Peaceful pastoral and delightful
by Robin Gill
Most of New Malden was built on farmland, and a large percentage of this land belonged to Earl Spencer. He sold a vast acreage to the Duke Of Cambridge in the 1830s, including Hoppingwood Farm, which in 1837 covered 255 acres.
We mentioned before that Richard Chaundy had taken over the running of the farm in 1827 and he stayed there until 1857. The farmhouse itself was large and covered over two acres with the remainder of the farm split between meadow and arable land. The building which was demolished in the 1920s, stood between where the houses of Rosebery Avenue and Orchard Avenue were built and was approached by a track from what is now Cambridge Avenue. The construction of the railway embankment in the 1830s carrying trains from London to Woking had cut off some of the farmland so a small bridge (now connecting Alric and Dukes Avenues) was built to enable the farmer to reach the remainder of his land.
Richard lived on the farm with his wife and four adult children, together with four farm labourers, although he employed another ten men to work on the farm. He retired from the farm in 1857 moving to Malden, and then to the Fairfield in Kingston (Seymour Place) where he died in 1864 aged 78.
His place as tenant farmer had been taken by James Mitchell from Perth in Scotland. For many years during the summer holidays the farm now played host to the children of the Eden Street Congregational Schools in Kingston as the venue for their annual picnic and sports. Lunch time saw upwards of 300 children, together with around seventy supervising adults arrive at the farm in assorted wagons and vans. The vehicles were decorated by the children with various greenery, flags and banners. The children were soon taking part in their favourite games. Common ones such as football, cricket, and running, but also trap-ball, Turk’s Head, and trying to hit cocoanuts suspended from the trees. Some of the children watched in amazement as one of the teachers set a hot air balloon into the sky.
Before sitting down in a meadow to a meal of plum cake, buns, bread and butter, and tea, the children all sang the John Milton hymn “Let Us With A Gladsome Mind”. After tea there were more games, before a bell was rung at seven o’clock indicating that the children should assemble around the main wagon, which also performed as a stage. After songs including God Bless The Prince Of Wales, and God save The Queen, three cheers were given for Mr and Mrs Mitchell plus many others who had made the day possible.
The wagons were loaded for the return trip, and each child was given a piece of cake or a bun for later. The party made their weary way home along the London Road, arriving back at Eden Street at nine o’clock.
Mr Mitchell retired from farming in September 1866, and moved to Deptford in Kent where he died in 1874 aged 79. This brought the Horlick family to the farm. William, the father was to keep the farm from 1869 through to 1890 when he died aged 73, and the business was passed to his two sons Robert and Albert who ran the farm until the partnership ended in September 1908. It seems that sometime around the First World War steps were taken to sell the farmland for building purposes with the first houses appearing in Hoppingwood and Alric Avenues.
During the 1870s the Horlicks became locally famous for the Harvest Homes they used to give in September for the labourers and their families. These were held in a large barn close to the farmhouse which was bedecked with flowers, shrubs, and evergreens, and huge horned lanterns suspended from the old beams, apples, pears, grapes, and hops hanging from the rafters, all decorated by Mrs Horlick, her daughter Emma , and the servants. Tables had been erected, and festivities started after grace, then the home brewed beer was carried in in large four gallon jugs. Great pyramids of roast and boiled beef, veal, and mutton, together with meat pies and vegetables, were served, followed by plum puddings and pastries.
Songs erupted from the happy crowd “The Old Ploughman’s Song”, and another about a young maid. Some of the songs were around forty verses long, but so well known among the men that no verse was forgotten.
The vicar of the recently established Holy Trinity Church, Dr Dicksee, led the thanks to God for the repast, and thanked Mr Horlick for inviting them all to his table, wishing him health and prosperity. The health of the Queen and the Duke Of Cambridge (the owner of the farm) were drunk. Pipes were given out and smoked, the smell filling the barn, and the men partly obscured behind the resultant clouds of tobacco smoke. Mr Horlick responded by thanking his workers and encouraging them not to join the newly formed National Agricultural Labourers Union feeling they would be throwing their money away.
The passing of William Horlick in 1890 saw the passing of the tradition of Harvest Homes. But there was one more event that happened at Hoppingwood Farm that deserves a place in the history books. In 1895 a tradition (which still occurs today) began in the law profession for members of the legal field. This was the Bar Point To Point Horse Race, an annual event, where the first venue was Hoppingwood. The meeting announced in March was open to judges, barristers, and law students, and came about during discussions during early morning rides in Rotten Row
Hyde Park.
Point to point races are thought to have originated in Ireland, where the races were run in open country initially between two church steeples. The steeples were later replaced by flags on top of poles. This also explains the use of the term “steeplechase” to describe this type of race.
The race over the land of Hoppingwood Farm took place on Wednesday April 10th at four o’clock over a distance of three miles, and was described by the newspapers as the most distinguished meeting on record, it was suggested that interested parties catch the 3.20pm train from Waterloo, and an extra saloon car would be attached to the locomotive for the benefit of spectators and participants.
