Portslade in the Past: Cowhayes Farm, Portslade

Judy Middleton 2002 (revised 2020)

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
The former Cowhayes Cottage in 1909 close to the present day Hayes Close

Hayes - As a termination of a word, such as calf-hayes, cow-hayes, &c.; a piece of ground enclosed with a live hedge; from the French word haie, a hedge. (General View of Agriculture.1911)

Cowhayes Farm was situated on the east side of Portslade and north of Old Shoreham Road. At one time it was part of a much more expansive farm known as Red House Farm with land in Portslade as well as Aldrington, and a farmhouse in what is now Station Road. According to Hugh Fuller’s will (dated 1 March 1851) ‘Cow Hayes’ contained six acres and 24 perches, and had once been part of Red House Farm. Hugh Fuller left this piece of land to Henry Hudson.

Henry Hudson (1797-1879) was the ‘chief and good servant’ of Hugh Fuller of Portslade. When Fuller drew up his will, he made generous provision for Hudson. For example, Hudson was to receive one of Fuller’s riding, or carriage horses, together with saddle and harness, and an open carriage. Hudson was also given wearing apparel, wines, and furniture to the value of £60, as well as £500 in cash, plus £300 to be placed in trust for the benefit of Fuller’s male or female servants, or their widows or widowers. Not only did Hudson receive the land of Cowhayes Farm, he was also to enjoy the value of the crops growing on it.

In addition Hudson could rent certain pieces of land in Aldrington for several years. In 1868 Aldrington Estate was up for sale, and it was stated that parts of lots 16 and 21 had been leased to Mr Hudson from 11 October 1858.

Henry Hudson kept a diary dating from 1836 to 1843, which has recently been publicised on the internet by The Keep. He liked to record local happenings such as the following:

+
In Loving and Grateful Memory of

My Grandfather Henry Hudson

elder son of

James and Elizabeth Hudson of Bramber,

born 3 August 1797, died 29 December 1879

'Man goeth forth to his work and to his

labour until the evening'

+
Also his Granddaughter

Marian Donne died 13 August 1948

‘28 June 1838 – child called John White killed at Copperas Gap by the Gloster.’ (Presumably he is referring to a sailing ship called Gloucester).

‘19 July 1838 - ‘this day they began the railroad in Goldstone Bottom’. (Note the use of the noun ‘railroad’ which was the correct English usage at the time, and exported to the United States, while the British referred to ‘railways’ instead. In a similar case is the noun ‘the fall’ and the British refer to the season as ‘autumn’ but ‘the fall’ was once in common usage here).

When Henry Hudson died, he was buried in Portslade Cemetery in a plot near the railway line under a curved slab of rose marble on which are recorded his dates of birth and death – 3 September 1797 and 29 December 1879.

However. It seems that Cowhayes was more extensive than the part mentioned in the will. Later on in the 19^th century the property belonged to Edward Blaker of Easthill House. In 1895 the trustees of Edward Blaker’s will decided to sell off Cowhayes Farm, and the freehold property was described thus:

Cowhayes Farmhouse, flint-built but faced with cement, with parlour, kitchen, back kitchen with oven, cellar, and four bedrooms

Four-stall stable, with a loft over the top

A loose box

A coach-house

A cow stall

Piggeries

A store-house

Two greenhouses

Buildings

A detached cottage

This part of Cowhayes was a site of four-acres and sixteen poles extending east to the parish boundary and cultivated as a market garden.

The whole of Cowhayes consisted of 31 acres, one rood, and 20 poles, situated north of Old Shoreham Road, and with a frontage to that road of 347-ft. Out of this total, some 22 acres and 28 poles was part of ‘Great Cow Hayes’.

In the 1930s Cowhayes Farm belonged to the trustees of the late Mr J. J. Clark’s settlement. (By this time it was also known by the name of the Benfield Estate). John Jackson Clark (1845-1928) was a notable figure in local history. In 1881 he was described in the census as farming 205 acres at Goldstone Farm, and he established Clark’s Bakery in 1887.

On 7 August 1895 an Inquiry was held at Hove Town Hall into the proposed conversion of Portslade Parish into Portslade Urban District Council. Mr J. J. Clark a Hove landowner, opposed the application.

Mr J. J. Clark became a Hove Commissioner and found himself in the company of retired colonels and other dignitaries, and they regarded him as something of a stormy petrel. When Hove’s Charter of Incorporation was granted in 1898 Clark’s name appeared on the document along with G. B. Woodruff – two ‘well beloved and trusty subjects’.

At the Employment Problem of Belgian Refugees Conference at Brighton on the 20 February 1915. Alderman J. J. Clark stated, 'he was sure employers of labour in the district would be glad to assist Belgians who wanted to work. Personally, he could take a few farm labourers, but he was afraid there were not many men of that class on the list. He had one working for him, and would be glad of a dozen more like him'. see Belgian Refugees in Portslade page.

By 1920 Clark had completed 40 years of unbroken service to local government at Hove. Clark developed two housing estates at Hove, laid out the Goldstone Football Ground, and the West Hove Golf Course, was the director or chairman of several local companies, served as a member of Shoreham Port Authority, and was one of the first magistrates appointed to the Hove Bench.

The building firm of Comber & Wheatland acquired the adjacent Mill House Estate, and proposed building some 280 houses. The firm complained to Portslade Council about the lack of access – all that existed was a private bridleway or cart-track known as Cowhayes Lane or Mill Lane. In December 1934 Mr D. V. Howard, surveyor, inspected a map of 1813 belonging to Captain Irvine Bately where it appears that the bridleway / cart-track had once been a more important highway than Locks Hill. In March 1936 Portslade Council approved the following names to be applied to housing built on the Cowhayes Estate as follows:

Benfield Crescent

Fairfield Avenue

Foredown Drive

Hayes Close

Highlands Road

Millcross Road

Park Close

The 1937 Ordnance Survey Map shows Cowhayes Cottages situated north of Hayes Close. It is interesting to note that Cowhayes Farm still appeared in the 1938 Directory where it was listed under Mill Lane and Albert Goatcher was the farmer.

A wonderful photograph exists of the occasion when Albert Goatcher married a Miss Harwood in 1919. Although the bride was attired in the traditional white dress and veil, the bridegroom topped his best suit with his ordinary flat, cloth cap. He also sported a very happy expression, a flourishing moustache, a large flower in this button-hole, and an Albert watch-chain. The bride’s father cuts a fearsome figure on the left, and it is difficult to gauge his expression, being obscured by beard and whiskers.

copyright © C. Peters
This wedding group at Cowhayes Farm was photographed in 1919 when Albert Goatcher married Miss Harwood

Sources

Census Returns

Directories

Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

The Keep

14 March 2020

Cowhayes Farm, Portslade