A Brief History of Old Moor Farm (1516 to present day)
To my knowledge the very first mention of Old Moor is in the two Tudor surveys of 1516 and 1620. I am hoping that sometime in the near future it will be possible to include extracts from the surveys on this website. In 1516 and 1620 Old Moor was unenclosed with no buildings on site. Moor indicated that the land was marshy and less productive for agriculture.
In 1755 the Old Moor Farm was built by the Wombwell family who were major landowners in the area at that time. Old Moor Farm sat on the Dearne flood plain so natural flooding was a problem. It was kept in check to some extent by embanking and drainage . This allowed arable farming to be practised for around 200 years until the farm closed in the 1990s.
Following the death of William Wombwell in 1731 his legacy was divided between his two daughters , Margaret and Elizabeth. Second daughter, Elizabeth Wombwell married Sir Charles Turner but it was Margaret who would inherit Old Moor. In 1761 Margaret married Colonel Anthony St Leger esquire, nephew to the First Viscount Doneraile (Peerage of Ireland). Anthony St Leger was reputed to have been training his horses on Old Moor Farm and there are a series of old newspaper articles and notices to that effect. St Leger and Margaret Wombwell sold Old Moor Farm to The Second Marquis of Rockingham in 1776. 1776 was probably the most significant date in the history of Old Moor.
Anthony St Leger and The Marquis of Rockingham would create something very special in late 1776. ….. The St Leger Classic horse race. So special that this race is the oldest of The Classic horse races in the world. It is still being run annually today and Old Moor have been invited to be part of the 250th Anniversary celebrations at Doncaster in September 2026.
From 1776 when the Rockingham/Fitzwilliam family purchased Old Moor, tenant farmers would be occupying the site. Significantly only two families lived here from 1776 until it’s closure in the late 1990s. The Brooke family from 1776 until 1939 and the Gascoigne family from 1939 until 1998.
The Brooke family were originally yeoman farmers from Braithwell near Rotherham. Indeed some of the early Brooke family that worked and died at Old Moor are found to be buried in Braithwell churchyard. The size of the tombs at Braithwell indicates the importance of the family locally.
During the Brooke tenancy it was horses that would again play a significant part as it did previously during the Wombwell/St Leger occupancy. Several of the Brooke family would play their part as members of the South West Yorkshire Yeomanry Cavalry. Contact with descendants of the family has revealed artifacts from their time at Old Moor. These include a family diary, a Yeomanry Cavalry Regimental diary and a presentation sword , a wonderful insight into the life here in the 1800s. Living here for 160 years has thrown up the inevitable characters. None better than George Brooke born in 1810 at OM. He was one of George and Ann’s eight children. Auctioneer and Land Agent, earning a living buying and selling goods from abroad. Among them port wine, cotton and oil in substantial quantities carried aboard ships from places like Hamburg and Rotterdam . George managed to get his fingers burnt a couple of times in court for bending the rules. Or Sarah (Daisy) Brooke. A single woman who along with her sister Ethel were the last two Brooke’s to occupy OM after the death of their father Joseph in 1938. What a woman, Daisy. Served with the Red Cross at Middlewood Hall, Darfield and Leeds during the First World War. She played her part running the farm but during the period between the two wars was a keen pilot. Daisy was known to have been taking part in the Flying Circus which graced the farm between the two world wars. Flying the planes , not just watching.
The period between WW1 and WW2 was known as the ’Flying Circus Era’. Between around 1926 and 1938 Old Moor Farm hosted an annual air show. It was held by a series of different companies and saw pilots showing off their skills in a variety of small and medium sized aircraft. Loop the loop, wing walking and any number of other tricks were being performed. Audience participation too, four or five shillings would buy you a flight …. no seat belts of course.
The Gascoigne family would take over from the Brooke family in 1939 as war broke out. A new era for OM. A family member tells of how they were organic farmers back in the sixties and the seventies long before it became fashionable and necessary. Notably the farm did not have electricity until late in the 1960’s. The Gascoigne family farmed here for 60 or so years but for well over 100 years have farmed in the Dearne and Thurnscoe area.
Then the final chapter in our history covering the last 50 or so years. It takes us through the end of coal mining in the Dearne Valley, a time when these parts were known to be the dirtiest most polluted place in Europe. Takes us to the paradise we have now, a Sight of Special Scientific Interest. Quite some turn around I think. The turmoil in these years has been there for all to see. Before mining began to close down in the 1980’s there had been a hard core of individuals for some 30 or so years fighting to establish a home for nature. Affectionately known as ‘the old birders’. What we have today is almost ‘job complete’. Thanks to these people, many of whom are still with us today we are all able to enjoy Old Moor. They had a vision, the vision was turned into reality, now we need to watch over it for our children.
Alvin Hickling
Old Moor Farm 