| Grove Farm, Little Wigborough
Grove Farm on Copt Hall Lane in Little Wigborough, situated near an ancient piece of woodland called Copt
Hall Grove, is a grade II listed early seventeenth century farmhouse. In 1922 the Royal Commission on
Historical Monuments described it thus
Grove Farm, house about ½ m. N. of the church is of two storeys, timber-framed and plastered; the roofs are
tiled. It was built early in the 17th century with cross-wings at the N. and S. ends. Inside the building
some original ceiling beams and joists are exposed. Condition - Good.
Sixty years later the building was listed.
GREAT AND LITTLE COPT HALL LANE 1. 5214 WIGBOROUGH Grove Farmhouse TL 91 NE 17/49 II 2. Early C17 house,
timber framed and plastered, red plain tile roof. Two storey. Two feature gables. Four window range on ground
floor, 3 window range on first floor, modern casements. Internally the original frame remains with stop
chamfered beams. Modern extension at rear in C18 red brick. Colchester Heritage Explorer
Its barn, across the road and also seventeenth century, is in modern times in separate ownership and has been
converted into a house. Also Grade II listed, the barn's listing reads as follows
GREAT AND LITTLE COPT HALL LANE 1. 5214 WIGBOROUGH Barn to west of Grove Farm TL 91 NE 17/50 II 2. Four bay
C17 timber framed and weatherboarded barn with gabled midstrey. Corrugated iron roof.
Colchester Heritage Explorer
Little Wigborough. The Wigborough to Peldon road is upper left, with Copt Hall Lane coming down the centre.
Seaborough Farm is top left, Grove Farm upper centre and New Hall Farm lower right. Copthall Grove on the right.
From Ordnance Survey Essex 25 inch map Revised 1895 Published 1897.
Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland maps.nls.uk
According to P.H. Reaney's The Place-Names of Essex published in 1935 Grove Farm is referred to as 'Great Grove' in a rental of 1588.
Grove farm circa 1977 when it was owned by the Crook family
It is the tithe awards entry of 1838 which give us the first detailed information when Sarah Quincey is
listed as the owner of Grove Farm - and also, incidentally, of other land and property in Little Wigborough.
Her tenant at the time was John Thorrington, a farmer.
Sarah née Denew, was the widow of Joseph Quincey who had been Lord of the Manor of Peldon Hall until his
death in 1829 leaving Sarah to continue as Lady of the Manor. Sarah's father, Anthony Denew, had, much
earlier, bought a farm in the area - Pete Tye Farm, Peldon - circa 1755 which, later, Sarah brought to her
marriage with Quincey.
In his will, Joseph Quincey made Sarah his executrix - they seem to have had no children - and bequeathed
all his Freehold, Copyhold and Real estate to her.
[The Will of Joseph Quincey: National Archives PROB 11/1759]
Sarah Quincey died in 1844 and in the Chelmsford Chronicle of 25th October 1844, there is notification that
Grove Farm, Little Wigborough, 61 acres 3 roods 14 perches, Peldon Lodge Farm 277 a 1 r 33 p and Pete Tye Farm,
109a 1r 22p, are being auctioned along with four farms on Mersea (Well House, Lucas's, Pratt's Garden Farm
and Baker's) and two farms at Dovercourt and Great Bromley.
After the auction, the Chelmsford Chronicle of 1st November 1844 reported on the sale and the prices
realised. The reporter described the auction
The attendance was numerous and respectable, and the competition, as may be judged from the price annexed to
the various lots, was very spirited. There were 14 lots.
Described as a freehold estate comprising 61 acres with a cottage included in the sale, Grove Farm fetched
£1,600. The name of the purchaser was not given.
As for the tenant of Grove Farm listed in the 1838 tithe awards, John Thorrington (1781-1840), died in 1840
and was buried in the churchyard of St. Nicholas, leaving his widow to run the farm.
