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A TALE OF FOUR FARMS

From 1705 to 1942 seven generations of Sulstons were farmers in a few square miles of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire

From 1705 to 1791 in Blackthorn

William Selstone, his son and grandson all farmed in Blackthorn in Oxfordshire. William the elder had arrived in the hamlet from North Berkshire or West Oxfordshire. In 1705, he married Anne Wakelynne, who had been born in Blackthorn. We know from the enclosure award of 1776 that the family had a homestead which abutted the open green in the centre of the village. They were given tenure of an area of land to the east and south of their house and the total acreage that they farmed would have been between two and five acres. The land was owned by Sir Gregory Page Turner. William's son and grandson in their turn became churchwardens of St Mary's Church in Ambrosden and they had responsibility for Blackthorn which did not have a church of its own. The hamlet was a poor relation of Ambrosden and the churchwardens would have been involved in such tasks as allocating resources to the needy, chastising the unruly and resolving paternity issues.

View across the fields in the centre of the hamlet of Blackthorn & blackthorn blossom

Blackthorn hamlet Blackthorn Blossom

 

From 1791 to the 1930's in Piddington at Cowleys Farm

William Selstone's grandson was called William Sulstone. He moved from Blackthorn to Piddington with his wife Mary and family and by 1791 he was an overseer in the village. In 1798, William still had an interest in the Blackthorn land which he was renting to his son in law, but in Piddington he was farming a much larger acreage which was owned by the Page Turner family. William and Mary had three children who survived into adulthood and their younger son John took over the farm from his parents. In 1850, at the time of the Tithe Survey, John Sulston was farming 165 acres at Cowleys Farm, paying an annual rent to Mr Turner of £17 4s. [Equivalent to £225 in 1998 values.] John lived at this farm with his second wife Hannah and they raised their nine children here. Their youngest son was Andrew who married Sarah Freeman in 1844. Her family lived in the farm across the road. Andrew and Sarah had eleven children and remained on the Sulston family farm. Andrew died in 1906 and the farm seems to have been taken over by his grandson John Andrew Sulston who was living here in 1913 at the time of the Valuation Survey. He paid a yearly rent of £100 to Mr F A Page Turner for the 157 acres of Cowleys Farm. By 1941, the land had passed away from the Sulston family.

Cowleys Farm at Piddington farmed by five generations of Sulstons
Cowleys farmhouse

 

In the mid 1800's in Piddington at Chilling Place Farm

Three sons of John Sulston of Cowleys Farm were farmers here at different times - Thomas from about 1835 to 1852, Andrew in 1854 and William in the 1870's.

Thomas lived here with his first wife Caroline, who died in 1839 a few months after the death of their new born son. Thomas continued to farm here, living with his sister Ann as housekeeper. He married Anne Hunt in 1850 and their first two children were born at Chilling Place Farm. The family moved to the farm in Boarstall in about 1853.

 

From 1793 to 1942 in Boarstall (Sulston and Hunt families)

Thomas Sulston married Anne Hunt in 1850 and they moved from Chilling Place in 1853 to take over the tenancy of the village farm in Boarstall. This farm had been farmed by Anne's family since 1793 when her grandfather William Hunt had moved from Cumnor in Berkshire with his wife Hannah and four young children. In 1798, it is recorded in the Posse Comitatus for Bucks that William owned four horses and one wagon in Boarstall and it is presumed that he was renting the Boarstall farm from Sir John Aubrey who was the local landowner. In the Tithe Survey of 1850, his son William Hunt was farming the same 139 acres, renting the land from Sir Thomas Digby Aubrey for an annual rent of £28 12s . The farm was mainly grass with 43 acres of arable. William Hunt junior was Anne's father and he continued to live at the farm until his death.
Thomas and Anne brought up their family at Boarstall and the farm passed to their two youngest sons when Anne died in 1903. In 1913, the Valuation Survey shows 163 acres occupied by Aubrey and Ernest Sulstone, who paid an annual rent of £209 to the landowner who was Mr L Aubrey Fletcher . In September 1941, there was a National Farm Survey aimed at increasing the supply of wartime food and the records show that Aubrey Sulston was the tenant occupier and his son Ronald was working with him on the farm. Aubrey died in October 1941 and the farm passed out of the Sulston/Hunt family after 150 years of continuous occupation.

The farmhouse in Boarstall (now converted to a private house)

farmhouse in Boarstall

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