Green Lodge

Green Lodge is situated about half a mile north-east of Goadby Marwood village standing at the side of Green Lane. The property was the family home of Sue Haynes, one of Goadby History Group’s most hardworking members, and was named Green Lodge by her mum, Nellie Herring, around 1960. Prior to this, as with most outlying homesteads, it was merely known as The Lodge. In the 19th Century, during Thomas Rowbotham’s occupancy, it was known as Rowbotham's Lodge, and at other times occasionally as Goadby Lodge.

Parts of the house and the stone barn behind it may date from as early as the 16th Century. During repairs to the house in 2000, a builder uncovered what he referred to as a ‘brush oven’ which he believed dated from Elizabethan times. Over the years there have been several alterations and additions to the house and also to the farm buildings,

The original house was probably a simple rectangle one room deep. This was then extended into an L shape, all built with local ironstone. A second extension within the L is built of brick, as are the farm buildings, which date to the 18th and 19th Centuries. The front façade of the house is Georgian in design and Grade 11 listed circa 1750, the heyday of fox hunting and a time when properties such as Green Lodge made ideal hunting boxes.

There are limited records of the residents of Green Lodge prior to 1839, at which time according to the tithe survey, the property was owned by the Duke of Rutland with the tenant being John Rowbotham. John, born in 1780, was a farmer’s son from nearby Long Clawson. He had married Elizabeth Goodacre, also from Long Clawson, and they had one son, William, born in 1806. Sadly, Elizabeth died in 1809, and with a young child to care for, John remarried in 1810, his second wife was Mary Sims. It was some time after this that the family moved to Goadby and took on the tenancy of Green Lodge

In 1828, John’s son, William Rowbotham, married Frances Mann who was from the village of Hickling, and following their marriage the couple probably lived and farmed in Goadby for a while. Their son, Thomas, was baptised in Goadby Marwood in 1831, and the record gives William’s occupation at the time as farmer. By the time the 1841 census was conducted William and Frances had moved to Long Clawson, where William undertook a complete career change to become a clock and watch maker.

Green Lodge photographed in the 21st Century.

The Rowbotham family outside Green Lodge c. 1900.

William's father and step-mother, John and Mary Rowbotham, continued to farm at Green Lodge where they employed a house servant and four farm labourers. John died on September 23rd, 1844, at the age of 63; he is buried in the churchyard of St. Denys’s Church in Goadby Marwood. Following her husband’s death, Mary continued to farm at Green Lodge with the help of her grandson, Thomas. In the 1851 census she was described as a farmer of 200 acres and employing 2 labourers, 21-year-old Thomas is recorded as living with his grandmother on the farm. Later that year Thomas married Maria Glassop, a farmer’s daughter from Buckminster, and following the wedding the couple continued to live with Thomas's grandmother at Green Lodge.

Thomas and Maria had their first child, John Thomas, in 1852. Six more children followed, Eleanor, Betsy, Joseph, Edith, Fanny and Florence. By 1861 Thomas had taken over the farm tenancy from his grandmother, the census of that year recorded 30-year-old Thomas as head of household, a farmer of 196 acres employing three men and three boys.

Thomas's grandmother, Mary, died in 1867 at the age of 87, she is buried beside her husband in St, Denys’s Churchyard. Thomas and Maria continued to live and farm at Green Lodge (known at that time as Rowbotham’s Lodge) with their seven children.

Eldest son, John Thomas, baptised at Goadby 12th April 1852, became an inn keeper, running the Sun Inn in Colsterworth and The Navigation Inn at Hickling.

Eleanor Maria b.1855, married George Mackley, a framer from Welby, whose cousin, William, farmed at The Laurels in Goadby. Eleanor suffered with what today would be described as mental health issues. She was committed to the Leicestershire and Rutland Lunatic Asylum, later known as Carlton Hayes Hospital. She died at the asylum in 1917 and was buried in Goadby.