His widow Sarah Ann Thorrington (1787-1865) is named as joint executor of his will with his two sons Samuel
and William. He bequeaths
All that my Leasehold Messuage Farm Lands and
premises wherein I now reside situate in Little
Wigborough aforesaid and Peldon in the said County of
Essex with all and singular the crops thereon
growing as well as severed and all my Live and
Dead Stock and Implements and Utensils in husbandry
which may be in upon or about my said Messuage
Farm Land and Premises at the time of my Decease
Along with bequeathing all his other household goods to them, he requests that his executors
..carry on my said Farming Business during the natural
Life of my said Wife Sarah (if she shall so long
continue my widow) or until the expiration of the
Lease under which I now hold and occupy the said
Farm and Premises
and the income is to be used by his wife for her maintenance. He wishes her to maintain their son, John,
until he attains the age of 14; John is to receive £50 upon Sarah's death or re-marriage and daughter Ann
£20.
He lists his eleven children (four boys and seven girls) who are to receive equal shares of his Personal
Estate
Henry Hance [Thorrington], Sarah the wife of John Wright, Louisa, Thamar the
wife of John Adams, the said Samuel, Mary, Joanna
Susanna, the said William and the said John and
Ann equally to be divided between them part and
share alike
[The Will of John Thorrington Little Wigborough farmer Essex Record Office D/ABW 134/2/35]
It is a 'Mary' Thorrington who appears listed as a farmer at Grove Farm in White's History of Essex 1848 and
Kelly's Trade Directory of 1855 which possibly refers to their daughter, Mary.
Sarah Ann Thorrington appears in the electoral rolls as a tenant of Grove Farm between 1852 and 1872. Sarah
died in 1865 so this is possibly an error
although we know family members took on the tenancy. She was buried in St. Nicholas Churchyard,
Little Wigborough, the family having been tenants for over 25 years - maybe considerably longer.
Both John and Sarah Ann Thorrington have gravestones in the churchyard of Little Wigborough
To the Memory of
John Thorrington
who departed this life
April 19th 1840
aged 59 years
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
Thou shalt be saved."
In
Memory of
Sarah Ann Thorrington
who departed this life
March 1st 1865
aged 78 years
"Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him."
The owner of Grove Farm (and the Thorringtons' landlord) is listed in the same electoral rolls as Oswald Copland, resident in Crane Court, Chelmsford, throughout this period - more of the Coplands later.
Following Sarah Ann's death the Essex Herald of 19th September 1865 gives notice that a Live and Dead Stock
auction is to be held at the farm.
On Monday, 25th September, 1865, at Half-past Ten
ALL THE LIVE and DEAD FARMING STOCK,
HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE, and other Effects of
the late Mrs. Thorrington, comprising four very good
draught horses, a superior stock of black Essex sows and
pigs, the usual assortment of good furniture, beds and
linen, invalid's hand carriage, and numerous other effects.
The next tenants who were also to be long-term farmers at Grove Farm were the Wrights who had familial links
with John and Sarah Thorrington. The Thorringtons' daughter, Sarah, was married to John Wright.
John Wright (1806 - 1878) was born in Great Wigborough and he and his wife Sarah Ann née Thorrington
(1809 - 1892), who married in Little Wigborough in 1830, spent much of their married life in Peldon.
Starting out as an agricultural labourer, by 1851 John was farming 5 acres close to Peldon's forge, moving
on by the 1861 census to 50 acres at Malting Farm, Peldon, where he is assisted by his 17 year old son, also
John. It would appear that the family had the tenancy of Grove Farm as well, for in a newspaper advert of
23rd September 1879 (the year following John Wright Senior's death) another auction of Live and Dead Stock is
advertised.
MALTING FARM
NEAR PELDON CHURCH
TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION
By Messrs Surridge and Son
On Wednesdy, 8th October, 1879, at 10.30
ALL THE LIVE and DEAD FARMING STOCK
on this farm, and from the Grove Farm,
Little Wigborough, and some useful FURNITURE,
Etc., by direction of Mrs. Wright, who is declining business.
By the 1881 census Sarah Ann Wright is living with two daughters at Rose Cottage, Peldon, a retired farmer.
