The Sale of The Studley Priory Estate of The Henderson Family
The biggest event of the century after the 1919 sale of the Abingdon Estate was probably the sale of the Studley Priory Estate. Captain J K Henderson and family had moved to Warren Farm and had turned the Priory into a Country Club, but this apparently did not pay the bills, so in 1955 the complete estate was sold.
The auction was held on 22 July at 2.30 pm in Oxford Town Hall by Jackson, Stops & Staff. The Priory itself had already been sold to Mr E E Parke but other lots included:
Lot 1: Warren farm with 248 acres 1 Rood and 27 Poles with farm buildings and two cottages. One in the village and on the farm, cottage tenant Mr W Pagan. The farm sold for £28,000 with lots 2 & 4 including, Lot 2: Studley Farm (Tenant C H Edgington) with 162 Acres, 0 Roods and 31 Poles and Lot 4: Gardener’s Barn Farm (tenant Mr E R Mattingley) with 95 Acres, 0 Roods and 19 Poles. See picture
Lot 3 was Tippen’s Copse that was not sold at the time. The Copse was 5 Acres 0 Roods and 25 Poles and contained 299 Elms, and 10 Oak trees.
Lot 5 Gardener's Barn Farm with 96 Acres 0 Roods 10 poles Tenant Mr E R Mattingley Rent £112 6s 0d.
Lot 5 Moors Farm with 62 Acres 3 Roods and 22 Poles and sold for £4,250 See picture
Lot 6 Moors Farm House (now Corner Cottage) with 1 Rood and 6 Poles. This was sold for £950. See picture
Lot 7 Two Valuable Grass Paddocks of 10 Acres 1 Rood and 3 Poles fronting Brill Road. This was sold to Mr West for £950.
Lot 8 Lower Warren Farm (beyond Warren Farm towards Boarstall and partly in that parish) with 75 Acres 3 Roods 24 Poles. This was withdrawn from sale when the bidding reach about £2000.
Lot 9 Lane Copse and Sermin’s Copse, 6 Acres 2 Roods and 36 Poles (7.727 acres). Lane Copse fronted onto the Brill Road while Sermin’s Copse is further back to the east.
Lot 10 Pair of Cottages on the Brill Road. One tenant was Mr W Blake at £7 4s per annum and the other Miss B Hicks with a rent of £5 per annum.
Lot 11 Arable Field of 15 Acres on Brill Road – not sold.
Sold before the sale
Lot 12 The Warren, Brill Road with 1 Acre (Tenant Mrs Parker rent £25 per annum)
Lot 13 Two Areas of Pasture Land 66 Acres 1 Rood 32 Poles (Tenant W A Aldridge rent £52 9s 6d)
Lot 14 Whitecross Green Farm 186 Acres 0 Roods and 22 Poles (Tenant A J Crawford rent £196 10s )
Lot 15 Five Enclosures of Pasture Land 91 Acres 0 Roods 27 Poles either side of lane from Whitecross Green to Horton. (Tenant E N Hawes rent £94 per annum) excluding part owned by Studley Almshouse Charity. Withdrawn at £2000
Lot 16 A Block of Pasture Land on Otmoor of 17 Acres 2 Roods and 3 Poles requisitioned by Secretary of State for Air and let back at £44 2s per annum and timber valuation £211. Withdrawn from sale.
Lot 17 A Further Block of Pasture Land 72 Acres 3 Roods 38 Poles on Otmoor close to the village of Murcott. Sold to Charles Edgerton Private Sale.
At the time of sale, the income from rent was £652 16s 6d with a total of 1,170.352 acres.