THE OPENING CEREMONY 1948

 Brochure to be added soon

THE ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT OF BROOMFIELD

After the Second World War the Government's Loveday Committee recommended that an Institute for Agricultural Education be set up in each county and money made available for this purpose. The County Education Committee was well aware of the industry's need for well trained and educated agricultural technicians and the idea of a Farm Institute as a full time agricultural education centre was conceived.

At this time the Broomfield estate at Morley came onto the market and the Derbyshire Committee, led by J.R.Bond, acted quickly and bought Broomfield Hall from the Crompton family. Mrs Crompton, the widow of the owner, was taken up with the idea of the Farm Institute and agreed to sell the hall and the complete estate to Derbyshire County Council to establish this teaching centre for the county. Thus, in May 1947, the Broomfield Hall estate was purchased and opened later that year as the County Farm Institute.

The estate consisted of Broomfield Hall and six farms in a total of 500 acres of which 4lI were farmland , 12 woodland and the remainder formal grounds. The purpose of the Institute was:

"to provide the facilities necessary for the training and education of people intending to make their career in agriculture, in an attempt to meet the farmer's need for a higher degree of technical knowledge and managerial skill"

The Farm Institute operated temporarily as an Agricultural Training Centre for ex-servicemen and received it's first 36 students on 28th November 1947 . A minimum of twenty places was required to be set aside for ex-servicemen for the first few years and the remaining places were filled with County students.

Dormitory in the old hall 1947/1948

 

When Broomfield opened the demand for places greatly exceeded the accommodation available but the initial development plan allowed for expansion and the main criteria for entry of County students was that they had spent a year working on a farm and that the Education Committee thought they would benefit from the course.

The mature ex-servicemen received resettlement grants and were paid a weekly allowance. Their main aim was to gain the expertise necessary to set up their own farms.

The Broomfield estate farms were not taken over officially by the Farm Institute until Lady Day in March of 1948 and until then students had to be transported in "War Ag" lorries to various farms in the county to be shown farming and cultivation techniques.

The 1948 session was also an ex-servicemens' course and it was not until 1949 that the Farm Institute was able to take on its true role as the full time agricultural training centre for the county giving instruction, technical information and practical skills to the young men of Derbyshire.

In less than a year from authorisation of purchase Derbyshire Farm Institute was working with a full complement of students.

 

Common Room in the front room of the old hall

 

J.R.Bond was the first Principal of the Farm Institute and initially had to divide his time between the Agricultural Institute in St. Mary's Gate, Derby, nd Broomfield. The final move of all agricultural education to Broomfield was rather sudden and occurred in 1952.

For a period of time the offices were in a Nissen hut on the terrace !

The college developed with the addition of residential and teaching accommodation. The first of these was the construction of a men's hostel in 1954 which provided up-to-date residential facilities for 32 students and an assembly hall. With this new building completed the students were able to enjoy more spacious quarters and office staff were 'brought inside' from their temporary accommodation, in the Nissen hut, to form a complete Agricultural Education Office at Broomfield.

Considerable further developments on the Broomfield farms and Institute followed. Many still consider that the establishment of Broomfield and its early development as a successful Farm Institute remain to the credit of "J.R.B". 1953 saw the end of 40 years service by J.R.B. who retired in December.

War and depression had tried to quell the flames of education but the embers had been kept alive and were now burning brightly! Mr Bond's successor, Mr Peter Missen, arrived at Broomfield in April 1951, by this time the ex-servicemen had been replaced by typical farm students - youngsters who had had at least one year's experience on the farm.

In September 1955 the number of students was boosted by the introduction of girls to the college on a general agricultural course. Ten enrolled doing the same duties, lectures and training as the boys and often showed equal or even greater prowess than their male counterparts ! They have been a regular feature of the College ever since !

During Mr Missen's time as Principal many changes took place, not least the change in title of the College from Derbyshire Farm Institute to the Derbyshire College of Agriculture. The Advanced National Certificate in Agriculture was established and also an Introductory Course which was a forerunner to the current BTEC First Diploma.

Day classes held in centres all over the county continued to draw students and there was a steady stream graduating from these classes to full and part time courses at Broomfield. It was easy to see their value.

By 1962 classes were being held in ten centres throughout the county from Chapel-en-le-Frith in the north to Hatton in the south.

Meanwhile, at Broomfield Hall there was no standing still. Plans to give a more concentrated training with reductions in chore duties came into action in l959. Training in the techniques of modern agriculture came more to the fore and routine farm duties were reduced to a basic level necessary for sound education.

Nationally recognised exams were also introduced for full-time students. Horticulture had developed with advice and lecture courses for clomestic producers and in 1959 courses for Groundsmen and Horticultural Trainees were developed.

