Elm Tree Farm, now sadly closed, was one of the oldest farms in the village, though it was not until later than 1900, that the farm was so named.

The farm was off Main Street and stretched from Rock Corner to Back Lane.

The present farm house is an old building.  The pitch of the roof, when viewed from inside the attic clearly indicates that previously it had a thatched roof.

This farm site has been sold (2005) and planning permission has previously been granted for the site to be redeveloped.  Some of the old farm buildings will be converted into private dwellings.  This redevelopment has now started and soon this old farm site will come back to life and again become part of life in the village.

1829.  The Rev. Samuel Martin of Warsop qualified as an elector by owning a House and Land occupied by John Warner.  This was the property that subsequently became known as Elm Tree Farm.

1832.  Samuel Warner of Palterton qualified as an elector as an occupier, the nature of qualification being £50 and upwards.

My research covered each year, but particular years, my notes have been lost.

1836.  Rev. Samuel Martin of Warsop qualified as an elector because he owned a Freehold House and Land occupied by Samuel Warner.  This was the property that subsequently became known as Elm Tree Farm.

1838 to 1859.  These twenty one years saw the Rev. Samuel Martin continue to qualify as an elector in Palterton because he owned a Freehold House and Land that was occupied by Samuel Warner, who also qualified as an elector in the £50 and upwards qualification.

1841.  The census reveals that Samuel Warner, a farmer and his family together with four servants lived at this farm.

1850.  The Tithe Award revealed the Rev. Samuel Martin owned a House, buildings, garden, yard and orchard that was occupied by Samuel Warner.  This was the property that subsequently became known as Elm Tree Farm.

1851.  The census reveals that Samuel Warner, his wife and family still reside at this farm.  He is aged 53 years, a farmer of 114 acres with 3 servants.  He was born in Palterton.

1860.  The Rev. Samuel Martin did not qualify as an elector and neither does Samuel Warner.  There had been a change of ownership.

1860.  I believe that John Oldfield an Earthenware manufacturer of Brampton, Chesterfield purchased the property from the estate of the Rev. Samuel Martin.  John Olfield the new owner purchased the farm with a mortgage from the Sheffield Banking Company.

1860.  Samuel Warner aged 62 years died and was buried in the churchyard at Scarcliffe Parish church.  So the property subsequently known as Elm Tree Farm would soon have both a new owner and tenant!

1861.  The census reveals that Ann Warner, a widow and her family occupy the property.  She had three servants and farms 115 acres.  She and her family must have left after the census was taken.

1871.  I cannot identify the occupier of the farm on the census.

1878.  24 July.  The owner John Oldfield died.  Shortly afterwards on 29 October his Will was proved by his two sons John and Thomas Oldfield in the Derby District Registry of the Probate Division of the High Court of Justice.

1879.  13 September.  Ownership of the farm passed to his two sons John and Thomas Oldfield as did the sum of £5,360 owing to the Banking Company on the security of the equitable mortgage.

The Banking Company required payment of the same sum but the two brothers were unable to pay it.  The two brothers applied to and requested mortgagees to pay the same to the Banking Company and also to advance them a further sum of £640 making the debt £6,000.  The mortgagees agreed to their request.  It appears the £6,000 plus interest had to be repaid on the 13 March 1880.

1879.  16 October.  An action of which the short title is "John Oldfields Estate - Oldfield v Oldfield 1879 Action No.48 was commenced in the Chancery Division of the High Courts of Justice in which the said John Oldfield the son was Plaintiff and his brother Thomas Oldfield the defendant for the administration of the estate.  This court Action appears to have taken several years to resolve.  The farm remained owned by the Oldfield family until 1896, when it was sold.

1881.  2 February.  John Oldfield junior died.  His Will was dated 14 January 1880.  He bequeathed all his real and personal estates unto and to the use of his two sisters Fanny Oldfield and Sarah Oldfield.

1881.  I cannot identify the occupier of the farm on the census.

1883.  3 April.  Thomas Oldfield died leaving a Will dated 10 June 1881.  He left all his real and personal estate to Elizabeth Aisworth.  He appointed John Bunting his Executor and his Will was proved by him on the 1 June 1883.

1884.  9 October.  The farm described as "said real estate" was put up for auction but was not sold.

1884.  Hugh Palfreyman and his family moved to Palterton from Ashover, Derbyshire and occupied Elm Tree Farm.  He was born in 1842.

He remained in the village for many years until his death.  During his life in the village he became a character, well respected and took an active part in the sporting life of the village.  He was one of the first people in the village to own a motor car.

1885.  A small part of the farm land comprising 3roods 39perches located in the three Wheatley Fields were conveyed to the Midland Railway Company.  That land was for the new railway line.

