Two farms in
Whittington have gone by the name Rock Farm. The one, where the land
was eventually used for housing development, and the Rock Farm on the corner
of Back Lane and Main Street, farmed for many years by Horace Ball. He
was the tenant farmer here from 1939 till his death in 2002, although he was
retired for a number of years before his death.
In 1939 the farm
owned field along Back Lane and there were no houses between the farmhouse
and Crossroads in the one direction and the Swan in the other. It was a
mixed farm with shire horses to pull the plough. After the Back Lane
fields were sold for housing, Horace Ball kept his cows in fields near the
railway and would drive them along the road back to the farm.
The Allsop family
ran the farm before Horace Ball
1881 Census
Thomas Alsop,
Farmer 12 acres, age 56, born Whittington
Wife Joanna, age
49, born Longdon
children Mary, 13,
William 11, Sarah 7
Kelly’s Directory of Staffordshire 1900
Alsop William,
farmer
Kelly’s Directory of Staffordshire 1912
Allsop William,
farmer
Kelly’s Directory of Staffordshire 1916
Allsop William,
farmer
Kelly’s Directory of Staffordshire 1921
Allsop William,
farmer
1932 Rateable Value Review document
Name of Occupier:
Wm Allsop
Name of Owner: Wm
Allsop
Description of
Property: Farm
Name or Situation
of Property: The Rock
Gross Value: £15
Rateable Value
under Farmhouses: £10
Kelly’s Directory of Staffordshire 1936
Alsopp Jn. farmer,
Rock Farm
