The vicinity of the Pill Pond at Chipperfield looks idyllic and serene, but how much more so it was in 1915 when Bertha and Jim Saunders moved there. That was the year when their son Chris was born. His parents were on the threshold of a new venture when they bought Rose Farm from the Clutterbucks at Sarratt. With only his wife to help him, Jim set out to farm around 20 acres of land, keeping a small herd of cattle and some poultry.
Chris describes how quiet and even lonely the area was for him as a small child, because there were at that time only Rose Farm and Old Swan House, which had ceased to be a pub in 1914. His nearest playmate was Winnie Bates, who lived at Groves Orchard, next to The Windmill public house.
What I haven’t made clear to you, of course, is that the Rose Farm I am talking about is now known as the charming Brambles with its tall chimney stacks and adjoining 16th century single storey annexe on the right.
In an earlier account of life around the Common, Nellie Bates of the former Pie Corner Cottages behind The Windmill described how she used to fetch milk from Mr Brown’s farm at Rose Cottage. According to the 1891 census, he farmed there with his 21 year old son, who most probably carried on farming there until 1915. It was Jim and Bertha who changed the name from Rose Cottage to Rose Farm. Behind the farm there was an orchard, which Chris recalls walking through on his way to Lavender Cottage in Dunny Lane.
The next addition to the Pill Pond area came in 1922, when the Saunders built the pair of bungalows, which stand to the left of the current Rose Farm House. Jim and Bertha and their two sons, Chris and Ken, moved into the larger left hand bungalow and let the right hand one. The old farm became a private house and was let to various people for the next 40 years. It was renamed Brambles and the name Rose Farm was transferred to their bungalow.
In 1933, Archibald Howden who came from South Africa made Jim Saunders an offer he couldn’t refuse for the land to the left of Brambles on which he had kept poultry and where in the past there had been four old cottages, which were demolished around 1910. He had a house built by Waterhouse on the plot and called it Constantia, a name which remained until it was changed to Burford House in 1969. The following year, along came another retiree, Thomas Shaw, a friend of the Howdens from South Africa, and he rented Brambles for 10 years. He was an invalid and he needed accommodation for a chauffeur and a gardener, so the Saunders quickly built a bungalow to the right of Brambles for the purpose with the name of Rosecot. This was renamed Wedgewood in 1979.
The final addition to the Pill Pond area was Rose Farm House, which was built after the Second World War, when building materials were difficult to come by. Chris and Eleanor Saunders and their two children, John and Alison, moved in there from Corner Cottage in Kings Lane in 1954. Bertha and Jim continued to live in the bungalow throughout their retirement.
Horses and cattle no longer drink at the pond and the geese have long since gone. The water level is now very low and weeds have taken over, so it is unlikely that we shall ever see people skating there, as they did in the 1940s. To the outside eye however, the area still looks like a haven of peace, despite the many changes the years have brought.
(For a picture of the area in bygone days, please refer to page 110 of “Chipperfield Within Living Memory”)
Mary Nobbs