•  1570: Glynde Place completed by William Morley•  1577: Drake begins round the world voyage•  1587: Mary Queen of Scots executed•  1588: Spanish Armada defeated•  1600: East India Co. founded•  1605: Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot•  1620: "Pilgrim Fathers" land in New England•  1642: English Civil War begins•  1649: Charles I executed•  1658: Death of Oliver Cromwell•  1665: Great Plague in London•  1666: Great Fire of London•  1675: Greenwich Royal Observatory founded•  1692: Glencoe Massacre•  1694: Bank of England founded•  1701: Jethro Tull invents the Seed Drill•  1702: King William III dies•  1703: The Great Storm - worst ever recorded in British Isles•  1707: Act of Union unites English & Scottish Parliaments•  1714: George I crowned•  1720: South Sea Bubble financial collapse•  1721: 1st Prime Minister - Robert Walpole•  1723: Christopher Wren dies•  1739: Britain & Spain start War of Jenkins' Ear•  1746: Battle of Culloden•  1750: Death of JS Bach•  1753: British Museum founded•  1759: Death of Handel•  1761: Richard Ellman moves to Glynde•  1764: Hargreaves invents Spinning Jenny•  1770: New South Wales discovered by James Cook•  1773: Boston Tea Party•  1774: Priestley discovers oxygen•  1775: American War of Independence starts•  1776: American Declaration of Independence•  1783: First hot air balloon flights•  1789: French Revolution begins•  1800: Act of Union creates United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland•  1802: Beethoven debuts Moonlight Sonata•  1803: Start of Napoleonic Wars•  1805: Battle of Trafalgar: Death of Nelson•  1807: Slave trade abolished•  1815: End of Napoleonic Wars•  1825: 1st railway opens (Stockton - Darlington)•  1829: Metropolitan Police founded•  1832: Morse invents Electric Telegraph•  1837: Queen Victoria crowned•  1838: National Gallery founded•  1840: Queen Victora & Prince Albert marry•  1841: Glynde School built•  1842: Irish "Potato Famine" starts•  1847: British Museum founded•  1848: Marx & Engels write Communist Manifesto•  1851: Great Exhibition opens in Hyde Park•  1854: Start of Crimean War•  1859: Darwin's Origin of Species published•  1861: American Civil War begins•  1865: Salvation Army founded•  1869: Suez Canal opened•  1871: Trades Unions legalised•  1872: Secret ballots introduced for elections•  1873: Dr Livingstone dies•  1876: Bell invents telephone•  1878: Electric light bulb invented•  1881: Pasteur invents innoculation•  1884: Speaker Brand retires•  1884: Fabian Society founded•  1885: Glynde & Beddingham Cricket Club founded•  1887: Queen Victoria's Jubilee•  1894: Manchester Ship Canal opened•  1899: Boer War starts•  1901: Queen Victoria dies•  1903: 1st aeroplane flight by Wright Bros.•  1905: Ragged Lands established•  1909: Introduction of Old Age Pension•  1912: Sinking of the Titanic•  1914: Start of 1st World War•  1916: Battle of the Somme•  1918: End of 1st World War•  1919: 1st trans-atlantic flight•  1920: League of Nations founded•  1922: Irish Free State founded•  1924: Lenin dies•  1926: General Strike•  1928: Women get the vote•  1934: Hitler assumes power in Germany•  1936: Regular BBC TV broadcasts begin•  1939: Start of 2nd World War
Itford Farm: 1566-1939
Itford Farm, c 1950, with Itford Hill in the distance and below it the railway line.
Itford Farm, c 1950, with Itford Hill in the distance and below it the railway line.
Owner
FromNameUntil
1566Roger Gratewick the elder1570
1570Roger Gratewick the younger1596
1596Peter Gratewick1596
1609Anne Keate (nee Gratewick)1609
1609William Gratewick1613
1613Edward Gratewick1626
1625Frances & Mary Gratewick1626
1656Frances Dickenson1656
1656John Coell & Richard Pagett1656
1780William Russell1810
1813John Russell1813
1816John Hoper1831
1860George Hoper1860
1882Richard Hoper1903
1918J D Hoper1924
1928Glyndebourne Estate1958
Occupier
FromNameUntil
1596Peter Gratewick1596
1750Joseph Winton1771
1774Aaron Winton1783
1786F Winton1792
1795Joseph Martin1816
1819John Body1831
1851George Fears1851
1882Frances Field1887
1899Henry Scrase1903
1915Frank Gunn1924
1930Eric Brickell1938

