Sale of property at Offenham and Badsey relating to the late Thomas Sheaf (1817-1865).
The property at Offenham was Sheaf House, where Thomas lived, but this was not sold, only the furniture, 400 gallons of cider, poultry and pigs. The items were sold on Wednesday 9th September 1868 on the first day of the sale.
On the second day of the sale, property at Claybrook Farm was sold. This included live and dead farming stock, seven valuable wagon and nag horses, four wagons and carts, drills, ploughs, harrows, turnip cutters, winnowing machine, chaff engine, cultivator and many other farming tools.
Thomas Sheaf had tried to sell Claybrook Farm at auction in 1864 but, presumably, with the depressed state of British farming at that time, it had remained unsold. Thus, in 1868, the executors of his will, sold all the contents.
When the farm was put up for sale is not known, but it appears to have been bought by Thomas Appelbee (1831-1879), as his executors put it up for auction in 1891. Two further sales of Claybrook Farm are known: 1897 and 1918.
We are grateful to Anne Hutchinson (née Sheaf) for providing digital images of this huge farm poster (approximately 3’ x 2’6”).
