A History of Fox Corner, Pirbright

The house is a Grade II Listed Building.  We have copied the particulars (written in 1967) below.  The writer at the time did not know about the later discoveries (in 1984), and so their opinion as to the date is certainly wrong.

C17 with C20 extensions to left end. Brown brick with some stone to ground floor centre right on rendered plinth, plain tiled roofs. 2 storeys with attics in gabled bays; leaded attic casement windows. Plat band over ground floors and also over first floor of gabled bays. Large triple diagonal stacks on rectangular plinth to left of centre, double stack to right end on crow-stepped plinth, under diagonal brick dentil top, and large square multiple stack to centre rear of house. Old front symmetrical, end gable bays with one 3-light casement window on each floor and evidence of previous, blocked windows under brick keystone heads. One 4-light casement window to centre and smaller window to right. Half glazed door to centre between flanking windows. One bay extension to left end in similar style. Right hand return front: new main entrance with six panel door, top two panels glazed, under cambered head and heavy projecting hood on brackets. C20 extensions to right.  Interior: ceiling beams exposed, deep brick fireplaces.

The barn on the Ash Road on the immediate east side of the drive leading to Bakersgate is also Grade II listed, but this forms part of Bakersgate Courtyard, which has its own separate section above.  

Bakersgate – The owners and occupants

Much of the material below on Bakersgate derives from the painstaking research carried out by Val Patrick, great-great granddaughter of one of the tenant farmers of Bakersgate in the 19th century.  We are very much indebted to her for this work.  

But let’s start at the beginning.  It seems highly probable that the house dates back to the 1400’s, and that the early occupants were named Baker – hence the name, Bakersgate.  Bakersgate was a large plot, and it was owned freehold (rather than copyhold, which means owned by the Lord of Pirbright Manor, as so many other Pirbright farms were).  It therefore seems to us that from the earliest days, it was likely to have belonged to the core part of the Baker family (ie it was handed down from father Baker to eldest son through the generations, as was the custom).  It seems possible that originally the Bakersgate farmland was carved out of the heath by one of the early Bakers, who lived at the hall house in the 1400’s, but this is seriously straying into pure guess work.

Local occurrences of the surname Baker (or derivations thereof) go back a long way, notably John Baker of Worplesdon (1317), Nicholas ate Beck (1332), John Baker (1558), and Phyllis Baker, a widow of Pirbright (1559).  It would be convenient (and likely) to think that these people were connected with Bakersgate, but there is no evidence for this, and again it would be guesswork.

The name Bakersgate was not recorded in either the 1548 or 1574 surveys of Pirbright.  But a farm called “Preylonde” appears in the 1548 survey (recorded as “Preylande” in 1574).  We think this may have been the name for Bakersgate at the time, as the 1807 survey records one of the Bakersgate fields as being called “Prey Meadow”.  The owner of Preylande in 1574 was one Richard Bynding.

But a little later, things start to connect better.  We can state with reasonable confidence that, from the late 1500’s onwards, Bakersgate was owned by the Baker family, specifically a gentleman called John Baker (1568-1626).  We assume that this John Baker was a descendant of the original Baker family (maybe 7 or 8 generations down the tree), but there is no evidence to support this.  

During the next 200 years (until 1798), Bakersgate was owned by 5 different John Bakers, each being the eldest son (or in 1 case, grandson) of the previous John Baker.  We have set out the detail of what we know about these gentlemen and their families in a separate section on the Baker family.  In case you are hesitating whether or not to look at some pretty heavy genealogical detail in that section, here are the “highlights”:

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• In his will of 1626, John Baker divided his lands into 2 parts:  A Pirbright part (principally Bakersgate), and a Worplesdon part (various farms in the Littlefield area).  He bequeathed the 2 parts to different children and from that point on, the Baker family spilt into 2 branches – one in Pirbright and the other in Worplesdon.  There was an intermarriage – in 1694, when a (Pirbright) John Baker married a (Worplesdon) Mary Baker.  They were 3rd cousins.  However, the 2 branches remained separate.•    

• By the late 1700’s, the Pirbright Bakers were a wealthy family.  The 1771 will of one of the John Bakers included several bequests of land and money.  That will is notable also for John writing that he wanted nothing to do with the husband of one of his daughters.  Oh dear.

• The Pirbright Baker dynasty died out quite rapidly, with the death of yet another John Baker in 1798, followed by the death of his unmarried daughter Elizabeth in 1864.

• One rather surprising aspect is the scarcity of people living today who have posted any information about the early Baker family.  We do know of one descendant who lives in the US.  He can trace his roots to Lawrence Baker, born in 1611, one of the sons of John Baker (1568-1626).  Lawrence emigrated to the US in the early 1600’s, which means that he was one of the first settlers to do so.

