Catalogue description Beards Farm and 65a, purchased by RJDK Heal in 1949

In 1798 the estate, occupied by Christopher Smith, late Thomas Barnard, was described as

1 Pieces of land and marsh (10a) at Pebsham Bridge called Northbynde otherwise Lowells, formerly the estate of John Lowell of Dallington, thatcher, and his wife Ann

2 A barn, lodge and 38a of land, wood and marsh, called Stoney Farm and Broad Farm and five pieces of land, wood and marsh (13a) called Stoney Land otherwise Beards

On the death of John Baker of Wartling in 1731 - see W/A 53.222, the second group of property descended to his four daughters - Martha wife of William Stone esq, Elizabeth wife of Nicholas Russell, Sarah Baker and Mary wife of Andrew Skinner. In Jan 1738 Skinner, described as of Wartling, gent, purchased the other three shares (1/3, reciting SAS/WH 316)

On 5 & 6 Apr 1780 John Woods Weaver late of Warbleton, black-smith, a private soldier in Captain Webster's company of Sussex militia, and his wife Hannah (a daughter of Andrew Skinner and widow of John Attwood), conveyed the entirety of the first group and three-fourths of the second to Thomas Noakes of Jevington yeoman - see BAT 1845

Shortly before 1773, John Baker Skinner of Warbleton, gent, and his wife Sarah, recovered a fourth part of the second property in an action of ejectment brought against his brother-in-law John Attwood, Attwood's wife Hannah and John Weaver. On 1 Apr 1773 Skinner mortgaged his interest in the land, then occupied by Thomas Barnard, to Edward Byne of Battle yeoman for £140 at 5% (1/3, reciting SAS/WH 316)

By 1779 the term was vested in Edward Message of Herstmonceux, maltster, and on 12 Oct 1780 his administrators - Edward Collins of Boreham in Wartling, John Hockham of Herstmonceux yeoman and John Message of Herstmonceux maltster - assigned it to Thomas Noakes of Jevington (1/3, reciting SAS/WH 316)

On 13 & 14 Nov 1798 Thomas Noakes the elder of Wannock in Jevington gent settled the entire property on the marriage of his son Thomas Noakes with Frances King spinster, daughter of Richard Kings of Wilmington, gent; the trustees of the settlement, in whom the term created by the 1773 mortgage was vested, were Henry Mason of Hailsham gent and William King of Wartling gent. Fifteen acres of marshland at Chilley Green in Pevensey was also included in the settlement, and Frances King's portion was £1,200 (1/3, reciting SAS/WH 316)

Thomas Noakes the elder's will of 7 July 1803 was proved in PCC on 31 Jan 1806 and did not contain any devise of the property. For a lease of the property, described as a house and 63a called Beards Farm, to Thomas Parker of Wartling yeoman for 7 years, 14 Oct 1806, see SAS/DD 570. Frances Noakes died 12 Oct 1822; Thomas died on 8 Apr 1829 and his will of 13 Feb 1812 was proved in PCC on 4 Jan 1832. Henry Mason died 1 Feb 1800, leaving the mortgage term vested in his fellow trustee William King, who died 6 June 1813 and whose will of 20 May 1813 was proved in PCC by Richard King Sampson on 21 July 1813

The settlement of 1798 had created a remainder to the issue of the marriage as tenants in common; on 11 & 12 Dec 1833 Thomas Noakes of Wannock in Jevington yeoman and his wife Louisa, Elizabeth Mary Noakes of Brighton spinster, William Madgwick the younger of Falmer yeoman and his wife Frances, Edwin Nathaniel Dawes of Rye gent and his wife Ann, Jane Noakes of Blatchington spinster and Richard Noakes of Brighton chemist, the six children of Thomas and Frances Noakes, sold Beards Farm to James Everest the younger of Herstmonceux brewer and his trustee William Hoad of Herstmonceux brewer for £693 13s 6d. The outstanding term created by the 1773 mortgage was assigned by Richard King Sampson to James Everest, with whom Henry Verrall of Lewes, who had purchased the more valuable part of the estate, covenanted to produce the 1798 settlement (1/3)