In 1264 Richard de Keynes held of the Earl of Leicester 2½ fees in Selmeston, Itford and Horsted Keynes. In 1276 Richard acknowledged Selmeston Manor to belong to Roger de Lewkenor and his wife Joan, in exchange for an annual rent of 11 marks for life. Roger and Joan and her heirs were to be quit of the rent after Roger's death. This suggests that Joan Lewkenor was the daughter of Richard de Keynes and Itford, which certainly follows the same descent as Selmeston, passed to the Lewkenor family by the same route. Itford remained with the family and, in 1401, another Roger de Lewknor was recorded as holding of the Honour of Leicester the lands of Selmeston, Itford, Horsted Keynes, Lyndale and Tilton. Itford subsequently passed to the Kelleway family and in 1566 Francis Kelleway sold the manor to Roger Gratewick of Sullington, West Sussex. He, in 1570, left it in his will to his son Roger, then of Tortington in West Sussex.

It was this Roger who rebuilt Itford Manor House (later the farmhouse) in 1580. Roger left Itford in his will of 1596 to his brother Philip and Phillip's son Roger. Philip was described as "of Beddingham" which suggests he was living at Itford. Roger, the son, pre-deceased his father Phillip and Itford passed to his sister Anne, wife of Hugh Keate, who sold it to Sir William Gratewicke of Tortington in 1609.Sir William willed Itford to his son Edward in 1613 and he, in turn, left it to his daughters Frances and Mary in 1625/6. They both died young and Itford passed to their mother, Frances, who took Lyming Dickenson as her second husband. Frances transferred Itford to John Coell and Richard Pagett the younger in 1656.

(The authors of this website would like to thank Christopher Whittick for his permission to reproduce this part of his research).

Itford Farm was still owned by a man named Padget in 1780 and occupied by Aaron Winton. The same owners and occupiers were recorded on the Beddingham land tax assessment for that year for Asham Farm, and the ownership and tenancy of the two farms appears to have been combined into the twentieth century. By 1790 the ownership had passed to William Russell and the occupier in 1792 was Joseph Martin.

A map of Itford and Asham Farms in 1790 by Thomas Budgen shows that Itford Farm comprised 197acres 0 roods and 8 perches of arable and marsh land, and 103 acres 0 roods and 6 perches of sheep down, making a total of 300 acres 0 roods and 14 perches (ref ESROEast Sussex Records Office/AMS 4665).

In 1831 John Hoper, a Lewes solicitor, owned both of the farms which were occupied by John Body.

In 1845 George Hoper of East Grinstead, left the manors of Asham and Itford to his brother Henry Hoper with a rent charge of £450 from these and other properties to be paid to George's widow Louisa Hoper.

The 1851 census of Beddingham shows Itford Farm House was occupied by George Fears, aged 34, an agricultural labourer and bailiff, born in Arlington; his wife Rhoda, 33, born in Pevensey; and their children Susannah, 6, born in Willingdon, and Catherine, 4, born in East Dean.

In a valuation book of 1872 Itford Farm was occupied by William Verrall, farmer. On 29 September 1924, Asham Farm, part of the Itford and Asham Estate in Beddingham was sold by Kate Anna Hoper to Frank Gunn of Asham House, farmer, thus separating the ownership of the two farms for the first time since at least 1780. A map of that year shows the extent of both farms. On 30 Mar 1925, part of Itford Farm, was sold by Kate Anna Hoper, widow, to Herbert Haddon Frowd of Gibraltar Farm, Firle (ref ESROEast Sussex Records Office/BMW A/14/11/52), who, in turn, on 29 September 1926 leased part of Itford Farm to Brig-Gen Fitzjames Mains Edwards, then of Asham House. On 13 May 1927, the same part of Itford Farm was leased by Herbert Haddon Frowd to Colonel Foulkes, probably of the Alpha Cement Co.

The remainder of Itford Farm was purchased by the Glyndeborne Estate by 1928 and rented to a man named Haynes from 1929-1931.

Other pages for this property:  



Listed under the Topic: Farming

Creative Commons Licence

glynde.info/history by Andrew Lusted & Chris Whitmore is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://glynde.info/history/contact.php