Flowers Farm - Melbourne Street
Flowers Farm - Melbourne Street


A short way down Melbourne Street, just before the junction with Lower Road, lies Flowers Mead – a small housing development built in 1970/71. For the previous 500 years it was the site of a farmhouse. Originally known as Mintys Farm, it was home to a branch of the Whitaker family for over 100 years before Joseph Flowers and his wife moved there in 1800, when it became Flowers Farm. The farmhouse came with land around Bratton, including Longcombe Bottom and some above Church Combe.

The picture shows Flowers Farm in 1965. To the left of the front door was the oldest section of the house, which in the 1400s had been a medieval hall. In the 16th century the large central chimney was added, with an inglenook fireplace at its base. The “Lower House” to the right of the front door was a Jacobean extension; and further extensions were made between the 17th and 19th centuries. The front door was framed by a wrought iron Regency porch.

A red brick stable stood to the right of the property and jutted some 8 feet into the main road. The only entrance opened directly onto the main road, requiring tractor drivers to pull out “blind” at the start of every trip. If you had a horse and cart with a heavy load, it was very difficult to get up Melbourne Street (The Bash), so a horse was stabled in Flowers Farm specifically to hitch on and assist.

The house and land were bought by the MoD in 1931, as the Army wanted the farmland on the Plain. When Mr White, the tenant farmer, died in 1968, the MOD split the land, which ran along the back of the downs from Bratton to Upton Scudamore, between Reeves Farm and a farm at the other end of the village and sold the farmhouse to developers. When the Farmhouse was demolished in 1968/69 the porch was bought by the then owners of Cornhay, on the east corner of Stradbrook and The Bash, and it is now visible at the rear of that property.




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Bratton History Association.

The Bratton History Association aims to provide all those curious about local history with an opportunity to meet, exchange ideas, and discover more about the history of Bratton and Wiltshire. Activities include monthly meetings, talks by professional historians, visits to places of interest to historians, and our own local history project.

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