Sheene Farm

Farm Workers at Sheene Farm in the 1950s. The photo was taken in the Bullock Yard. Names: Top Row, Lto R: Joe Cooper, Derek Pettit, Norman King, Bert Day, Albert Woods. Bottom Row: L to R: Tush Winter, Jim Winter, Bert Wedd. Albert Woods was known as the Village Beekeeper.
Mike Pilkington
Sheene Farm Horse Pond in 1929
Mike Pilkington
Sheene Farm Wheat Hovel ~1930. The Wheat Hovel used to stand on Station Road, Meldreth, close to Sheene Corner
Mike Pilkington
Mowers at Sheene Farm sharpening their scythes ready for work in 1903
Cambridge Antiquarian Society Lantern Slide
Entrance to Sheene Farm in 1928
Cambridge Antiquarian Society Lantern Slide
Entrance to Sheen Farm in 2011
Tim Gane
Sheene Farm Cartshed in 1934
Cambridge Antiquarian Society Lantern Slide
Sheene Farm Cottages and farm buildings ~1930
Cambridge Antiquarian Society Lantern Slide
Sheene Farm Cottage, now Orchard Cottage, in 1931
Cambridge Antiquarian Society Lantern Slide
Orchard Cottage, originally Sheene Farm Cottage, in 2011
Tim Gane

Farming at Sheene

We are indebted to Michael and Janet Pilkington for providing the information for this page on Sheene Farm.

Sheene Farm totalled nearly a thousand acres in the mid twentieth century.  Most of the land was around the Manor House but there were 100 acres beside the London Road in Melbourn with more land in Chiswick End, the Meads, a plum orchard on Mettle Hill and a large apple orchard where Oakrits stands now. George Palmer also owned two of the Nissen Huts by the railway road bridge.

There were a large number of farm workers, three of note were: Jim Winter, Graham (Golly) Golthorpe, and Bert Wedd who was murdered in Royston in the early seventies.  Jim and Golly worked for George until he sold up in the early 1990s.  Arthur Wedd used to help at harvest time and he used to use a field at the back of Sheene Manor House to grow vegetables.

Beside the underpass of the A10 bypass George Palmer planted a stand of fast growing cricket bat willows.  They have been cut once and were replanted around the Millennium.

The Cowman’s Cottage, now called Sheene Cottage, stands opposite the entrance to Sheene Farm and was sold for ‘a pittance’ many years ago.  After the last cowman, Mr Cooper, left a Miss Rose Wright lived there in the 1940s.  She was a real character who used to cycle to Cambridge every day to work at Joe Lyons in Petty Cury.  After the closure of Lyons she became a cook at Melbourn Primary School.

There was a pond in the farmyard where the horses and carts used to be washed down.  It now dries up in the summer months.  Mike Pilkington remembers cleaning out the pond one day and finding a wallet.  It belonged to Mrs Cox who had been burgled sometime before.  There was no money in it but she was still pleased to get it back.

Sheene Mill must have been part of Sheene Farm at one time although this was long before the last century.  Sheene Mill is now in Melbourn of course while Sheene Farm is the first ‘house’ in Meldreth.

Comments about this page

  • As a native of Melbourn I knew all the workers shown in the picture from the 1950’s and went to Melbourn school at the same time as Norman King and Derek Pettit who was in the same class. Joe Cooper was the other cowman who worked with my father, Tom Wedd, and both worked on the harvest during the summer. Joe Cooper became the landlord of ” The Carriers Arms” in Dolphin Lane, Melbourn which is now a private house. I have a link to this pub as my Grandfather, David Wedd, was landlord in the early 1900’s.

    By Edward Frank Wedd (01/09/2021)
  • My father, Tom Wedd, and his brother William Wedd both worked at Sheene Farm for many years. My father started work at age 11years and later was one of two cowmen who managed the dairy and the cattle until it was closed in late 1950s or early 1960. As a boy I worked on the farm during the summer school holidays taking the horse and carts to and from the fields to the stacking area. These were long days for a young boy working from 7am to 7pm.

    By Edward Frank Wedd (01/09/2021)
  • The Miss Rose Wright mentioned – who was a character – was my Aunt (my Mum’s sister). I remember visiting her at the cottage.

    By June Hobbs (14/06/2013)

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