It appears that son, John Wright (Junior), and his wife, Emma née Christmas (1840 - 1906) were living at
Grove Farm at the time of his father's death for his address is given as Little Wigborough on the probate
record. Whether the Wright family took on the tenancy of Grove Farm following Sarah Thorrington's death in
1865 has not been discovered but given the family connection between the Wrights and the Thorringtons, it
seems likely.
John Wright (Junior) is listed as a farmer in Little Wigborough in a number of the Kelly's trade directories
between 1874 and 1914. The address is not given but the censuses indicate it was Grove Farm. In 1882 Kelly's
also lists John Wright as the sexton of Little Wigborough church while the vestry minutes reveal he served
the vestry as churchwarden and overseer of the poor for many years.
In 1913 Grove Farm was put on the market, the auction to be held at the Corn Exchange in Colchester on 21st
June, 1913, at 4pm and to be sold as one lot by order of Trustees for sale.
LITTLE WIGBOROUGH AND PELDON
ESSEX,
Eight miles from the market and garrison town
of Colchester.
VALUABLE SMALL FREEHOLD FARM,
situate close to main road leading from
Peldon to Tolleshunt D'Arcy, and known as
GROVE FARM,
comprising picturesque farm residence, agri-
cultural premises, and
62 acres 2 Roods 20 Poles
deep staple arable and pasture land. Vacant
possession on completion of purchase.
[East Anglian Daily Times 23rd May 1913]
The sale particulars describe the farm
Picturesque Farm Residence
(Brick, Boarded, Plaster and Tiled)
Containing Keeping Room with cupboards, Parlour, Back Lobby,
Small Sitting Room, Dairy, Kitchen, Coal Store, Staircase, Cup-
board, and Three Large Bedrooms facing Front Garden.
Outside are Brick, Boarded and Tiled Brewhouse and WC
Kitchen Garden with Fruit Trees.
The Agricultural premises
Include
Boarded and Tiled Chaisehouse and Piggeries; Brick, Boarded and
Thatched Cart-horse Stable with Yard; Brick and Tiled Open
Shed and Brick, Boarded and Tiled Loose Box; Cowhouse and
Bullock Boxes with Yard; Boarded and Thatched Barn with Two
Bays, and Timber and Thatched Waggon Lodge.
The sale particulars list the individual fields with their Ordnance Survey references totalling to 62 acres 2
roods and 20 perches, over 39 acres in Little Wigborough and 22 acres in Peldon.
The above has been for many years and is now in the occupation of
Mr John Wright, but VACANT POSSESSION WILL BE GIVEN
ON COMPLETION OF THE PURCHASE.
The Conditions of Sale reveal the vendor's solicitors are Copland and Sons of Chelmsford
In the General Remarks the agents refer to an agreement made in 1896 between Mrs Campbell and Mr John Wright which indicates that Mrs Campbell was the owner and John Wright the tenant.
The Conditions of Sale reveal more information leading to the identification of 'Mrs Campbell'
The title shall commence with an Indenture of Conveyance, dated the 7th day of
April, 1877, whereby Ernest Oswald Copland, the then owner, in contemplation of his
intended marriage conveyed the property to his marriage settlement trustees upon trust for
sale. The Purchaser shall accept this document as a good root of title and shall not call
for or investigate the earlier title. About two acres, part of the property, was at one time
assumed to be of copyhold tenure but such copyhold part could never be identified and for
upwards of sixty years no quit rents or other manorial services have been paid or rendered in
respect thereof. The Purchaser shall be satisfied with a proper conveyance of the property
as freehold
The two acres copyhold land referred to was, no doubt, held by Charterhouse who owned Copt Hall Manor which comprised much of Little Wigborough from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
On investigating Copland's marriage I find that his widow remarried after his death and her married name was
Campbell. The trustees referred to here in the sale catalogue I presume therefore will be those of her
marriage settlement in 1877.