Betsy Lavinia Sims, baptised 29th August 1858, married James Barlow from Long Clawson. The couple lived in Barkstone where James made his living as a cottager and grazier. Betsy died 26th January 1922 and was buried in Goadby.

Joseph Glassop baptised 6th May 1860, Thomas and Maria's second son, followed his father into farming. He married Clara Blaze of Lincoln and took the tenancy of Piper Hole Farm near Scalford. Joseph and Clara had four children: Arthur, Isobel Bertha, Joseph Albert and Thomas Wilson. Joseph had three tragic losses to deal with in three years. His three-month-old son, Thomas Wilson, baptised 15th February 1903 died in infancy. Then in Oct 1904, Joseph's wife Clara died and her death was followed just four months later by that of their three-year-old son, Joseph Albert. Soon after, Joseph moved with his remaining children, Arthur and Isobel, to farm at Barkstone.

Edith Mary, baptised 29th August 1864, married John Henry Blaze, of Lincoln, the brother of her sister-in-law, Clara. Edith died in 1899 aged just 34.

Fanny Bertha, baptised 2nd Dec 1866, never married. She lived for a while in Eastwell and then moved back to Goadby where in the 1939 National Register she was recorded living at First Farm on Main Street. She died in Bottesford and was buried in Goadby on 28th December 1948.

Thomas Rowbotham became a well-known and respected character in the local area. He is mentioned in newspapers of the day as supporting various local events such as garden parties and the opening of the school in 1861, and he stood for the position of parish councillor. He also had a few brushes with the law, as the following newspaper reports show:

19th Aug 1854. Henry Watson vs Thomas Rowbotham. Henry Watson accused Thomas of stealing a sheep when Thomas took his sheep through Henry's land, in Goadby, to the Sheep wash. Thomas's shepherd gave evidence that he recognised the sheep as belonging to Thomas by the notches in its ear. Case Dismissed.

5th Jan 1875. Thomas Rowbotham charged by Insp. Goodman with allowing 45 sheep to stray on to the highway. Fined 3 shillings with 10 shillings costs.

9th Nov 1889. Summoned for allowing 8 beasts to stray onto the Waltham to Harby road. Fined 1 shilling each beast and costs 13 shillings 6 pence

3rd Oct 1909. A Big Wool Transaction. Thomas took Wool merchant, Mr Noble, to court for under payment of 420 fleeces. £40 awarded to Thomas Rowbotham.

Maria Rowbotham died 2nd June 1913 and was buried in Goadby. Following his wife’s death, Thomas, now in his 80s, continued to farm at Green Lodge for a short time before moving into the village to live at Inglebrook at the far end of Towns Lane. The management of the farm at Green Lodge was taken on by his grandson, George Robert Mackley, son of Eleanor.

In March 1920, Green Lodge was sold as part of the Belvoir Estate sale and was bought by Matthew Hubbard from Eaton for the sum of £3,100. Soon afterwards Hubbard sold the property at a profit to Henry Morris who had purchased neighbouring White Lodge at the sale.

Henry Morris died suddenly in August of the same year and following his death, auctioneer, William Harwood held several sales of property on behalf of the estate’s executors. Both Green Lodge and White Lodge were bought by George Hutchinson, a farmer and corn dealer from Southwell, Nottinghamshire. However, before the sale could be completed, Hutchinson was declared bankrupt, and Green Lodge was once again put up for auction. On 22nd November 1921, the farm was purchased by Sue Hayne’s father, William Herring, for the same sum it had realised at the duke’s sale.

Grantham Journal 26th Nov 1921

Lodge Farm Goadby Marwood. 176 acres, mainly occupied by Mr Mackley to Mr Wm. Herring, Wycomb, £3100.

William Herring had the tenancy on Manor Farm in Wycomb, where he lived with his mother and sister, and so he did not take up residency at The Lodge. Instead, he had the large farmhouse partitioned into two properties. The west side of the house had two reception rooms at the front of the house and a cellar with five bedrooms upstairs. The east side had one of the south-facing reception rooms plus the large kitchen and cellar, with three bedrooms accessed from the back stairs in the kitchen. There were no bathrooms and the outside toilet was shared between the two properties.

