•  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•  1940: Dunkirk evacuation•  1941: Japanese attack Pearl Harbour•  1944: "D-Day" landings in France•  1945: End of 2nd World War•  1946: USA tests atom bomb at Bikini Island•  1947: Sound Barrier broken•  1948: NHS founded•  1950: Korean War starts•  1951: Suez "Crisis"•  1953: Queen Elizabeth II crowned•  1954: Bannister runs 1st 4 minute mile•  1955: ITV starts broadcasting•  1955: Glynde Place opened to the public•  1957: 1st dog in space•  1958: Gatwick Airport opened•  1959: M1, the 1st motoway, opened•  1961: 1st man in space•  1963: US President Kennedy assassinated•  1965: Post Office Tower opened•  1966: England win World Cup•  1967: 1st heart transplant•  1968: Martin Luther King assassinated•  1969: 1st men on the moon•  1970: North Sea Oil discovered•  1971: Decimal coins introduced•  1972: "Bloody Sunday", 13 killed in Derry•  1974: US President Nixon resigned•  1976: Harold Wilson resigned as PM•  1978: 1st "Test Tube" baby born•  1979: Margaret Thatcher elected, UK's 1st woman PM•  1981: Prince Charles married Lady Di•  1982: Falklands War•  1984: Miners' Strike starts•  1985: Live Aid concert•  1987: Hurricane lashes South Coast•  1987: "Black Monday" Stock Market crash
Station Farm: 1890-2024
A sketch plan of the buildings to be erected on Station Farm, Beddingham, c 1890.
A sketch plan of the buildings to be erected on Station Farm, Beddingham, c 1890.
Thatched ricks at Station Farm yard in the mid 1930s, a flock of recently sheared Southdown sheep in the foreground.
Thatched ricks at Station Farm yard in the mid 1930s, a flock of recently sheared Southdown sheep in the foreground.
A Freeman family group in the yard at Station Farm, c1930.
A Freeman family group in the yard at Station Farm, c1930.
A worker for Freeman Brothers poses for the camera opposite Spring Gardens, c1920. Sussex Terrace can be seen on the hill in the background.
A worker for Freeman Brothers poses for the camera opposite Spring Gardens, c1920. Sussex Terrace can be seen on the hill in the background.
Abandoned and neglected buildings at Station Farm, February 2014
Abandoned and neglected buildings at Station Farm, February 2014
Owner
FromNameUntil
1890Glynde Estates?
Occupier
FromNameUntil
1890Henry Wheeler1896
1896George Freeman1929
1929Freeman Brothers1980
1980Julian Freeman1990
1990Gary Baldock1995

This is one of the lost farms of Beddingham. Although all of the farm land was always located in Beddingham parish it was often referred to as Station Farm, Glynde.

Henry Wheeler appears to have been the first tenant of this farm in 1890, paying an annual rent of £90. He remained at the farm until 1896, when he moved to become tenant at Brigdens Farm.

In 1896 George Freeman took over the tenancy at £100 a year, and Freeman also became tenant of Blackcap Farm from 11 October 1907, paying an extra £75 annually. Lacking a farmhouse, numbers 1 and 2 Trevor Gardens became the residence of the tenant of Station Farm.

In May 1916, at the Tribunal appointed for the Chailey Rural District under the Military Service Act, on the application of George Freeman, conditional exemption from war service was granted to Frederick Tuppen of Toy Farm, Joseph Lister of Glynde, and Richard Solomon Freeman of Blackcap Farm.

In 1924 George gained third prize for 50 regular draft ewes from flocks of under 350 ewes at the Lewes Sheep Sale but later that year he quit Blackcap Farm when, in the Sussex Express, 17 October 1924, Messrs J R Thornton and Co advertised:

Early in November – Station Farm, Glynde (Removed for convenience of sale from Blackcap Farm, Beddingham). Sale of Live and Dead Farming Stock for Mr G Freeman (quitting).

In 1929 George Freeman handed Station Farm over to his three sons, George, Dick and Harry, who ran the farm as Freeman Brothers. However, George, the father, kept working on the farm and was still involved with it in 1945. They kept a flock of Southdown sheep (registered flock number 956) and in September 1934 they sold 25 ewe lambs at 25 shillings each.

They still kept Southdowns in 1940, as they sold 50 wether lambs to John Churchman at 30s and 40 mixed lambs to Mr Jefford at 23s 6d each at Haywards Heath in September; and a further 20 draft Southdown ewes to W G Passmore at 30s 6d each as well as two rams at 2 guineas each to Mr Howse at Hayward’s Heath market in October.

At the Laughton and District Agricultural Society’s first annual ploughing match and root show at Ringmer in October 1926, G Freeman, Station Farm, was awarded 40 shillings for the best acre of swedes.

As late as 1946 the Freeman brothers advertised in the Sussex Express of 17 May: Carter and son wanted; general farm work; cottage in village, electric light – Freeman Bros, Station Farm, Glynde.

At this date the farm comprised the buildings next to 1-6 Trevor Gardens and the field that ran as far as Spring Gardens; the field opposite, which was used for growing barley; fields between the railway line and Glynde Reach; meadow south of the railway line; and grazing on Beddingham Hill.

The three Freeman brothers died in the late 1970s and early 1980s and the tenancy of the farm passed to Julian Freeman, son of George. Gary Baldock, who lived at 12 Beddingham Gardens and had started as a farm boy for the Freeman Brothers in the 1960s, ran the farm for him and eventually went into partnership with Viscount Hampden to run the farm. Gary kept free range chickens and ducks on the farm, and a pet pig was a great favourite with anybody, especially children, who walked past the farmyard.

However, the partnership was discontinued and the farm buildings have been disused ever since, falling into a derelict state.





Listed under the Topic: Farming

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