Ernest Oswald Copland (1848 - 1883) was a surgeon, born in Chelmsford. Other members of the Copland family
were eminent Chelmsford solicitors and were involved with property transactions for the Lords of the Manor of
Pete Hall and Peldon Hall locally. Copland married Amabel Gream in Chelmsford on 7th April 1877. Following
Copland's death Amabel remarried, William Maxwell Campbell, and she clearly continued as owner of Grove Farm
with Wright as a tenant until the advertised sale in 1913. When her first husband, Copland, first took possession of Grove Farm has so far not been conclusively confirmed but there is an interesting article in the Essex Standard whereby Charterhouse were trying to retrieve quit-rents on some copyhold land from Mr John Copland who I believe was Ernest Oswald Copland's uncle and a solicitor. The article tells us John Copland was admitted to the land in question in 1845.
Mr Copland's defence was that having purchased a freehold farm
for 61 acres, which turned out to be only 60, the parties offered him
six acres of copyhold as compensation, and he was admitted, but
had never been able to find the copyhold land [Essex Standard 27th February 1856]
Surely this 60 acre farm was Grove Farm; it was certainly advertised as being 61 acres in 1844? This would
argue it had been in the Copland family's possession since the sale following Sarah Quincey's death. I am
certain the conveyance dated 1845 held by the London Metropolitan Archive - not yet seen by me but part of
the Charterhouse archive - will confirm the purchase by John Copland. [Ref: London Metropolitan Archive
ACC/1876/MR/03/0983] and it is likely the two acres of copyhold land referred to above belonged to Copt Hall Manor.
Was the farm then sold to the long-term tenants, the Wright family in 1913; John Wright certainly owned it in
1919? Should the deeds come to light this could well be answered.
Sadly, John and Emma Wright were to lose several children in their infancy but in 1916, during WW1, the family
was to become embroiled in one of the most dramatic events in the village with tragic consequences.
The headstone of their son, Alfred John Wright, erected by his father in Little Wigborough Churchyard, tells his story
In Loving Memory
of
ALFRED JOHN
SON OF JOHN AND EMMA WRIGHT
WHO DIED NOV 13TH 1916
AGED 45 YEARS
FROM INJURIES RECEIVED WHILST ON HIS
WAY TO INFORM MILITARY GUARD OF THE
FALL OF ZEPPELIN L33 IN THIS PARISH
SEPT 24TH 1916
On 24th September 1916 the L33 zeppelin, having carried out raids on London and badly damaged, was losing
height as it passed over Little Wigborough. The German Captain managed to bring the airship down across Copt
Hall Lane in Little Wigborough with no loss of life either of locals or his crew. He then torched the Zeppelin
to prevent the British authorities gaining information about the airship's construction. This happened only a
few hundred yards from Grove Farm and it was Alfred Wright who set off to alert the authorities.
It is ...to be regretted that Mr Alfred Wright, a farmer of Little Wigborough, who on his account, immediately
this Zeppelin dropped or landed, was proceeding on his motor cycle to the military at Mersea to inform them,
collided with a motor on the Strood and had the misfortune to break his leg - Messrs Wilkinson and Fairhead
assisted in getting him off to the Colchester hospital. Police Report 24th September 1916
A letter to Essex Countryside in January 1965 by a Miss S A B Greem from Stanway reads
The man who warned the guard when the L 33 was brought down was my uncle. The soldiers were stationed on the
Strood and he mounted his motor cycle and gave the news to the men, but on the return journey he collided with
a car and was injured. He was taken to Colchester Hospital where he died some days later. Incidentally a
watch was presented posthumously by the police to his sisters. It is now in my possession.
After his death in hospital, Alfred, who had been a seed grower, unmarried and living with his parents, was
brought back to his parish of Little Wigborough to be buried. However,
according to a reporter writing 70 years later,
the Zeppelin was still straddling Copt Hall Lane and
a path had to be cut in the wreckage of the Zeppelin skeleton to enable
the funeral cortege to get to Little Wigborough Church.
The source of this information has not been found but it makes a good story!