Over the next 40 years or so a succession of families occupied the properties. The first residents in the west side were Ernest and Ruth Hudson. After a couple of years at Green Lodge the couple moved to Hall Farm in Goadby village where Ernest was employed as farm bailiff by Mrs. Muriel Sheriffe. The first tenant in the east side was Albert Troop. Albert married Ethel Chivers from Waltham and the couple later moved to Lionville Cottages in Scalford where Albert was employed at the local brickyard.

During the mid-1920s the west farmhouse was occupied by William and Ethel May Dalby and later, by Fred and Louisa Burton, while the east side was occupied by George and Mary Jane Barrett and their family who had moved from a cottage at Cranyke Farm in Scalford. George, who worked the heavy horses needed for farm work, died in 1927 at the age of just 54, and Mary Jane continued to live at Green Lodge with her children.

In 1930, Mary Jane married widower, William Henry Judson, from nearby Eastwell, but sadly the couple only had a few years together as William died in 1935 at just 56 years of age. Widowed once more, Mary Jane continued to live at Green Lodge with her sons Ernest, Frederick, Daniel and Roland all of whom worked at the local brickyard and ironworks. Mary Jane died in November 1942 and was buried in Goadby Marwood.

At the same time that Mary Jane and her family occupied the east side of the farmhouse, the west side was occupied by Fred Pizer, his wife, Hilda, and their daughter, Betty. Fred was born in Great Ponton in Lincolnshire in 1888 and had moved to Goadby around 1900 with his parents and siblings when his father found a position as farm bailiff for Henry Morris at White Lodge.

Two of Fred's Brothers, Edward and William, fought during the First World War. William, known to the family as Billy, was killed in action in France. In April 1917, young Fred Pizer married Hilda Alderman, who was from the village of Stathern, and following their marriage the couple lived at the dairy in Stathern, another business owned by Henry Morris.

In 1933, Fred and Hilda moved back to Goadby where Fred rented the property at Green Lodge together with 50 acres of farmland, from Willam Herring. During the Second World War, when farm labour was scarce, Fred and his daughter, Betty, would help William with seasonal farm jobs, such as potato planting and picking.

In November 1942, a stricken Lancaster bomber flew low over the farm and clipped the tops of three elm trees near the farmyard, before crashing in the brook on the edge of the field known as Ivy Close. Fred, his nephew, Ted Pizer, and neighbour Billy Hemphrey from White Lodge, were amongst the first to reach the burning plane. One of the eight airman was dragged from the wreckage but the others could not be saved. Read the full story of Lancaster R5694 on the website.

Sue Haynes, William Herring’s daughter, recalls Fred as an old man. “He kept two old grey carthorses in the field opposite the farmhouse which I would feed hands full of grass. They seemed enormous. He also had a vegetable garden in the corner of the field. Betty, I remember, was always cheerful, as in the photograph.”

In 1959, Fred decided to retire from farming. He had a farm sale and moved to ‘Fairview’ on City Road in Stathern. Local farmer, John Woolley, recalls helping Fred to move all his furniture in a trailer.

Grantham Journal 13th Nov. 1959

THE LODGE GOADBY MARWOOD. MELTON FARMERS Ltd (favoured with instructions from Mr F Pizer who is retiring from farming) Will sell by auction on THURSDAY NOV 26th 1959,

The Whole of the live and dead FARMING STOCK. Comprising:

20 Attested cattle: 4 Friesian Steers 2-2 ½ yrs in forward condition. 4 steers 1 ½ yrs old, 5 coloured heifers 1 ½ yrs old barren, 5 yearlings (4 steers, 1 heifer) 1 Guernsey heifer in milk, due again in April.

