Old Wharf Farm
Yardley Gobion

Yardley Wharf - a painting by Isabella Sams, dated September 1876

The Grand Junction Canal was commenced in 1793 and opened for traffic in 1801. Owing to construction difficulties, goods were transhipped at Stoke Bruerne or Blisworth and conveyed in trucks on a railway to Blisworth or Stoke and thence by water again, until in 1805 the great tunnel under Blisworth Hill was completed and the canal navigable throughout its length from Brentford to Braunston where it was joined by the Oxford Canal.

Locally boats were called Barges but the correct name is Narrowboats. A wharf seems to have been constructed at Yardley in 1801 on land belonging to the Duke of Grafton, and was his property. It appears to have been let on a yearly tenancy to anyone who was prepared to have a go, but very few details have come to light about the early days. A licence to sell ale was granted, primarily no doubt for the benefit of the boatmen.

Until it was demolished some time after 1920 there was a large stone cottage a few yards to the left of the present house, and as the original out buildings are also of stone, it seems likely that it was the first Wharf house or Alehouse and that the present brick - built house came later.

The first landlord of the pub was Edward Charlton who was there from 1801 to at least 1828 when the alehouse records ceased to be available. In 1906 it was found that fish were being poached and Charlton was appointed to keep a watch in an endeavour to stop it. Poachers were threatened with prosecution. The same year, a stout barge of 70 tons lying at the wharf was advertised for sale, no other details were given.

Mr. John Roper of Potterspury, land agent to the Duke, who held periodical auction sales of his sheep from 1806 to 1820, when it was stated that a good dinner for 2/- a head would be provided by Charlton after the sale. The 1820 dinner was to consist partly of venison. The pub was referred to as the Grand Junction, sometimes the Navigation, and once in 1822 as the Peace & Plenty. No information about the actual wharf or what Charlton did besides keep the pub is available until 1838 Wm. Druce and Robert Warr announced their intention to supply coals, coke, deals, slates, bricks, tiles , lime, corn, hay, malt, hops etc. Alas, this venture was not successful as two years later the partnership was dissolved, and a sale by Order of the Sheriff offered two coal boats, two mares, two sets of gearing, and three flock beds and blankets.

In 1845 a Miss Sarah Wells was listed as the landlady of the pub. She gave evidence in a trial of three men accused of stealing a valuable mare from a Puxley farmer. According to the Northampton Mercury Sgt. Gwynn of Potterspury and Inspector Kirby of Towcester searched diligently in all directions, the mare being discovered hauling a boat of coals towards London! The police went down to Boxmoor by train and awaited the arrival of the boat there. They arrested the men, all from Deanshanger, two of whom were known to be desperate characters. Two were acquitted and the other transported for life. Miss Wells was at the pub until at least 1849. She was probably employed by James Weston who was in Kelly's Directory of 1847 as farmer, landlord of The Packhorse, and wharfinger. By 1854 she had been replaced by a Miss Hard or Hurd.

In 1860 James Weston was sued in connection with a load of hay bought at Buckingham and delivered by boat to Yardley Wharf. The verdict was in his favour. The 1861 census shows John Weston aged 25, at the pub, described as victualler and farmer's son, with a housekeeper and carter living in. Frederick, another son of James was running the Packhorse, with younger brother and a housekeeper. James and Emma, the parents, were living in a farmhouse soon afterwards demolished, on the land upon which Elmstead and The Red House were afterwards erected, and sold by James.

In April 1862 James Weston advertised that he was leaving the Wharf and had for sale; boat building plant, tools, 3 canal boats, 3 timber carriages, 3 carts, 2 wagons etc. and household furniture.

James Weston was succeeded by James Warren who left the Reindeer at Potterspury where he had been landlord since 1845. His brother Daniel had established a successful business at Cosgrove as brewer and publican, hay, straw, and coal dealer. He built the first brewery at Cosgrove, but after his death it was rebuilt by Francis Bull. James Warren was listed as wharfinger, victualler, coal dealer and farmer.

