21st August 1941

Went up to Roverstye Farm tonight with Mr. Craig for the survey. This farm, which is nothing much to look at, always thrills me when I think that its name has not changed to any appreciable extent since the early 14th century.

A fine day, no rain.

4 comments:

Jane said...

I wonder if the current pub 'Rovers Tye' on Ipswich Road has any connection with this farm?

E J Rudsdale said...

Hi Jane, Yes, I believe this farmhouse is now the Rovers Tye pub. A lot of these Colchester Borough Farms seem to have been lost to housing developments after the war but it's interesting to see that their names remain in the road names and to find that the farm buildings were adapted to new uses. CP

Jane said...

Interesting, I shall look at that pub in a new light!

Patrick said...

Rovers' Tye farm was quite big, going all the way through to Severalls. Friends used to shoot over it with Dick Crick and his family who farmed it till the late 60s or early 70s when they sold the whole lot very profitably for development, and the house became the pub. I think they were tenants who bought the farm from the Borough during the war.