Poultry: 34 W.L. X RIR. Pullets at point of lay, 120 laying hens.

IMPLEMENTS: Float (by John Buxton, Long Clawson) Set chain harrows, Grass mower, Hay sweep, Potato scales, Sack barrow, Ladders ropes etc.

5 Poultry houses.

Sale to commence at One p.m.

Fred, Hilda and Betty Pizer lived the remainder of their lives at Fairview in Stathern. Fred died in 1976 at the good age of 88 while Hilda died in 1985 at the remarkable age of 96. Tragically, Betty died in February 1994 in Grantham Hospital shortly after she had undergone a double hip replacement; she was just 69 years old.

Sue Haynes recalls: “Following Fred Pizer’s retirement, Green Lodge became vacant and so Mum and Dad decided we should live at the farmhouse. Mum (Nellie Darlow) was born and brought up in Sheffield. Although living in a city she had always enjoyed the countryside and took every opportunity to take a bus out of town for long walks with her dog. When the family shop and home was damaged during the Sheffield blitz, Mum decided to move out of the city and she joined the Women’s Land Army.

“She was posted to Manor Farm at Wycomb in Leicestershire, to help on Dad’s (William Herring) family farms. She took to farming life immediately and could turn her hand to all aspects of the work required, from milking the cows to driving the combine harvester. She said she fell in love with The Lodge farmhouse when she first saw it and couldn't understand why Dad didn't live there. When hostilities ended my parents were married.

“Initially when Green Lodge became vacant, we only stayed there at weekends and school holidays but we moved in fulltime in 1967. The house had had little done to it for many years. One lot of tenants had kept poultry in a bedroom over the tool shed. Mum always called it the ‘chicken room’. We never used it as a bedroom. Internally the house had eight bedrooms, three reception rooms, a large kitchen, two cellars and two sets of stairs. An elegant open staircase led up from the main hallway to the bedrooms at the front of the house whilst a back staircase went up from the kitchen to two bedrooms at the rear. I can remember having great fun as a child playing hide and seek with friends and racing up one stair and down the other.

“In the kitchen was a range with a large bake oven at the side, a copper boiler in the corner and a large stone sink. Water had to be obtained from a hand pump outside. The well supplying the pump was later filled in as it was very close to the end wall of the house and there was a danger that the wall might collapse. In 1952, my father had a well sunk in one of our fields at the top of the hill, to tap into the natural supply of fresh water beneath. The water was fed by syphon to the house, farm buildings and fields. The supply has never failed, even throughout the drought of 1976 when at least 300 cattle were dependant on the supply.

“My Dad would have described himself as a ‘dog and stick farmer’ He bought and grazed cattle through the summer to be sold for beef in the back end. In spring, Dad would travel as far as Northampton and Banbury markets to buy cattle and had Welsh cattle sent by train to Scalford station. He then sold the fattened cattle at local markets - Nottingham on Monday, Melton Tuesday, Newark Wednesday and Grantham Thursday.

“Dad had no hobbies outside farming but he did enjoy showing his cattle. Each market held a Christmas fatstock show in December, where farmers could exhibit their livestock. Dad would select the best beast he had and we then had the task of halter training the previously unhandled cattle and preparing them for the show with the hope of winning a prize or two.

“Dad died in December 1982. We had cattle to show at the Melton Fatstock Show while Dad was in hospital. He was very pleased and proud when we visited him with rosettes and a cup his cattle had won. A few days later he died. We always said ‘he was farming to the end’.

“Mum stayed on in the farmhouse and had an active interest in the running of the farm until she died in 2003. The Farmhouse was then sold to a young couple, Algy and Stephanie Smith-Maxwell, who had the house completely renovated. Two of the bedrooms were made into extra bathrooms and the large cellar made into a kitchen with the floor raised up to ground level. Because of the Grade 11 listing, the exterior of the farmhouse is little changed from the time that Thomas Rowbotham occupied it.”

Sales particulars for Green Lodge from 1921