Moorden: A Short Exhibition on the History of Moorden in Leigh
MOORDEN – A Short Exhibition on the History of Moorden in Leigh
On 21 July 2022, Rebecca Day hosted an exhibition of the history of Moorden, with permission of Simon and Donna Bruxner-Randall, current owners of Moorden Farmhouse.
The following is Rebecca’s welcome note to those who were able to attend. And also below are links to Rebecca’s history that she wrote on Moorden.
Welcome & thank you for coming to our little exhibition!
The display is made up of maps, photographs & research notes concerning a variety of
topics on the history of Moorden, from the sixteenth century onwards. Hopefully, within
the collection of subjects ranging from the landowners of Moorden to Hop Picking here,
you will glean some items of interest. Just for fun I have also popped out a display case of
‘curiosities’ from the area.
I have always been interested in the history of my family home Moorden, but I really
started taking note whilst at university producing a dissertation for my degree in Estate
Management – ‘The History of Moorden Farm and it’s relation to agriculture from 1750…’.
Research for this consisted of hours camped out at the Kent History Centre in Maidstone
trawling the archives for clues to Moorden’s chequered past.
Secondary to producing a dissertation worthy of a first, I was also keen to discover whose
initials were carved into the oak panelling above the drawing room fireplace in the
farmhouse at Moorden. Even though my family had farmed at Moorden for over 100
years nobody seemed to know!
With limited resources I did not manage to find the answer to that question at that time.
It has only been some years later encouraged by the development of online nationwide
archive collections at the touch of a button that I have taken up the mantle again, this time
from the comfort of my cosy home on winters evenings after my little boy has gone to
bed.
Many researchers will tell you that often history projects are like puzzles and there is a
certain buzz that comes with the discovery of each new puzzle piece or connection made.
This is certainly my experience and why I suspect researching the history of Moorden
may well be a lifelong hobby. As with many things, there are also spin off projects that
get put on the list along the way too. In my case – a detailed history of Redleaf house, the
Causeway & local cricket ball production are some of the topics I am tempted to take on
in later years.
Having worked on it for some time now, I do feel I have the main pieces that make up the
puzzle of Moorden’s own past, but I would like to discover more about the lives and
families of each owner and farmer associated with the place. I must stress I am very much
a hobbyist historian. You will see from the display and will have to excuse the fact, that
some individuals I still know very little about. This is due to the challenge of transcribing
sixteenth and seventeenth century wills and deeds for clues, of which I have limited skills
or time for doing so. These documents do exist however and thus provide me with a
challenge for the future!
I would like to say many thanks to Simon and Donna Bruxner-Randall for hosting, to Joyce
Field at the Leigh Historical Society and Jonathan Barker & his team at the Kent Archives
Centre, for all the help they gave me compiling the historical records I requested from
them.
Rebecca Day
Click on the attached links to view Rebecca Day’s history of Moorden. You will be able to increase the size of the pages to be able to read them more clearly.
Moorden – Short Exhibition cover page
Moorden – The Landowners of Moorden
Moorden – The Landowners of Moorden page 2
Moorden – The Farmers of Moorden
Moorden – The Farm Buildings at Moorden
Moorden – Hoppicking at Moorden
Moorden – During the second world war