SO 99243 67035

Copyholt Ln, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire B60 3BE, UK

Location Now

Pre-New Town Location

Information about this Farm:

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The Bromsgrove, Droitwich and Redditch Messenger – Saturday 7th August 1880

Bentley House Farm – Growing Crops – Sold by Auction

BENTLEY HOUSE FARM was, until around 1840, the Manor House of Bentley and the hub of the Bentley Estate. There in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries had lived members of the Pauncefoot family, and then, for over 200 years from 1630 to 1838 members of the Cookes family who followed as Lords of the Manor. After Richard Hemming bought the Manor in 1838, he extended Bentley Lodge to become the new Manor House and Bentley House then became one of the home farms. Farm tenants in the late 19th century and early 20th century were Francis Drury, who died aged 88 in 1904, and his son Henry Drury.

Parts of the farmhouse and farm buildings are quite old. Attached to the farmhouse is the old two-storey granary building now converted into two flats. The ground floor was known as the millhouse, where grain was processed for animal feed. The granary above was reached by exterior stone steps which remain in situ. Below the steps is a hollow compartment with a little low entrance, and this is believed to have served as a kennel for a dog acting as a deterrent to thieves and rats. The other old building alongside the farmyard, dating back to the seventeenth century (a stone bearing the date 1649 was found when a small extension was demolished some time ago) contained stables and cowsheds, the latter being now used as stables rented by riders for their horses or ponies,

Source: A Hundred Years In Tardebigge – The Revd Alan White

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