Just before Christmas 1875 the steam tug 'Pincher' laden with 13 tons of potash and towing 5 boats with different cargoes arrived at the wharf at 4 a.m., and had a load of maize for someone at Yardley. They had to wait until 5.30 a.m. when work commenced on the wharf. At 5a.m. the boiler exploded and the noise awoke all the village. Occupants of the other boats and P.C. Wilson, the village policeman, hurried to the scene and got the men out. The boat sank. At the inquest it was stated that two men had died of brain haemorrhage, they were not scalded. The Captain, an old man, was asleep and the boat left in charge of a young man. The Captain said he had never known the men to gag valves, but the Resident Engineer of the Steam Boat Dept. said that there was nothing wrong with the valve and it must have been gagged. He knew men did it and always discharged anyone caught. It was common practice and very dangerous.

The verdict was that there was no evidence to show the cause of the explosion. It was recommended that the men should have printed instructions; two men should not be asleep at the same time; men under 20 should not drive; and the Coroner concurred, adding that an old man like the Captain should be pensioned off.

In addition to the 19 acres of land which went with the Wharf, James Warren rented two fields at the back of the village where the new houses now stand. He was walking around fields on a Sunday in 1882 when he collapsed and died. The Wharf business was carried on by his widow with some assistance by her son James Daniel (known as Dan). Towards the end of his mother's life, Dan and his family left their home in the village and moved into Wharf Farm. When she died in 1899, Dan would have liked to take over the tenancy but he did not wish to give up his job in the Stores Office at Wolverton Railway Works. The Railway Company would not allow their employees to hold a licence, so having to make the choice Dan decided to give up the Wharf. The next tenant was William Wentworth from Braunston, and his son William succeeded him until 1914, at least. Kelly's Directories were not published during the Great War.

1920 the Wharf was included in the sale of sale of the Duke's property when E.T. Cooper was the tenant at £90.00 per annum. The cottage and its buildings were included, and the total acreage was 43a. 1r. 39p. so evidently included the two fields adjoining Horton's field. It was not sold then, and was again offered at a sale with other unsold properties sometime between 1934 and 1939. It was then bought by T. Oakley for £850, the acreage then shown as 19a. 3r. 30p. The cottage by then had been demolished. Kelly's 1940 (the last Kelly's to be published) showed the tenant as William John Clinton Evans. - he being son-in-law of Cooper. It appears that Oakley sold the Wharf to Lord Hesketh. Evans took a farm at Ashton and arranged to let the Wharf house to an evacuee from London, but Lord Hesketh would not allow this, and granted the tenancy to William Edward Warren, who had left the Coffee Pot public house owing to a sharp decline in business due to petrol rationing. Lord Hesketh later sold the Wharf to Warren for £475 who resold to George Button for £575, but stayed on as his tenant. On Button's death in 1954 the Wharf was again put up for sale, and bought by Warren's son-in-law Norman Tombs of Calverton. He had cattle in the fields looked after by Ted Warren who had been a farmer in his younger days. The canal was still in quite busy commercial usage at this time.

Apparently the boatmen, mainly employees of Fellows Moreton and Clayton, would give Lucy Warren different types of stone that they were carrying for her rockery, this being a purple-streaked variety from Leicestershire called Archil stone which was broken up locally and used for road making.

When the Warrens left the Wharf in 1967 on account of Mrs. Warren's arthritis, Tombs sold the house and outbuildings to Donald and Anne Hathaway for £7,000 but kept the fields. In September 1980 the Hathaways sold to Clive and Margaret Perry for £43,000, who remained, carrying out considerable alterations to the property, until June 1982 when they sold to John and Suzy Bowen for £67,000. In June 1985 the Bowens then acquired the rest of the estate, 18 odd acres as it then was, from Norman Tombs for £42,000, so they now had the farm as it was in the 40s although considerably altered and improved. As it was the Bowens' idea to make more use of the canal frontage they decided to build a dry-dock on the site of the old mud dock which had been in place since the 1800s. In order to raise money for this project, in September 1985 they sold the two farthest fields (of approx 11.5 acres in total) to Maurice Widdecombe for £24,000 whilst keeping covenants over said land and restricting its use to agricultural purposes. John Bowen also assumed the task of restoring the ground floor of the stone building which formed part of the canal accommodation bridge. This two-storey barn was completely destroyed by fire sometime between the Wars. In 1990 the Bowens sold off a strip of land, adjacent to the A508 and the farm lane, to Northamptonshire County Council for £24,000. This was to be used for the new Yardley Gobion bypass.

In May 1996 John Bowen sold the farm (approx. 7.5 acres by this time) including all the buildings to Alan Paine.