On 26 Dec 1833 James Everest mortgaged Beards for £500 at 4½% to Joseph Elliott of Battle, blacksmith, and Henry Funnell of Battle, grocer, who on 26 & 27 May 1839 assigned to John Richardson of Hastings, miller, and Nathaniel Polhill Kell of Battle, gent. James Everest died intestate on 1 Jan 1843 and letters of administration were granted by the PCC to his widow Mary on 31 Jan. On 12 July 1855 Mary Everest conveyed her interest in the estate to her son Patrick Everest of Herstmonceux, gent, for £300, and the following day Kell, who had survived John Richardson, assigned the mortgage to James Pinyon of Ashburnham, yeoman. Everest agreed to sell the estate to James Hook of Hailsham, yeoman for £1500, but before a conveyance had been executed, Hook agreed to sell to Herbert Mascall Curteis of Windmill Hill Place in Wartling esq for £1600, to whom a conveyance was executed on 20 Sep 1870 (1/3)

Curtei purchased the neighbouring Fareham Farm see AMS6117 on 22 June 1871 and on 2 Mar 1876 mortgaged both properties to Percy Tew of Woolgreaves near Wakefield esq owner of the Brigtling Park estate and George Edgar Frere of 28 Lincolns Inn Fields esq for £2400 at 4% (1/1)

The mortgagees reconveyed on 6 July 1881 and on 20 Sep Curteis conveyed Beards and Fareham, occupied by Harriet Barnes, to William Barnes of Brighton gent for £2,400 (1/6, reciting AMS6117/12. On 21 Mar 1882 Barnes, of Brighton, executed a declaration under s65 of the Law of Property Act 1881 enlarging the 1000-year term created by the mortgage of 1773 into a fee simple (1/5). On 6 May 1882 Barnes paid £42 11s 3d to the Ashburnham estate for the release of seigniory of the farms, parts of which were held as a tenement of the manor of Dallington, once Tuttys and Pankhursts, late Foords, rents 3s, and as a tenement of the manor of Wartling, once John Baker's and late Noakes, rent 5s 4½d (1/6)

On 29 Sep 1894 Barnes sold Beards Farm, occupied by DT Baker, to Lilly Martin of Hailsham, beerhouse-keeper, for £1,200. The requisitions, answered by Livesay Woolley & Bevis of Brighton for the vendor on 12 Sep, revealed that Barnes was accustomed to plough up the footpath across the farm, which was 'very little used' (1/7-9)

By his will of 29 May 1900, Lilly Martin, of the Railway Tavern Hailsham, bequeathed the property to trustees for the lifetime of his daughter Harriet Elizabeth Strudwick, with remainder in trust for sale. Martin died at 14 Talbot Terrace Lewes on 23 Feb 1902, and on 17 Dec 1935 the successor of the original trustees (named) mortgaged Beards, occupied by Harold Wilfred Keeley, to the trustees of Court Perseverance number 3918 of the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society (named) for £500. Harriet Elizabeth Stredwick died at 14 Talbot Terrace on 15 June 1937, the Foresters reconveyed on 16 Sep 1937, and on 22 Mar 1938 the trustees conveyed Beards to the tenant, Harold Wilfred Keeley, for £950, of which £750 was raised by mortgage to the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Ltd (1/10-14)

On 24 June 1946 Mr Keeley executed an agreement permitting Hailsham RDC to deposit refuse in a copse on the estate (plan), paying £5 a year (1/15). Mr Keeley agreed to sell Beards to Margaret Winifred Watson of Ditchling widow for £5000, and on 25 Oct 1949 Mrs Watson agreed to sell to Raymond James Douglas Knightley Heal of Oaklands, Beckley, for £7000. The contract incorporates schedules containing a detailed list of the farm stock; the conveyance was executed on 17 Nov 1949, when the AMC mortgage was paid off, a £4000 mortgage obtained from the State Building Society and the property insured (detailed description) with the Eagle Star Insurance Company (1/16-20)

On 14 Apr 1955 Mr Heal obtained a further advance of £750 from the building society, which on 14 Nov 1969 was taken over by the Abbey National Building Society. On 3 Oct 1961 Mr Heal granted Helen Dilnot, the owner of Fareham Cottage, the right to run a water-pipe across Beards Farm from Fareham Bridge to the cottage. The Abbey National acknowledged receipt of the sums advanced by both mortgages on 26 Nov 1974 (1/21-23)