attics are original, as are the hinges and some of the door furniture.
Cellar — This may have been the farm’s dairy. The original west wall remains, although its windows were sealed when the bay was added. The walls show recesses for joists, probably for low shelves. For some reason, which is not apparent, the chimney stack extends about five feet further to the north than it does at ground level.
A survey and condition report was carried out by Eaton Strevens Associates in Dec. 2009
Bibliography
Anon. 1955. Church Farm Museum Published by the Borough of Hendon.
Baker, T. F.T. (Ed.) 1976. A History of Middlesex. London: Oxford University Press. Victoria County History series Volume 5.
British Private Statutes 1751 – 1800.
Cherry, Bridget, & Pevsner, Nikolaus. 1998. The Buildings of England: London 4 North. London: Yale University Press.
Cooke, John. 1796. An index to the map of the whole manor and parish of Hendon.
Evans, Edward Thornton. 1890. History & Topography of Hendon. Re-issued in 2012.
Gunn, Edwin. 1912. Hendon. The Architectural Review Volume XXX1.
H itchen-Kemp, Frederick. About 1902. A General History of the Kemp and Kempe families of Great Britain and her Colonies. London: Leadenhall Press.
Holliday, E., Roots, G., Shearing, M. 1980. Church Farm, Hendon. Hendon: London Borough of Barnet Library Service.
Messeder, Issac.1754. “Field book to the Plan of the Manor and Parish of Hendon”.
Mosley, Charles. 2003 (Ed.) Burke’s Peerage 107th edition Delaware, USA: Burke’s Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd.
Pearce, Jacqui (ed.) 2004. The Last Farm in Hendon. London: Hendon and District Archaeological Society.
Petrie, Hugh. 2005. Hendon and Golders Green Past. London: Historical Publications.
Roots, Gerrard. 1980. Church Farm, Hendon: 25 years of Church Farm House Museum. Hendon: London Borough of Barnet Library Service.
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments: An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Middlesex 1937.
Victoria County History (Volume 5, page 6).
Archaeology News A New Book: The Trust for Thanet Archaeology (another voluntary local archaeological society) have produced a new book called “Underground Thanet – quarries,
shelters, tunnels and caves” by Rod LeGear for all you underground fans! It is priced at £8.00 and can be ordered from: Trust for Thanet Archaeology, The Antoinette Centre, Quex Park, Birchington, Kent CT7 0BH. http://www.thanetarch.co.uk/
From the Milestone Society Newsletter – July 2012: ‘Two milestones and two boundary stones displayed at Church Farmhouse Museum, Hendon face an uncertain future following the closure of the museum last year. Barnet Council wishes to dispose of the museum and has invited bid submissions. The two milestones are a Barrett cast iron type removed from Edgware Road near Staples corner reading LONDON/5/WATFORD/9, which has undergone some recent restoration, and a very worn stone reading V/M I L ES/FROM/LON DON taken from North End Road, Golders Green. Both examples have been exhibited in the grounds of the museum for many years. At the time of writing Barnet Council has yet to make any announcement on the future of its museum collections.’ http://www.milestonesociety.co.uk/
Appeal for information: History of Burnt Oak.
Mr John O’Neill is researching the local history of Burnt Oak with a view to publication and would be grateful for help on the following aspects of his research in relation to dating pre 1840’s buildings (Rate books consulted but these were not helpful); dating the installation of gas lighting – street and domestic; and dating the installation of mains water and drainage, all with specific reference to the cottages along Edgware Road. Also anything that exists about the fire station that operated from South Road until around 1925 – records of appliances, call-outs etc. John O’Neill. Mobile 07939177682 and email oneills@dsl.pipex.com
Other Societies’ events We are now listing events for the current and following month Sun 5 Aug 3-5pm Bothy Garden Open Day. Avenue House. East End Rd, N3 3QE. Free
Mon 6 – Fri 10 & Mon 13 – Fri 17 Aug. W.E.A.G. & Copped Hall Trust Archaeological Project: www.weag.org.uk; www.coppedhalltrust.org.uk . NB Not for beginners. Continued excavation etc of a Tudor Grand House from Medieval beginnings. Supervision by professional archaeologists assisted by experienced volunteers. Weekly cost £90.00 not inc.lunch. All tools, apart from trowels provided. Details from Mrs Pauline Dalton, Roseleigh, Epping Rd, Epping, Essex, CH 16 5HW. Tel 01 992 813725 pdalton@gmail.com
Tue 14 Aug. 7.45 pm. Amateur Geological Society. The Parlour. St.Margaret’s Church, Victoria Ave, N3. Karst landscapes of the Far East. Talk by Tony Waltham (Geophotos)
Sat 18 – Sun 19 Aug 12-6pm Friern Barnet Summer Show. Friary Park, Friern Barnet Lane, N12 Friern Barnet & District Local History Soc; HADAS will be represented.