 

 

The Farms and Estate

When purchased in 1947 the college estate consisted of Broomfield Hall and six farms - Broomfield, Lime, Top, Tunnel, Brook and Church farms. Four farms (Broomfield, Brook, Lime and Top) totalled approximately 354 acres and were farmed by the Committee for the immediate purpose of the Farm Institute, leaving two farms (Tunnel and Church) comprising 115 acres in the occupancy of tenants. It was thought that the farms each possessed distinctive features valuable for teaching and demonstration purposes. Brook Farm was pulled down and amalgamated into Lime Farm. Tunnel Farm at the opposite end of the railway cutting to Brook Farm was farmed for a few years as a small holding of 22 acres as a demonstration unit but was of an uneconomic size and the project abandoned. In 1980 a further 50 acres of land was purchased at King's Corner and this land had to be fully drained before it could be farmed.

 Top Farm, because of its situation at the extreme northern point of the estate was inconvenient for education purposes and in 1958 work started on a purpose built farm which was closer to the main campus and the residential student hostels - it was to be called New Top Farm.

 The new buildings included a piggery for a herd of Large Whites together with buildings for cattle, grain and fodder. A herd of 30 Dairy Red Polls were housed in straw yards and milked through a small straight 4 tandem parlour with direct into-churn milking. Houses for the farm staff were added later!

  

(Source: 1997 Jubilee Magazine)       (Can any old students name any of the people in these photographs? Or the cow!!! - Editor)

 

Modern Silaging Techniques in 1949; DET

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GARDENS & GROUNDS

The layout of the grounds dates from the building of the Hall in the early 1870's. The renowned local firm of William Barron, landscapers and nurserymen of Borrowash, east of Derby, were responsible for the design and planting of the pleasure grounds. The area of approximately 25acres leads from the main Heanor Road in a westerly direction towards the Hall, then beyond across a terrace, rose gardens and walled kitchen garden.

The original planting included a shelter belt of evergreens to the south and west and created a visual screen as well as protection from the strong south westerly wind which sweeps up from the Derwent valley and across the estate, which, at over 100m above sea level stands in a prominent position and suffers from considerable exposure. This shelter belt included pines, many of which now look like feather dusters with small heads of foliage above bare trunks, and an extensive collection of hollies for which Barrons' were renowned. These remain but are sadly no longer identifiable as to their original cultivars.

Within this shelter were many examples of typical Barron plants: Cedars, Purple Beeches, a splendid Monkey Puzzle, Red Oaks, variegated Sycamores, red flowering Horse Chestnut, limes, Tulip Tree (now dead) and a range of maples from both North America and the Far East. These were often under planted with dense shrubberies of Rhododendron, Laurel and Yew, most of which still thrive after regular rejuvenation pruning over recent years. Two main vistas were created: one led down over terraced lawns to the South of the Hall, across a Ha-Ha (sunken fence) with splendid views of the parkland and the valley beyond. The second looked east from the Hall across a sweeping open lawn towards the woodland gardens. This second view bordered the access drive which, until shortly after the Hall became the Derbyshire Institute, featured an avenue of Elms. These unfortunately became diseased and had to be chopped down and their stumps removed with dynamite!! Broomfield's oldest tree is also in this area - a magnificent 360 year old Oak tree whose age was determined by boring through the trunk and counting the rings.

The Walled Garden was both productive and ornamental. Greenhouses adjoined the south and west facing walls growing fruit and flowers and this continued with eventual decline at intervals until the 1980's. Previously the open area of the Walled Garden grew vegetables and the walls free of greenhouses were used for the cultivation of apples, pears, plums and cherries; the apple varieties alone numbered around 50.

Following the creation of the Derbyshire Farm Institute, much development of the grounds took place, mainly under the supervision of Bob Struaghan, Head of Horticulture from 1954 to 1982. Many of the marvellous exotic trees which are now such a feature were planted during this period, for example the Davidia (Handkerchief/Ghost tree), Abies grandis (Grand Fir), Metasequoia (Dawn Redwood) and the Sorbus commixta (Chinese Rowan). To commemorate the Queen's coronation, the three splendid Magnolias were planted at the end of the East lawn. A productive apple orchard was also established and commercial glasshouses for the cultivation of tomatoes, cut flower crops and ornamental pot plants. A windbreak was planted to the north of the pleasure grounds to give shelter from the cold winter winds and in the same period of the early to mid 50's Lathkilldale Hostel and the Conference Room were built, these permitted the establishment of climbers such as the Wisteria, Campsis (Trumpet Vine) and Aristolochia (Dutchmans Breeches); in the 1960's the building of the Teaching Block allowed more tree planting, the Whitebeams (Sorbus), Silver leaved pear (Pyrus salicifolia Tendula') and Tibetan Cherry date from this period.