A lost Fambridge

Fambridge Hall circa 1890

By Archie Crawford

Go directly to the Comments section

My grandparent Hugh Crawford's father, married to Lydia, owned Fambridge Hall.

I have letters sent under an embossed letterhead of Fambridge Hall 1912 sent to his sons Hugh and Robert who had moved to Australia. I do have interesting letters talking about the price then of stock and of winter milk etc; and of squatters building on 12 acres of his land in that year. One letter reads "Robert, what are we going to do with Fambridge Hall .....etc". I don't know.

I have a photo which hung on my grandfather's wall which I believe was a picture of the main house when he left. But that's about all except that on the death of his wife and marrying Lydia, the housekeeper, they had a much loved son called Hicks.

I noticed that on your site there was a picture with the name Miss Crawford linked with Fambridge Hall. A coincidence enough to interest me as an offspring born and living in Australia.

Does this stir interest in anyone, or someone who could help a 70 year old Crawford curiosity?

I hope to be able to add photos etc; later.

This page was added by Archie Crawford on 28/08/2014.
Comments about this page (Add a comment about this page)

I am the grandson of James Crawford and the great-grandson of Hugh Crawford. Together with my parents I moved into South Fambridge Hall in November 1949 (having spent the first 13 months of my life in one of the farm cottages) following the death of James. We moved in September, 1961 when my grandmother Phyllis Crawford (nee Bentall) decided to sell the farm and retire.

The original farmhouse was replaced by a new build I believe around 1920 and this property still stands. The 557 acre farm is still owned by the Gibbons family (the purchasers in 1961) who also farm the nearby Beckney farm which they have owned since well before the Fambridge Hall purchase. 

By S K Pudney
On 02/06/2020

The following is taken from an interview with a Mr S A Wakefield recorded in the Ashingdon School 125 year book: "One final recollection was of an accident which had fatal results. I was returning home one Sunday morning after a service at the Mission [Hall] when I saw a horse galloping down the hill... Finally it stopped and was taken in hand. It transpired that Mr Crawford (who had supplied wagons for the Sunday School outings) and his family were in collision with a bus just by Noon's Farm and unfortunately Mr Hugh Crawford died a few days later.

By Malcolm Jones
On 14/12/2017

Hello RDCA,

What a wonderful feed back. Very informative and fills in yet another gap(s) in my endeavour to find out about Hugh. One of Hugh's descendants (James) died recently on their property which was purchased in the early 1900s when they arrived in Australia. Lydia had written to the sons Hugh and Robert in 1915. I think I sent you a copy of that letter or referred to it previously.

So many thanks. I now have so many people to send this information to. Archie

By Bob Stephen
On 27/07/2016

Hello Archie,

One of our contributors has posted a page on the site with some more information and a couple of photos ...

http://www.rochforddistricthistory.org.uk/page/a_lost_fambridge

Regards Bob Stephen, (RDCA-Admin)

By Bob Stephen
On 19/07/2016

You probably already know about the family links to the Mission Hall in Hulbridge:

http://www.rochforddistricthistory.org.uk/page_id__76.aspx

and that James Crawford of Fambridge Hall was also once a trustee of what is now Ashingdon United Free Church:

http://www.curiousfox.com/uk/mbprof2.lasso?eid=30192&-nothing

By B Meldon
On 03/09/2014
Add a comment about this page

If you're already a registered user of this site, please login using the form on the left-hand side of this page.