Mon 27 Aug 1-1.45, 2.30 – 3.15, 4-4.45 pm Markfield Beam Engine steam date. Museum Markfield Park, S.Tottenham, N15 4RB. Tel 01707 873628 or www.mbeam.org for info.
Sat 1 – Sun 2 Sept 11 am – 4pm Enfield Town Show, Town Park, Cecil Rd. Enfield. Admission £3.00. Enfield Society & Enfield Archaeological Society will have a stand.
Sun 2 Sept.:3-5pm Bothy Garden Party, Avenue House grounds. East End Rd, N3 3QE. Small charge. HA DAS are usually in the Garden Room from 10.30 am on Sundays.
Sun 2 Sept 11 am- 6pm Angel Canal Festival, Regent’s Canal, City Road Basin.
Tue 4 Sept 6.30 – 7.30 Osidge Library. B rusnwick Park Rd, N1 1 1 EY . Talk about the Battle of Barnet by Paul Baker (HADAS member) Refreshments.
Sat 8 Sept Barnet Museum & Local History Society. Coach outing to Wrest Park (English Heritage property) in morning & Stotford Water Mill/Nature reserve in afternoon with cream-tea. Tel: Pat Alison 01707 858430 or patron37@sky.com or Barnet Museum 020 8449 8066
Sun 9 — Tues 11 Sept Hampstead & Highgate Literary Festival, Ivy House, 94-96 North End Rd, NW11 7SX. (Anna Pavlova lived here) Next to Golders Hill Pk. www.hamhighlitfest.com
Mon 10 Sept 3pm Barnet Museum, Wood St, Barnet. Saxon London, Talk by Robin Densem
Tue 11 Sept.: 7.45 pm. A.G.S. See 14 Aug for location. Challenging current wisdom that modern man migrated out of Africa. Talk by Bob Maurer (Harrow / Hillingdon Geol. Soc.)
Wed 12 Sept .: 7.45pm Hornsey Historical Soc. Union Church Hall, Corner Ferme Park Rd. (Weston Park) N8. Stapylton Hall and two other houses. Talk by author Gillian Tyndall.
Fri 14 Sept 8pm Enfield Archaeological Society. Jubilee Hall, 2 Parsonage Lane / Junction Chase Side, Enfield EN2 0AJ Update on the excavations at Copped Hall. Talk by John Shepherd. (Copped Hall Trust) Visitors £1.00. Refreshments, sales etc from 7.30 pm
Tue 18 Sept Forty Hall re-opening celebrations, Forty Hall, Enfield. Enfield Society. The story of the Hall will be covered by illustrated talks starting at 8.00 pm, drinks from 7.30 pm. Cost £10 with the first 80 applicants entitled to a free 30 min guided tour of Forty Hall during the evening with four separately ticketed tours at 6.30, 6.45, 7.00 and 7.15. Apply to Emma Halstead, at Jubilee Hall, Parsonage Lane, Enfield EN2 0AJ: enclose a s.a.e, phone number, number of tickets & payment plus, if you wish to apply for a guided tour, please state your preferred tour time.
Sat 22 – Sun 23 Sept.: London Open House weekend. Free access to over 700 buildings. www.londonopenhouse.org.. Also walks, engineering and landscape tours, night-time openings, and experts’ talks – all free. This year’s theme is ‘The Changing Face of London’
Tue 27 Sept 8pm Finchley Society. Martin School, High Road, East.Finchley, N2. Entrance at end of Plane Tree Walk. Change of venue. No talk details yet: www.finchleysociety.org.uk
