Rookery Farm Chewton Mendip

Rookery Farm is a relatively common name and there is a Rookery Farm in many villages  including Green Ore but this Rookery Farm on of the last remaining working farms in Chewton Mendip. It is generally described as being in the West End Tithing. A monkey puzzle tree can be seen on the right hand side of the picture which is a distinctive feature that identifies this farm in older pictures.

The extract from the 1794 map shows a building in field 374 which may be a representation of the building seen in the photograph. The 1839 map supports this theory. The modern farm-yard may have altered or destroyed the other buildings. Rookery Farm is not mentioned in either the  18th century churchwarden accounts or the poor book but there are several possibilities for who the tenants were.

One possible clue is the style of the doorway. It is unusual but identical to the doorway in East End Farm. The Waldegraves owned land in East End at the time but the majority of the land was owned by the Hippisleys and it is believed they owned what is now called East End Farm at the time. The Curtis  and  Yorke families were tenets of both landowners and were recorded as paying rates in both tithing so they may have been responsible for the enhancement of both properties.

Members of the Loxton family were tenants in the Victorian era and were superseded by the James family in the early 19th century. It was farmed by Tommy Thompson in the 1950s.