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Community of Henley
Rob Brooke, August 2017 Rob wrote to us following the article about Henley Farm. Edgar C Smith, who owned it after World War 2, seems to have been a gentleman farmer and used to ride his horse along the lanes. He sold the farm in 1953. Mr and Mrs AER Satchell worked the land and lived there till it was sold to Moulton's in 1964. Mr Satchell died in the field behind Witchcroft next to the golf course, it must have been that he rented this land. The telephone directories from 1957 to 1963 showed Henley Farm had telephone number 447. It was great that phone numbers only had 3 digits in those days, easier to remember! |
The restored community phone box at the juction of Longsplatt and Henley Lane (courtesy Carol Payne)
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Mrs Satchell purchased a smallholding at Patterdown, this side of Chippenham. My mother, who is 101, remembers him and
Mr Smith before him. She also remembers helping Mr Satchell with the bales of hay and driving the land rover over the fields.
My mother and father were not born in these parts but they had our current home built after purchasing the land in 1947 and they have lived here now for 65 years, so mum has seen some changes. After Mr Satchell passed away Henley Farm was put up for sale. I am sure that Ernie and his son Chris Sheppard (Chris still farms Green Lane Farm) then owned it.
I was just a few months old when they moved to Henley and we still live in Henley Lane. Last year we started renovating the old phone box on the junction of Henley Lane and Longplatt and rubbed down and re-painted in traditional Post Office red. We have not done much this year as yet but plan to paint the inside next and replace a few panes of glass. It will be a local community information centre, a great community project with everybody donating their time and cash towards it.
Mr Smith before him. She also remembers helping Mr Satchell with the bales of hay and driving the land rover over the fields.
My mother and father were not born in these parts but they had our current home built after purchasing the land in 1947 and they have lived here now for 65 years, so mum has seen some changes. After Mr Satchell passed away Henley Farm was put up for sale. I am sure that Ernie and his son Chris Sheppard (Chris still farms Green Lane Farm) then owned it.
I was just a few months old when they moved to Henley and we still live in Henley Lane. Last year we started renovating the old phone box on the junction of Henley Lane and Longplatt and rubbed down and re-painted in traditional Post Office red. We have not done much this year as yet but plan to paint the inside next and replace a few panes of glass. It will be a local community information centre, a great community project with everybody donating their time and cash towards it.