Collection: Commerce
Level: Series
RefNo: C/F
Title: C Farms
Extent: 22 boxes
Dates: 1926-1996

Description: Commercial records of the Dartington Hall Trust Farms Department, and Dartington Hall Farms Limited, covering the reorganisation, management and development of Dartington Hall farms together with the purchase and sale of additional farms.

Subjects include: finance; general farming activities; farm policy and committees; farm management and managers including C F Nielsen, F U Crook, Ronald Hawtin, and Francis Huntington; the establishment of Dartington Hall Farms Limited; the development and activities of a number of farms, including amongst others, Barton Farm, Old Parsonage Farm, Yelland Farm, Bulkamore Farm, Staverton Bridge Farm, Copland Farm, Droridge Farm, and Pelyne Farm; and the Trust's involvement in a variety of projects and trusts including Howard Milk Bars Ltd, Dartington Hall Dairy, Dartington Foods, Symons Tree Nursery, alternative land use and organic farming, mini-holdings, shared farming, Rattery Farm and the Yarner Trust.

History: Traditionally, the Dartington Hall estate had included about nine tenant farms lying between Totnes and Rattery, Devon. With the break up of the estate after WWI, the Champernowne family had sold off land and cottages with the exception of a farm at Shinners Bridge and the Barton or home farm, which together formed the Dartington Hall estate when it was purchased in 1925. Beginning in 1926 the founding trustees began extending the estate by buying back many of the farms which had been part of the historical Dartington fiefdom.

The Farms Department was set up as an experimental unit of Dartington Hall Ltd, to develop the farms along contemporary notions of scientific agriculture, to achieve economic stability, increase returns, and offer a model for farming techniques and land management in Devon. Shinners Bridge Farm was combined with land surrounding Dartington Church and Parsonage purchased from the Martin family to form the Old Parsonage Farm. Old Parsonage Farm was equipped with new buildings and a farmhouse designed by Oswald Milne. Ancient hedges were removed to enable Dartington's imported tractors to farm a large field that came to be known as Sneezle's Prairie (after C F Nielsen, the farm manager who Leonard Elmhirst 'imported' from Denmark).

In 1937, Frank Crook, the original tenant of the mixed holding Barton Farm, was given responsibility of both Old Parsonage dairy farm, and Barton Farm. He was succeeded in 1945 by Ronald Hawtin. In 1974 Francis Huntington was appointed as Director of Dartington Hall Farms Ltd.

Another smaller farm was established at Foxhole, known as School Farm, it served as an educational enterprise and supplied the Dartington Hall School kitchen with milk and other farm produce.

The farms were aided by the Trust's Laboratory and Agricultural Economics Departments. Leonard Elmhirst and Jock Currie were enthusiastic about the 'dual purpose' South Devon cattle which had been bred for centuries for dairy and beef.

Other farms purchased by Dartington Hall Trust included Clifford Farm, a moorland farm purchased from Lord Hambledon in 1928. H and N Trope were appointed as managers in 1930 and the main house was converted into a guest house. The farm consisted mainly of pigs, a few poultry, cows, bees and 105 acres of woodland. In 1935 the Tropes moved to Yelland Farm to act as managers of the experimental piggery which the architect William Lescaze was asked to design. Copland Farm was purchased in 1964. Staverton Bridge Farm was purchased in 1953 from Harold Michelmore. In the 1960's the old farmhouse and some buildings were replaced by a new bungalow and set of farm buildings. In 1972, the Trust conveyed the farm to the Solar Quest Trust Company Limited. Dittisham and Elberry Farms were purchased to be developed as building estates by Staverton Builders in the 1930s. Pelyne Farm was offered in 1974 as a gift to The Dartington Hall Trust, and in 1983 was in turn given to the Plymouth YMCA. With the exception of Parsonage and Yarner Farms, the remainder were sold in the early 1980s.

Access: Archives held by The Dartington Hall Trust are subject to Trust policies which generally follow normal document closure periods for public records. Records that are not governed by the Data Protection Act of 1998 and that are more than 30 years old are open for research. In addition, it is Trust policy that records of people still living are closed.

Search the online catalogue for more information about Dartington farms.