The photographer is standing on Copt Hall Lane with his back to the church and Copt Hall
The 1918 and 1919 electoral registers reveal John Wright, a widower, and still at the farm, was living with two of his daughters, Edith Emily and Florence Emma Wright but it appears they were about to move. At Michaelmas, there was a Live and Dead Stock sale at Grove Farm
For Mr John Wright who has Sold the Farm
[Chelmsford Chronicle 29th August 1919]
Edwin Norrell, born in East Dean, Sussex in 1869 is first reported as living in Little Wigborough in the
electoral register for 1920 so it is likely he bought Grove Farm from John Wright in 1919. He was married to
Annie Louisa Baldwin (1878 - 1958) and they had two sons, Edwin and Percy.
The family of four appears at Grove Farm in the 1921 census with the two teenage boys assisting their father
in general farm work. Kelly's Trade Directory of 1929 records Edwin as being a farmer in Little Wigborough.
In the 1939 register Edwin and Annie are living at Grove Farm while their son, Percy his wife and two children
are living further down Copt Hall Lane at 'Glebe Poultry Farm', the former rectory, now known as Glebe
Cottage; Percy is described as a poultry farmer and 'assisting father'.
Edwin died in 1944 and was buried in the churchyard of St. Nicholas, Little Wigborough.
Circa 1990 the current owner met one of Percy Norrell's daughters (possibly Mary Munson née Norrell) who
revealed a different layout to the farmhouse to that of today. In the words of the current owner
In WW2 when Grove Farm was a chicken farm, there was a front door in the centre of the house with a path out
from it out to the lane. The door opened on to a staircase which separated two sitting rooms, one either side
of the staircase.
Originally her family lived at the farm further down the lane [Glebe Cottage] but when her grandfather at
Grove Farm died they moved in with their grandmother. At that time the two sitting rooms still existed one
used by the family and the other by the widowed grandmother.
Annie Norrell, Mary's grandmother, died in 1958 still living at Grove Farm.
The next owner, Norman Crook bought Grove Farm with 8 acres from the Norrell family in 1977 for £12,250. His son David tells me about this time the house was flooded to 2½ feet due to the drainage in the fields and a lot of rain.
Norman Crook may have been the one responsible for changing the layout of the farm.
At some time the front door was closed off, the path disappeared, the staircase was re-positioned and the two
sitting rooms were combined into the single larger one which exists now.
Percy Norrell's daughter pointed out to the current owner
in the modern sitting room the ceiling beams at one end go in a different direction from those at the
other - a relic of the existence of the two separate rooms. Supporting posts related to the old staircase
still exist in the middle of the room.
Norman Crook stayed for some years raising his family there and built a rear extension on the house to include a garden room.
Across the road was a single storey dilapidated barn belonging to the farm, ripe for conversion.
Grove Farm barn from behind circa 1972
Norman went on to develop the barn into the fine conversion and family home that can be seen today and he and his wife were to move across the road into the barn establishing it as a separate property from Grove Farm and for a short time calling it 'Grove House'.
The conversion however was not without its problems. In the early hours of 16th October 1987 the UK, France and the Channel Isles were hit by what is known as The Great Storm. Winds gusted up to 80mph in Essex and there was widespread flooding. The devastation caused millions of pounds worth of damage across the country and Grove Barn, mid-conversion, was badly damaged. David Crook relates luckily the barn was insured by the NFU
Grove Barn from behind in October 1987 after the hurricane - the farmhouse can be seen in the background.
The Crooks sold Grove Farm in 1990 to the Macleans and their close friend, the current owner; she has been sole owner since 2013.
We in our turn, extended further at the back beyond Norman's additions. The modern parts of the house are now
much greater than the original.
So there we have close to two hundred years of the history of who owned or lived at Grove Farm, Little
Wigborough. The building dates to some 200 years before it appeared in the tithe awards of 1838 but so far
earlier owners or tenants have proved elusive.
When the bulk of the land was sold off has not been discovered but it seems likely it ceased being a working farm when it passed out of the hands of the Norrell family.
A tantalising clue to the farm's earlier history was revealed when it was sold at Sarah Quincey's death.
The notice of sale reveals an earlier name
A freehold estate, comprising the Grove Farm, formerly called the Rookery
[Chelmsford Chronicle 1.11.1844]
Investigations continue!
Elaine Barker
Peldon History Project
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