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It is difficult to piece together these snippets into a coherent picture, but there clearly was a family of Bakers who were yeomen (farmers) in Pirbright from the 1500’s.    The will of John Baker in 1586 seems to have divided the estate into 2 parts: the largest was in Pirbright (Bakersgate), while the other was in Worplesdon.  From then on, the 2 parts of the family pretty much went their own separate ways.

Let us deal briefly with the Worplesdon part of the family.  Andersel Hall and Watford were mentioned in 1626.  Where were these?  In 1841, Watford Meadow was a 3 acre plot, part of a large (155 acre) farm at Littlefield (although today it is entirely taken up by a quiet cul-de-sac on the west side of the Fairlands Estate).  We have no clue about Andersel Hall.  The will of Richard Baker in 1722 confirms where the Worplesdon Bakers lived - specifying copyhold land of 8 acres at Littlefield, (today just south of the A323, west of today’s Fairlands Estate).  

From the early 1600’s, the Worplesdon Baker family had became Quakers, and were duly buried at the local Quaker burying place, named appropriately “Burying Place”, close to where Rokers is today, and only half-a-mile from where the Worplesdon Bakers were living.  We have provided a bit more detail about the Worplesdon Bakers in the Baker family section.

But now back to the main business – the Pirbright Bakers.  It is not until 1718 that we first come across a document definitively tying a Baker to Bakersgate:  A gentleman called John Baker surrendered a property to (a different) John Baker of Baker’s Gate.  This is a piece of concrete evidence to link the Bakers with Bakersgate, but as we have already stated, other strong evidence, albeit less concrete, suggests that the link was actually formed hundreds of years earlier.  

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After another subtle reminder that – for those that are interested - a fuller Baker history is here, we will fast forward to the end of the Baker dynasty in 1798, when the then owner of Bakersgate, John Baker, died without leaving any male heir.  His wife Elizabeth (to whom he left his properties) was presumably not interested in farming, and was quite happy to say goodbye to rural Pirbright.  Accordingly she put Bakersgate up for sale, and moved (with her daughter Elizabeth) to another Baker property – Stoughton Place (later demolished to make way for Stoughton Barracks).  Thus ended the Baker dynasty at Bakersgate, which had lasted perhaps 300-400 years.

The purchaser of Bakersgate was Samuel Greenfield, born in Woking in 1746 and we will call him from now on Samuel Greenfield III.  

Samuel III’s story starts with Samuel Greenfield I, born c1690, who was a carpenter of Shackleford (which was the western end of today’s Old Woking).  He married Elizabeth (nee Goodyer) at Send in 1714 and they had 4 children, the 3rd of whom was Samuel Greenfield II (born 1720).  Samuel I died at Woking in 1762 (described in the official records as “Samuel Greenfield the eldest”, to distinguish him from his son and grandson, both called Samuel), Elizabeth having died in 1752.

Samuel Greenfield II (1720-1795) was, like his father, a carpenter in Woking, probably at the same location in Shackleford where his father had lived.  We know little about him, but there is one fact of interest:  In December 1745, Samuel II married a lady named Anne Lawford in Worplesdon and 6 months later Samuel III was born.  As we will see below, Anne gives her name to the area of Worplesdon later known as Lawfords, which even today includes a road named Lawford’s Hill Road.  This area is the subject of another major section on this site (Lawford's Hill).  Anne herself was probably unaware of this honour – it was likely bestowed several years after her death (in 1774).  They had no other children.

In 1776 Samuel II remarried, to Sarah Howard, who was 12 years his junior.  Sarah was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Howard of Pirbright (but we do not know where in Pirbright they lived).  The marriage took place in Southwark in 1776, which raises a question – Why Southwark?  Interestingly Samuel’s son, Samuel III had married a 17 year-old girl in Southwark 5 years previously (see below).  Were the marriage rules a bit laxer in Southwark at the time?  Or maybe both Samuels wanted to avoid the glare of publicity and gossip in Pirbright.  Another question is why Sarah described herself as a widow from Southwark, when she was single and from Pirbright.  Answers on a postcard please.  

Samuel II’s will from 1795 contains a few interesting matters:

 

• He left his messuage and appurtenances (ie house and contents) in Woking to his (2nd) wife, Sarah during the course of her life (Sarah later died in 1808 in Woking, leaving most of her personal estate – ie her possessions excluding any real estate - to her brothers and sisters, and £10 to Samuel’s grandson, George Greenfield).

• After Sarah’s death, the above property was to pass to Samuel’s grandson, George (which was why it was excluded in Sarah’s 1808 will above).

• He specifically excluded from his own estates all monies which would have come to his wife Sarah had she remained unmarried from the estates of John Howard, Thomas Howard and Jeremiah Howard (her father and 2 of her brothers).  These should remain her property.

• He bequeathed any residue from the estate to his grandson George, who he named as his executor.  George was the eldest son of Samuel III, so it is interesting that Samuel II elected by-pass his only son Samuel III and pass his estate direct to his grandson.  These days, it would be called tax planning, but in the 1790’s the motive would surely have been more prosaic.

