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Old Houses - New House Farm

Picture of New House Farm, Hartley/New Ash Green, 1901

Picture of New House Farm in 1901 and map showing location of farm

Map of New House Farm

Once one of Hartley's larger farms, most of the fields that made up this farm and the site of the house in Church Road, now lie under the houses of New Ash Green.  In addition Quakers Close, Hottsfield and Copse Side were all part of Hottsfield, which had belonged to the farm since Thomas Burrows of Longfield (d 1656) purchased it from John and Jane Howell in 1617.

New House Farm in its modern form is an amalgam of two holdings purchased by the Burrowes family.  Thomas Burrow bought a farm and 35 acres from John Northash in 1583, and in 1622 the family acquired another 72 acres (roughly equivalent to Northfield) from Richard Overy.  The Overy's had purchased their holding from Thomas Tappars in 1555.  In 1656 the farm was rented out to one Thomas Letchford.

It is likely that part of the farm near Church Road was part of a 45 acre farm owned by the Blodiner family in the c13th, some 14 acres of which was inherited by John Eylnoth in about 1288.

The Northahses were an old Hartley family, although their surname betrays their origins.  A John Northash is Hartley's oldest known churchwarden (1433), and anther John Northash left his land in the parish to his son Richard in 1506. The earliest mention of the Overys at Hartley is the John Overy who took minor holy orders in 1366.  However by the c16th they were Hartley's biggest landowners - Fairby, Woodins, Mintmakers, Forge Cottage and Hartley Cottage all belonged to them.

The Burrowes hailed from Longfield but had gradually expanded their landholdings in the 17th century to include land at Ash and Darenth.  Sometime between 1663 and 1671 the family moved to New House Farm, which may have been rebuilt at the time.

A good description of the farm can be gleaned from the probate inventory of James Burrowes (d 1695, he had married Margaret Young, daughter of the owner of Fairby).  It mentions 7 rooms in the house as well as a brew house and barn (destroyed by fire in 1938).  The farm was mainly arable with wheat as the main crop.  James also possessed 6 cattle, 1 horse, 5 sheep and 4 pigs - a low figure which suggests he probably had given most to his family already.

He was succeeded by his son James (d 1729), who is commemorated by the large memorial in the nave of Hartley Church.

In the 18th century New House Farm descended to William Selby, who had married Elizabeth Burrowes.  She outlived her husband and left the estate in 1790 to Sarah Iffield, who had married John Tasker.  The Taskers were well known Dartford brewers, and perhaps it is not too fanciful to assume that some of the hops from the farm would have found their way into Tasker's "Triple X" ale.  They were not totally unconnected with the area, for the Taskers had bought land in Ash and Longfield 60 years previously and John's grandfather was married at Hartley Church in 1726.

John's son, John, who inherited the estate was a director of the Dartford Gas Company and a noted benefactor.  The brewery owned many pubs including the Chequers at Crockenhill, but the Hartley pubs were in the hands of their rivals.  The Taskers owned New House until the 1840s, when they were succeeded by Thomas Bradley, the Forrests and Miss E M Forbes and George Day (of North Ash Farm).  New House Farm, and the rest of the North Ash Estate was put up for auction in 1926 by Mr Day.  As well as a "superior farm house" the estate boasted stables, bullock shed, barn, wagon sheds, kiln oast and granary and the pair of cottages called "New Hayes Cottages".  The particulars stated "special attention is drawn to the rapid building developments adjoining this lot, and to the fact that field No. 112 (Northfield, Farm Holt, Caling Croft etc) is now practically the only building site left, and with its frontage of 1,500 feet this portion could readily be sold off without detriment to the farm."  In 1941 New House belonged to Messrs Ansell and Hunt of Romford.

The Burrowes were the last owner occupiers of the farm, which for over 200 years was farmed by a succession of tenants.  One, Joseph Oliver, was tenant here for over 50 years in the 18th century.  Tenants during the last century included William Treadwell of Fairby; and Thomas Gambriel, who according to the 1891 census employed a governess for his two eldest daughters, and a nurse maid for their 7 month old baby.  In the early 20th century the Glover family were bailiffs here before moving to Hartley Bottom Farm in 1913.

When the War Agriculture Executive visited in 1941, they were impressed with the farmer, Marwood Fulford, giving him an "A" grade.  Like the farm of two centuries earlier it was mainly arable, growing a variety of grains and fodder crops as well as keeping a few pigs and cows.  To help the war effort, some grass fields were ploughed up including the site of the future Farm Holt.  There is evidence that the farmland was good quality, for before the war more demanding crops such as cabbages and strawberries were grown on the land later called Northfield.

The owners Ansell and Hunt applied for planning permission to build on New House and North Ash Farms in 1960, but this was refused by Dartford Rural District Council.  Mr and Mrs Fulford continued to live here until 1961; on account of their age, they decided not to take up an offer to buy.  Instead the land was bought by Span Developments who renewed the planning application in 1963.  This too was refused by the council and planning inspector, but this was overturned on appeal by the then Secretary of State for the Environment, Richard Crossman.  The farm house and other buildings were demolished, but part of the land was still farmed until 2001.