The Old Gatehouse

About 50 years ago, most of Manor Farm on the north of the High Street was sold off to build a factory which processed chickens for selling in supermarkets. Then the chicken factory was sold, at about the same time as Hazelwood Farm was sold, and all the houses known as The Park were built. The large building on the left is the only old building on The Park, and is over 100 years old. When it was built it was known as 'Park View', and during the early 1800s was the home of Major General George Bowness, an Indian Army officer who retired to Sutton Benger. Later it was the home of Joseph Hull, a Grocer and Wine Merchant with a shop where La Flambé dining room is now. It was then the home of Henry Beauchamp Harrison, the Land Agent or manager of the Draycot Estate. After the Estate Sale in 1920 it was sold as one of the biggest houses in the village, and became known as ‘Stoneleigh’. It was divided into flats in about 1950, and then became the offices for the chicken factory. It has now been renamed as 'The Old Gatehouse' and is a family home once again.