Samuel III (1746-1836), born in Woking (probably the tailor’s shop in Shackleford), was the only child of Samuel II and Ann.  He married Mary Sanders in 1771 in Southwark.  Mary Sanders was only 17 when she married, and produced 5 children (George b 1773, Mary b 1774, Elizabeth b 1775, Samuel IV b 1779 and Richard b 1791).  All 5 children survived into adulthood and were long-lived.  All 5 married and had children, except George, who never married.

Despite not having been left any property in his father’s will of 1795, Samuel III was still a wealthy fellow.  By 1800 at the age of 54, he had managed to purchase Bakersgate and various other properties, possibly having been given a large dollop of money by his father some years before.

Samuel III died in Send in 1836, aged 89.  His will (in which he described himself as Samuel Greenfield the eldest of Send) includes the following points of interest to us:

 

1. He ratified the marriage settlement on his wife, Mary (we are not sure what this settlement entailed).

2. He left freehold land and houses in Bridley to his son George.

3. He also left his half-share of some land in Woking (recently purchased from Mrs Attfield) to his son George.

4. He left his freehold and copyhold land and buildings (including farming utensils, growing crops, hay, straw etc) in Pirbright to his son Samuel IV.  This was Bakersgate.

5. He left his freehold and copyhold farmland, and dwellings in Send (including growing crops, live and dead stock, grain, dung, manure etc) to his son Richard.

6. He left to his daughter, Elizabeth Newey, copyhold dwellings and gardens in Woking, which were being let to John Bedford and John Wilcox.

7. Various bequests (sizeable) and annuities, including to his daughter, Mary Stevens.

8. Any residue to Samuel IV, who was also named executor.

You may be wondering where these various properties were.  Fortunately the Tithe Map of 1841, published only 5 years after Samuel III’s death, tells us exactly what we want to know:

The property in Bridley (point 2 above) was almost certainly Lawfords (which was named after Samuel II’s first wife – refer above).  George must have sold it to Samuel IV, as by 1841 it was owned by Samuel IV.  It covered 12 acres of arable land and pasture, and 32 acres of waste.  Lawfords has its own section elsewhere on this site.

The property in Woking (point 3 above) owned by George was called Gongers and covered 19 acres, where The Guru Indian Restaurant, Granville Road and the Loop Road recreation ground (just behind Woking FC) are today.  George himself was living in Town Street, Shackleford (now Old Woking High St), probably in the same house that his grandfather (Samuel II) had bequeathed to him in 1795.  George died and directed that all his property should be sold and the proceeds given to his brother-in-law, Thomas Stevens (husband of George’s sister Mary), after some bequests to Thomas and Mary’s children.  He left nothing to his other siblings or their children.

As we mentioned, the property in point 4 above was Bakersgate, occupied by Samuel IV.

Richard and his family were living at the property in “Send Heath” (point 5 above), which was at that time somewhere off what is now Potters Lane.  In addition he owned 2 acres on the south side of what is now Old Woking High St, not far from the garage on the opposite side of the road.  Richard died in 1858.

Finally, the property in point 6 owned by Elizabeth Newey was about 1/3 of an acre on the south side of what is now Old Woking High St, just west of the mini roundabout turning to Send.  Elizabeth was then living on her own near Bullswater.  She died at Pirbright in 1854.

Samuel Greenfield IV had been born in Send in 1779, and had probably been farming Bakersgate ever since his father had purchased it in 1800.  In 1830 – quite late in his life - he married Elizabeth Waterer, probably born in Woking in 1794.  The marriage took place in Windsor, thereby continuing the Greenfield tradition of marrying somewhere several miles from where the couple lived.  

Samuel and Elizabeth had 3 children:  Henry was born in 1832, Elizabeth in 1833 and William in 1838 (but he died later the same year).

 
As an aside, the 1808 Woking parish register records the birth of a Charlotte Jelley to Elizabeth Jelley and Samuel Greenfield.  Against Samuel’s name, the church officer wrote “Reputed Father”, which might be considered libellous today.  The gentleman concerned was probably from a different Greenfield family to our Greenfields, but who knows?

In 1836, Samuel IV became the owner of Bakersgate on his father’s death.  Almost immediately, a William Moth (alias Smith) was convicted of stealing 3 bags of wheat from Samuel.  His sentence was transportation for 7 years (which seems a bit harsh to us nowadays).

In 1846 Elizabeth (Samuel’s wife) died aged 52, and at that point Samuel must have decided that, at the age of 67, enough was enough, and he rented the farm out to a John Corbett.  Samuel moved out of Bakersgate and from 1846 was renting a large 5-bedroom residence with 3 acres at Perry Hill, Worplesdon from a Henry Daborn.

Then in 1854 Samuel IV died (living in Guildford, but buried in Pirbright – below is a photo of the gravestone of Samuel and Elizabeth, now partly illegible).