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A short history of Foxdown Close
Walking through our residential area
today is a far cry from how it once
was. The area was once known as Tower
Hill where, it is believed, a Signal
Fire was sited as part of the chain to
warn if Napolean ever invaded England.
The land on which we live originally
formed the rear grounds of three very
old houses in High Street namely: "The
Hill" (93), "Hill House" (95) and Tower
Hill Farm" (115)
Tower Hill Farm is thought to have been
built in the 16th or 17th centuryand
early records show that, in 1810, it
was owned by Thomas Butler. After a
series of owners it passed, in 1927, to
Frederick Bateman. The "Batemans",
local shop owners, were very well known
in the villagewhere, for a 100 years,
the family ran a village store on the
corner of Church Street and The Moors.
This location became known as "Batemans
Corner". One of our residents is a
descendant and is the Farm's current
owner.
Variously, over the years, the land
upon which our homes stand, was used
for pony grazing, pig breeding, and in
the 60's for rabbit breeding! Stauesque
Bramley and Blenheim apple trees formed
the large orchard. Only the Bramley on
The Green survives. A large flock of
geese used to roam the area in daytime
but, because of the foxes, were penned
up at night. The foxes appear to have
got wise to this and, in 1995,the last
of the geese were killed in a daytime
raid by foxes.
Many features of Tower Hill Farm and
its outbuildings remain intact. The
Apple House, for example, contains one
of the longest single section wooden
ladders surviving to this day.
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