Rivers Rememberd. Pat Manning. Cont…

Climb steadily up The Glade from Long Lane or along Orchard Way from Upper Elmers End and you come to the source of the most Easterly branch of the Chaffinch, the ancient Ham Farm. Many postcards exist from the first decade of the 20th century that show the Ham Farm footpath into Elmers End. This pathway is the one next to The Rising Sun pub.

In the 15th century, the land here was part of the Monks Orchard Estate owned by the Squery family. The estate remained intact until Baron Gwydir died in 1820. It was divided up into lots and Ham farm was sold separately from the rest to John Maberly for £10,000.

Ham is a common name for old English settlements meaning farm, homestead or estate. In earlier references, “hamm” means meadowland by a river. The ancient manor of Ham was described as an open hall, timber framed, medieval house. It was rebuilt in the 1850’s and survived until 1935 although by then it had lost most of its land to the second suburb- building boom from 1925 to 1935. By 1920, Percy Harvey estate agents advertised plots for sale with no attempt at planning. Houses were built by small firms and individuals with little experience There was no main sewerage or reliable water supply and such roads as existed were unpassable in winter. By 1937, there was a population of 4,000 in some 1,500 houses but few shops and only one school and one church. This lack of foresight can be seen in the irrational road patterns of today although Orchard Avenue and The Glade are now rush hour private “motorways”.Ham Farm visible behind the estate agent’s advertisement in 1935.

The 1850’s farmhouse could still be seen to the left behind numbers 1 and 3, The Glade, before it was pulled down in 1935. When it was sold in 1921, it was listed as a property with buildings, orchard, lawn, arable land, two ponds, a stream and a spinney. The horseshoe duck pond lay to the East of the farmhouse and the East Chaffinch was the stream. It ran between Gatton Garden Mead and Park field along a line of trees to Elmers End. With the development of the housing estate, the river was put underground partly because it was felt to be a health threat in the days before immunisation against diphtheria and antibiotics to control scarlet fever. It can be seen at the foot of the allotments near Abbots Way and Aylesford Avenue where it runs along an open culvert and meets the river that flows near Stroud Green in Shirley.

Traces of the Ham Shaw (wood) remain in patches of woodland at Long Lane, the bird sanctuary, between Lorne Gardens and the Glade and along Woodland Way. Aldersmead Avenue is the only recollection of the Alders, the old woodland by which the Chaffinch flowed. There is also a road called Ham View off Orchard Way that could be a reminder of the walk from Ham Farm. In the garden of St George’s church in the Glade, there is a wooden gatepost with a plaque at its base. It is all that remains of Ham farm. It was the lodge gatepost at the end of the drive to the farm (now Orchard Avenue).

to be continued…