Welcome to Acton Bridge

Around the Village: The Duck Pond at Acton Hall Farm

Ducks

Acton Hall Farm

There are Deeds going back to 1716 in the reign of William & Mary, in which farm buildings and orchards were mentioned. In 1881 the farm was owned by Thomas Gandy: he farmed the 60 acres, and had five children aged 7 to 15 years. In 1919 Thomas Parker bought the farm from Edward & William Gandy, children of Thomas. All the owners since the Gandys have been called Thomas Parker. The present house is thought to have been built around the late 1800s. Originally, the servants lived in a separate part of the building, and today there are still two distinct halves of the same house.

The pond, originally used to water livestock on the farm, was dredged some time ago, and sandstone steps were discovered leading down into the pond to enable the stock to drink when the level of water had dropped. In the drought of 1976, this pond was one of the few in the area that still retained a good supply of water. In the year 2000 this is the last farm pond left in Acton Bridge.

There are still ducks on the pond, and generations of children derive great pleasure from feeding them.

Adapted from "Snapshots in Time", a book about the Village published by the Acton Bridge WI to mark the Millennium in 2000

Site directory Click on the house for ActonBridge.Org Home Page Home page Website © 2001 E-mail to us
[Site directory] [E-mail to us]