1891.  The census reveals Hugh Palfreyman, a farmer on his own account, aged 59 years born Wirksworth living with his wife Mary, aged 58 years born Tansley, Derbyshire.  They have two daughters Ruth aged 17 years, born Tansley and May aged 14 years, born Palterton, living with them.  They are stated to be living at a Farm House.  This was Elm Tree Farm but had not been so named at that time.

1896.  13 August.  The Sheepbridge Coal and Iron Company Limited purchased the property for £4,000.  The property consisted of "all this the pieces or closes of land messuage or tenement and hereditments situate in the township of Palterton and Riley or one of them in the parish of Scarcliffe ......... together with all mines and minerals in and under the said land and also all coal and ironstone under such part of the Midland Railway as runs through some of the said lands."

It did not include all unused seams or beds of coal, ironstone or other minerals lying in and under such parts as were formerly of copyhold tenure called The Least Wheatley Field which part contained about 2 acres.

The total area conveyed to the Sheepbridge Company was 53acres 2roods 27perches.

1910.  Hugh Palfreyman is shown on the Electoral Roll as qualifying for a vote in Palterton by virtue of owning property at Holestone Moor, Ashover, Derbyshire.  He did not own Elm Tree Farm, he was a tenant.

1916.  Hugh Palfreyman left the farm and moved across the road (Main Street) to live in Orchard Terrace in a house that he had built.  He died in 1926.

1916/17.  The Butler family arrived in Palterton and occupied Elm Tree Farm.

George William Butler had been a farm manager at a big farm in Stainton (probably Stainforth), near Doncaster, South Yorkshire before moving to Palterton with his wife Grace Ida and daughter Dorothy Grace.  Their second daughter Mary was born in 1917, shortly after their arrival in the village.

At that time Elm Tree Farm was still owned by the Sheepbridge Coal and Iron Company Limited.  Years later George W. Butler purchased the farm and land from that company.

Throughout the time that George W. Butler farmed this farm, he specialised in pigs.  Always he kept a few cows, usually three and during the 1940s, sold milk to people in the village.  Mostly his youngest daughter Mary Milner nee Butler delivered the milk on what was known as a 'milk round'.

He kept many of his pigs on the croft where hundreds of years earlier the Chantry Chapel had stood, above Rock Corner.

He was the first farmer in Palterton to grow potatoes as a crop.  In his early days in the village, he rented some land down Northfield Lane from Mr. Shacklock and more land down Rylah Hill from Hugh Palfreyman.

1954.  After suffering ill health for some time and intentionally gradually "running down" the farm, George W. Butler and his wife retired from farming and moved to Market Rason.  There was a sale of all his farming stock, machinery and household effects.  It is believed the sale was conducted by W. T. Parker, auctioneer of Chesterfield.

However within three months of retiring George W. Butler died.

1954.  The Eaton family moved to Palterton and occupied Elm Tree Farm, taking over from George W. Butler.  Reg. Eaton, his wife and two daughters had lived in nearby Bolsover..  I have been told by his daughter Gill, they moved in late March.

Prior to purchasing the farm, Reg. Eaton had been a "self employed" farm labourer, working on several farms whenever they required his labour.  It was the practice for some farmers to leave a notice outside their farm gate asking him to contact them.

1987.  19 November.  Sadly Reg Eaton died and was buried a few days later at the parish church at Ault Hucknall.  He was of Glapwell which is in the parish of Ault Hucknall.  Throughout his life, he had been a hard working, kind family man.

After his death, the farm continued to exist in the hands of his widow.

Additional Information.
Elm Tree Farm, Palterton.  Possible medieval masonry reused in the long barn.
(from notes by Peter Hill, Stone & Historic Building Consultant)

Interior of the Stone Barn.
1.  The head of a square-headed window has been reused in the right-hand jamb of a doorway, now blocked. The piece is 735 x 140mm (29" x 5'/z").  The window opening appears to have been about 405mm (16") but the right-hand end of the splay is damaged.  There are unreadable toolmarks on the splay indicating that it was a head.  If it had been a sill the splay would have been more weathered.  The left-hand end of the stone, visible in the reveal of the doorway, is damaged.  The right-hand end is visible in the jamb of a small opening but has been worked off for reuse, probably with a pitching tool.

2.  A similar window head is built into the wall, 530mm (21 ") above present ground level.  It is 735 x 140mm (29" x 5%2").  The window opening is about 405mm (16") but the lower edge and part of the splay are hidden by mortar.  Unreadable traces of toolmarks on the splay confirm that it was a head rather than a sill.

Exterior
3.  At the north end of the west elevation of the stone wall (which continues northward in brick), in the garden of Chapel Close, is a small ventilation slit of which the south jamb is formed by a splayed stone.  The fillet on the wall face and the splay are both weathered, but the reveal has clearly been worked as a joint.  It appears to be originally from a plinth course.

Dating
None of the reused stones is datable.  They could belong to to any period from the 12th to the 19th century.
Acknowledement: Peter Hill, Stone and Historic Building Consultant.