WHIPPENDELL BOTTOM
In the 1920s/30s, you would have seen a very large signboard at the bottom of Whippendell Hill, advertising St. Dunstan’s Poultry Farm, where you could have bought stock birds, eggs for hatching, day old chicks, poultry houses and fencing materials etc. The business was established in 1915, to train disabled ex-servicemen, from the First World War. The farm’s first manager was Mr. Thomas Brown, who is still recalled by some local people. By the time the farm closed in 1938, it was the fourth largest poultry farm in the country.
Geoff Baldwin’s father bought Whippendell Farm, cleared the site and restored it to pasture land for cattle. Today you will see horses grazing in the field near the houses, which have been built over the years. During the Second World War Daimler cars were stored in the farm buildings. (See p. 43 in Chipperfield Within Living Memory for further details).
I recently came across another reference to Whippendell Bottom, when I purchased a booklet from Kings Langley History Society, entitled “Does The Lark Still Sing?” In it Allan Butler describes the first nineteen years of his life, which he spent in Kings Langley. One account amazes me as much as it did the author on reflection:
‘On 15th April 1933, Sir Alan Cobham brought his Air Show to Whippendell Bottom. What a strange choice of venue for such an event! The field was rough and sloped on either side, so how did the pilots manage to take off and land a De Havilland Dragon Rapide, under such conditions? Granted the plane was only small but the odds were challenging! The public were offered trips at 21shillings (£1.05) a ride and there were plenty of takers. A flight in a Tiger Moth cost 5 shillings (25p).’
Allan Butler did spare a thought for the poultry at St. Dunstan’s Farm and wondered whether those that died prematurely would have ended up on the Sunday dinner table!
Copies of “Does The Lark Still Sing? My Life in Kings Langley” cost £2.50 and may be ordered through me. Mary Nobbs 01923 269480