The course had been laid out two nights before by Sir Alfred Lawrence, then not even a QC, but in later life to become the Lord Chief Justice Of England. Entertainment was provided by a group of wandering minstrels, and the girls giving out race cards.
One of the spectators was the Prime Minister at the time Lord Rosebery, who travelled from his home in Epsom (The Durdans). The Earl was keen on all sports especially horse racing, and he owned three Derby winners. Rosebery Avenue is named after this distinguished gentleman. Orchard Avenue is not named after a group of fruit bearing trees, but takes its name from the family the young Horlick daughter (Emma) married into back in 1874. Edmund Larken Orchard was another local farmer in the Malden area.
On the day of the race the weather was fine, and representatives of the press and public swelled a substantial crowd, including many Sirs, Honourables, and Justices. It was decided to split the horses into two races (heavyweights over twelve stone, and lightweights). Entrance fee was two sovereigns, and a silver cup would be awarded to the winner of each race.
The official starter was Mr Horlick, and the judge was Mr Justice Grantham. The stewards included The Lord Chief Justice of England, The Attorney General, and The Solicitor General. The first race was won by Mr A Gee riding Defiance. The win was fortunate as the long-time leader Lady Hilda accidently left the marked-out course enabling Mr Gee to come through. The race was enlivened by the appearance of a hare half way through the proceedings rushing across the field.
The heavyweight race was won by Corunna owned by Alfred Lyttleton who apart from being a QC and a politician, was an all-round sportsman; the first to be capped by England at both football and cricket. The horse was ridden by Herbert Godsal. This race was strongly marred by the deaths of two horses where a ditch had to be jumped onto the road. One horse broke its neck, and brought down two others, one of which broke it’s back. From the description of the race, it is difficult to work out the course. The horses had to jump water (Beverley Brook?) and onto the road (Coombe Road?) but there is little else to tell us the route rider and horse took. It is just described as fair hunting country.
Afterwards, about a hundred guests were entertained by Mr Horlick at the farmhouse, cementing the Horlicks reputation for hospitality. Sadly by 1920, the Horlicks and the farm had disappeared, sold by sons of the Duke Of Cambridge, and built over with the insatiable need for houses.
NB: This Hoppingwood Farm is not to be confused with Hoppingwood Farm which stands off Robin Hood Way SW20. This was originally Robin Hood Farm, and changed its name after the demise of the original Hoppingwood property.
by Robin Gill
Most of New Malden was built on farmland, and a large percentage of this land belonged to Earl Spencer. He sold a vast acreage to the Duke Of Cambridge in the 1830s, including Hoppingwood Farm, which in 1837 covered 255 acres.
We mentioned before that Richard Chaundy had taken over the running of the farm in 1827 and he stayed there until 1857. The farmhouse itself was large and covered over two acres with the remainder of the farm split between meadow and arable land. The building which was demolished in the 1920s, stood between where the houses of Rosebery Avenue and Orchard Avenue were built and was approached by a track from what is now Cambridge Avenue. The construction of the railway embankment in the 1830s carrying trains from London to Woking had cut off some of the farmland so a small bridge (now connecting Alric and Dukes Avenues) was built to enable the farmer to reach the remainder of his land.
Richard lived on the farm with his wife and four adult children, together with four farm labourers, although he employed another ten men to work on the farm. He retired from the farm in 1857 moving to Malden, and then to the Fairfield in Kingston (Seymour Place) where he died in 1864 aged 78.
His place as tenant farmer had been taken by James Mitchell from Perth in Scotland. For many years during the summer holidays the farm now played host to the children of the Eden Street Congregational Schools in Kingston as the venue for their annual picnic and sports. Lunch time saw upwards of 300 children, together with around seventy supervising adults arrive at the farm in assorted wagons and vans. The vehicles were decorated by the children with various greenery, flags and banners. The children were soon taking part in their favourite games. Common ones such as football, cricket, and running, but also trap-ball, Turk’s Head, and trying to hit cocoanuts suspended from the trees. Some of the children watched in amazement as one of the teachers set a hot air balloon into the sky.
Before sitting down in a meadow to a meal of plum cake, buns, bread and butter, and tea, the children all sang the John Milton hymn “Let Us With A Gladsome Mind”. After tea there were more games, before a bell was rung at seven o’clock indicating that the children should assemble around the main wagon, which also performed as a stage. After songs including God Bless The Prince Of Wales, and God save The Queen, three cheers were given for Mr and Mrs Mitchell plus many others who had made the day possible.
The wagons were loaded for the return trip, and each child was given a piece of cake or a bun for later. The party made their weary way home along the London Road, arriving back at Eden Street at nine o’clock.
