Template:Slough Farm
Slough Farm
The Sun Insurance Fire Mark was issued to the owner of Slough Farm, Elizabeth Barwick of Clare Hill, South Mimms, Hertfordshire, on 24th April 1792, when James Scott was the tenant farmer. According to this policy the farmhouse was built of brick and timber and tiled and valued at £200. There was a barn and cowhouse valued at £100; a stable and carthouse at £60; another barn at £70; a timber and tiled granary at £30; two brick and timber tiled cottages at £30 each, and a shed and a barn in a nearby field valued at £10 and £60 respectively. Except where noted, all these buildings were thatched.
The farmland lies either side of Telegraph Lane extending up the southern flanks of Telegraph Hill. Today it comprises approximately 100 acres, but was rather larger thirty years ago when the western part of the farm was developed as a council housing estate comprising 116 houses of 10 different types for 400 to 500 people — what is now The Roundway area.
Since 1801 the farm has been owned by the Speer (Litchfield) family who acquired the Manor of Weston Green at that time. Past tenants have included: Henry Stent (recorded as tenant in 1874 and 1926) and John Keen (1938), who also ran a dairy at No. 5 High Street for several years, while Edward Telling became the tenant in 1945. In earlier times the farm was devoted mainly to dairy cattle, but later it concentrated on pig-rearing, while the greater part of the land was used for horse-grazing and the growing of hay for privately-owned horses that it could stable.
