Exhibition: The History of Walton Hall

Owners of Walton Hall: The Harleys

The Walton Farm Estate

Following Dr Vaughan Harley's purchase of Walton Hall from Miss Seagrave he quickly re-established a farm on the estate. He had a keen interest in farm stock, particularly shorthorn cattle and developed his own herd of prize-winning shorthorns which he called the ‘Notlaw’ herd; ‘Notlaw’ being ‘Walton spelt backwards. The first photograph on this page shows some of his Notlaw herd with Walton Hall in the background. For many years Dr Harley applied scientific methods at his farm and in addition to his shorthorns he bred prize winning Oxford Downs sheep, Shire horses and Large Black pigs.

 

In 1911 Dr Harley was elected a member of the council of the Shorthorn Society and served on it until his death. He was Vice-President in 1917 and subsequently President in 1918. He was also a member of the Shire Horse, Oxford Downs, and Large Black Pig Societies. Over a twenty year period the local newspapers contained news of the sales of Vaughan Harley’s farm stock and his frequent prize winnings at Agricultural shows. His most successful year came in 1918 when he won the Championship, Reserve Championship and MacLennan Cup at the Birmingham Spring Show. At the same show Dr Harley sold the reserve show champion - a 15 month Shorthorn Bull - for a record show price of more than 2000 guineas. A photograph of the bull taken from 'The Sphere' newspaper can be viewed on this page. Dr Harley's champion bull was sold for 1600 guineas and both animals were transported for breeding to Argentina.

 

Farming at Walton didn’t come without its challenges. In the years following Dr Harley’s purchase of the Walton Hall there were small outbreaks of Anthrax on the estate, both reported in local newspapers. They were discovered following post-mortems of a heifer in 1905 and an ox in 1907. Fortunately there was no further spread of the disease in either case.

 

In 1911 Dr Harley put Walton Hall, and the estate comprising 70 acres, up for sale, although it is not known why he chose to do this. In any event, the sale never went through. In the sale document the Hall was described as “The interesting old house, partly of Queen Anne period of red brick and tiled, with a very substantial addition made in early Georgian days and showing the excellent workmanship of the period, with well-proportioned and lofty rooms built over splendid cellarage. It is approached by a long carriage drive through the well-timbered park, which has a heavy belt of timber on the main road boundary and stands on rising ground commanding a delightful view to the Brickhills on the South.”

 

The University Archive holds the original sale document which is a fascinating insight into what the estate was like at that time. The pages have been digitised and can be viewed here. 

 

Around the same time of the proposed sale of Walton Hall, Dr Harley sold The Pine Tree Inn which stood on the estate on the old Walton-Milton Keynes village road close to Walton Manor. The pub had been sold in 1904 to Messrs. Phipps & Co, Brewers of Northampton, but evidently it was subsequently purchased by Vaughan Harley. According to former OU archives officer Peter Thornton-Pett in an article for ‘Open House’ magazine in 1979, “… [Dr Harley] closed the pub (which he evidently owned) much to the chagrin of the local community, I gather – because he reckoned that his labourers, with whom it was very popular, had better things to do with their (average) wages of 8/- a week.”

 

On 11 August 1918 a fire broke out on the estate and was reported in the ‘North Bucks Times and County Observer’ two days later: “Rick fire – A serious rick fire involving the destruction of some 80 tons of hay, the property of Dr Vaughan Harley, Walton Hall, broke out on Sunday evening. The call for assistance reached Bletchley about 10pm and the Urban Council Fire Brigade with steam engine and all appliances turned out promptly. They found that the rick was well alight. It was stacked under what is known as a “Dutch barn,” namely an open-sided shelter with iron roof. Water was plentiful, the river being close at hand. Mr Thos. Best, chief officer, had charge of the Fire Brigade and this having been so largely depleted by men gone on active service, several old members of the brigade, long since retired, were called upon for assistance and promptly responded. Walton Parish is not a subscriber to the Bletchley Council’s Fire Brigade but that of course made no difference in respect to a prompt answer to the call”.

 

The third photograph on this page is an aerial view of part of the Walton Hall estate taken in the 1960s or possibly earlier. It shows the estate farm buildings and probably looks similar to how it looked when Dr Harley farmed there half a century earlier. He continued to farm at Walton until his death in 1923, dividing his time between the property and his house at 25 Harley Street in London.