Mr Mitchell retired from farming in September 1866, and moved to Deptford in Kent where he died in 1874 aged 79. This brought the Horlick family to the farm. William, the father was to keep the farm from 1869 through to 1890 when he died aged 73, and the business was passed to his two sons Robert and Albert who ran the farm until the partnership ended in September 1908. It seems that sometime around the First World War steps were taken to sell the farmland for building purposes with the first houses appearing in Hoppingwood and Alric Avenues.
During the 1870s the Horlicks became locally famous for the Harvest Homes they used to give in September for the labourers and their families. These were held in a large barn close to the farmhouse which was bedecked with flowers, shrubs, and evergreens, and huge horned lanterns suspended from the old beams, apples, pears, grapes, and hops hanging from the rafters, all decorated by Mrs Horlick, her daughter Emma , and the servants. Tables had been erected, and festivities started after grace, then the home brewed beer was carried in in large four gallon jugs. Great pyramids of roast and boiled beef, veal, and mutton, together with meat pies and vegetables, were served, followed by plum puddings and pastries.
Songs erupted from the happy crowd “The Old Ploughman’s Song”, and another about a young maid. Some of the songs were around forty verses long, but so well known among the men that no verse was forgotten.
The vicar of the recently established Holy Trinity Church, Dr Dicksee, led the thanks to God for the repast, and thanked Mr Horlick for inviting them all to his table, wishing him health and prosperity. The health of the Queen and the Duke Of Cambridge (the owner of the farm) were drunk. Pipes were given out and smoked, the smell filling the barn, and the men partly obscured behind the resultant clouds of tobacco smoke. Mr Horlick responded by thanking his workers and encouraging them not to join the newly formed National Agricultural Labourers Union feeling they would be throwing their money away.
The passing of William Horlick in 1890 saw the passing of the tradition of Harvest Homes. But there was one more event that happened at Hoppingwood Farm that deserves a place in the history books. In 1895 a tradition (which still occurs today) began in the law profession for members of the legal field. This was the Bar Point To Point Horse Race, an annual event, where the first venue was Hoppingwood. The meeting announced in March was open to judges, barristers, and law students, and came about during discussions during early morning rides in Rotten Row
Hyde Park.
Point to point races are thought to have originated in Ireland, where the races were run in open country initially between two church steeples. The steeples were later replaced by flags on top of poles. This also explains the use of the term “steeplechase” to describe this type of race.
The race over the land of Hoppingwood Farm took place on Wednesday April 10th at four o’clock over a distance of three miles, and was described by the newspapers as the most distinguished meeting on record, it was suggested that interested parties catch the 3.20pm train from Waterloo, and an extra saloon car would be attached to the locomotive for the benefit of spectators and participants.
The course had been laid out two nights before by Sir Alfred Lawrence, then not even a QC, but in later life to become the Lord Chief Justice Of England. Entertainment was provided by a group of wandering minstrels, and the girls giving out race cards.
One of the spectators was the Prime Minister at the time Lord Rosebery, who travelled from his home in Epsom (The Durdans). The Earl was keen on all sports especially horse racing, and he owned three Derby winners. Rosebery Avenue is named after this distinguished gentleman. Orchard Avenue is not named after a group of fruit bearing trees, but takes its name from the family the young Horlick daughter (Emma) married into back in 1874. Edmund Larken Orchard was another local farmer in the Malden area.
On the day of the race the weather was fine, and representatives of the press and public swelled a substantial crowd, including many Sirs, Honourables, and Justices. It was decided to split the horses into two races (heavyweights over twelve stone, and lightweights). Entrance fee was two sovereigns, and a silver cup would be awarded to the winner of each race.
The official starter was Mr Horlick, and the judge was Mr Justice Grantham. The stewards included The Lord Chief Justice of England, The Attorney General, and The Solicitor General. The first race was won by Mr A Gee riding Defiance. The win was fortunate as the long-time leader Lady Hilda accidently left the marked-out course enabling Mr Gee to come through. The race was enlivened by the appearance of a hare half way through the proceedings rushing across the field.
The heavyweight race was won by Corunna owned by Alfred Lyttleton who apart from being a QC and a politician, was an all-round sportsman; the first to be capped by England at both football and cricket. The horse was ridden by Herbert Godsal. This race was strongly marred by the deaths of two horses where a ditch had to be jumped onto the road. One horse broke its neck, and brought down two others, one of which broke it’s back. From the description of the race, it is difficult to work out the course. The horses had to jump water (Beverley Brook?) and onto the road (Coombe Road?) but there is little else to tell us the route rider and horse took. It is just described as fair hunting country.
Afterwards, about a hundred guests were entertained by Mr Horlick at the farmhouse, cementing the Horlicks reputation for hospitality. Sadly by 1920, the Horlicks and the farm had disappeared, sold by sons of the Duke Of Cambridge, and built over with the insatiable need for houses.
NB: This Hoppingwood Farm is not to be confused with Hoppingwood Farm which stands off Robin Hood Way SW20. This was originally Robin Hood Farm, and changed its name after the demise of the original Hoppingwood property.
