Cornforth Moor Farm

@ 1841 Census, Benjamin Greenshield was farmer at Cornforth Moor. Was this Cornforth Moor farm or Cornforth Moor House farm? (Or both?)

@ 1851 Census, Robert Story (aged 33) was farmer of 18 acres, employing 1 labourer, and Thomas Hardy (aged 45) was farmer of 72 acres, employing 2 labourers, both at Cornforth Moor. I presume that the first was Cornforth Moor House farm and the second was Cornforth Moor farm.

@ 1851 & 1861 Censuses, Thomas Hardy was farmer of 72 acrs (in 1861, employing 2 labourers).

@ 1871 Census, his widow, Elizabeth Hardy, was farmer.

@1881, 1891, 1901 & 1911 Censuses, the farmer at “Cornforth Moor House” was Robert Robinson.

His son, Herbert (by his second wife, Margaret Elizabeth) took over the farm after he died but left c.1936, when the farm was acquired by Jack Swainston. Robert Robinson was brought up at Hett Moor Farm, which was farmed by his father, John, @1841 & 1851 and then by his mother (presumably widowed), Alice, @ 1861 & 1871. Thomas (b.c.1835) and Margaret (b.c.1839) Robinson were farming Hett Moor in 1901, with their son John (b.c.1877)

@ 1939 Register, John Swainston was Farmer at Cornforth Moor Farm.


Bell Bros. bought “Cornforth Moor Farm” in 1917 for £1,000. Did the Bell Bros. only buy Cornforth Moor HOUSE Farm (from Mrs. Shearer)? Don Swainston (20/10/05) believes both were owned by the Colliery. Perhaps Cornforth Moor House Farm was separated off from Cornforth Moor Farm after it was bought by the colliery owners. Perhaps the price paid in 1917 (£1,000) suggests a small farm.

Dixon may also have bought land east of the Motorway from Jack Scott, or subsequently, via a third party.

Size = 89.298 acres @ 1/5/1957, when sold at auction to Jack Scott (for Jn. Wm. Swainston).