Willowbrook Farmhouse sits on the north corner of Pound Lane at the east end of the village. Until about 1916, it was used as a public house and known as the Hare and Hounds, but was also a working farm run by the licensee and his family.
The building dates from late 17th century through to the 19th century, and comprised of three units; when re-roofed in the C19 with a mixture of reed thatch and pantile, it had a row of four windows added to the upper floor. One of the living rooms had an open fireplace with a bressummer beam. The building was listed as grade II¹ in 1988.
Nothing much is known about the workings of the farm until the 20th century, but we know from a village tale that has been handed down through generations that during the time that Mr Dolby was running the farm, he would only send his boys to school every other day at harvest time, so that they could help out on the land. The fields surrounding the farm were probably all put down to arable crops and that is why they needed extra hands at harvest time.
Mr Herbert John Pike took over the tenancy of the farm in 1916. He removed with his wife and children from Belsize Lodge in Castor, but was originally from Devon. Herbert’s two sons, John Thomas and Richard George were recorded on the village school register for that year, so we have confirmation that they were living in the property not long after Mrs Dolby left.
When they left school, Herbert’s two sons would join their father on the farm, but by 1939 John was farming at Hollow Bottom Farm, Bulwick, only a drive of seven miles away. Richard continued to farm at Willowbrook and by the time he married Vera Harris from Farcet, his father and mother had retired and moved further up Main Street, to a property by the name of Broughton House. It was here that, Herbert’s mother Thomazin, would die in 1942, but his father continued to live at the property until his death in 1961.
Richard had a very successful mixed farm at Willowbrook consisting of dairy, sheep and arable. During the 1940 and 50’s, the farm provided employment for approximately 12 villagers: those known were Alf Pridmore (head dairy man), Peter Diamond (assistant dairy man), Jim Hull (foreman), Herbert and Bonnie Hull, Sid Dixon, (landworkers), Douglas Allen (landwork/lorry driver), Bob Hull and Shirley Smith (landworkers), Jack Reed (pig & calfman), Douglas Watkins (landworker/mechanic), and two housemaids. In addition, each year two Irish men² would come over from Ireland for the sugar beet harvest. They resided in a hut which was situated further down Pound Lane. Richard would move from Willowbrook House to a new chalet bungalow that he had built on the land of an old cottage in Smith’s Yard at 3 Main Street.
Norman Bull (farm foreman) and family would move into the house in April 1966 until 1971, when Arthur and Lilian Hughes would become the new residents of the property. They had previously been living in another farm cottage and when Arthur was promoted to farm foreman he moved in Willowbrook Farm House. The photographs below show the gardens and barns to the rear of the property when the family were living there
Richard Pike relinquished his tenancy of Willowbrook Farm in the late 1980’s and the property, which was owned by Stuart & Lloyds of Corby (Tata Steel), was sold to Swithland Estates. When the building was sold as a residential property in the 1990’s, the three barns, located behind the farmhouse; animal feed stores, grain barn and milking parlour were converted into residential properties circa 1995.
2022
Footnotes
1. Listed Buildings – https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/england/woodnewton-east-northamptonshire-northamptonshire
2. Information obtained from Robert Bellairs, who himself worked on the farm at weekends and school holidays doing an assortment of jobs such as feeding the chickens, cutting lawns and washing the cars. He would also start his working life on the farm as this is where he went when he left school.