Rule’s Orchard aka Franklin’s Orchard

Sometimes known as the Old Orchard in Station Road, it lies between 12 and 14 Station Road.

In times past, this land was originally part of the open field known as Church Field. In the Enclosure Award & Map 1808 to 1817 an L shaped allotment (blue outline on map) measuring 5a 1r 16p of arable land was awarded to the Earl of Hardwicke of Wimpole Hall. The top of the L had frontage to Odsey Way, now Station Road and the bottom curled behind two adjoining allotments granted to Joseph Wright (red outline on map) and James Bennett.

Over the years, by convention the top and bottom of the L came to be let separately  and the bottom part was a field within the combined Church & Moco Farms and the top part was let to multiple tenants as allotments.

In the Tithe Apportionment 1839 the layout remained unchanged and blue outline is Wimpole Estate and Joseph Wright’s plot (again outlined in red) was then owned by Thomas Goodchild and James Bennett’s plot was owned by Elizabeth Barker of the Mill, Ashwell Road and she had split it into three sub-plots, each containing a cottage.

At the Wimpole Estate auction in 1892 John Jarman of Kneesworth bought Church & Moco Farms, including acquiring the bottom of the L, plot 29 on the Tithe Map. He subsequently sold this field to John Franklin of Brook End.

Plot number 25, which had been owned by Joseph Wright, followed by Thomas Goodchild was bought in 1842 by William Kitchener of Ashwell Road. He assisted his widowed sister Elzabeth Barker to run the Mill. When William Kitchener died in 1869 this plot was bought by Thomas Swan of the Post Office, Hay Street. It did not sell at the auction sale held 1896 to disperse his various land holdings, but John Franklin bought it by private treaty after the auction. It connected conveniently with the bottom of the L

At the 1911 Wimpole Estate auction John Franklin acquired the top of the L shaped land, plot 24 on the Tithe Map, for £140. He now owned the whole of the original L shaped allotment, plus the extra adjoining plot. This complete holding was planted up as orchard.

John Franklin was a market gardener and fruit grower, coming to Steeple Morden in 1862 from Alconbury when he married Mary Ann Theobalds of Steeple Morden. He had married well and lived in a good house in Brook End and owned or rented other pieces of land. John and Mary Ann had three daughters there, none of whom married and one son, William born 1868. As William matured he partnered with his father and they traded as J Franklin & Son.

William married in 1918 Beatrice Emily Rule, who was daughter of Wilfred Rule, smallholder of Guilden Morden, where the Rule family goes back to about 1700. William and Beatrice Franklin set up home at Home Farm, Cheyney Street and as both had married relatively late in life, he was 50 and she was 39, there were no children. William died in 1922 age 53 and Beatrice in 1943 age 64.

In 1937 Beatrice had bought for £156 the four cottages that stood in front of the Methodist Chapel in Cheyney Street and on her death two of the cottages were sold to the Chapel Trustees, who demolished them to allow full access and visibility of the Chapel from the street.

Beatrice left all her property, both her own and that acquired through her husband, to her younger brother Robert Rule. This included the original L shaped allotment and adjoining plot, which became known as Rule’s Orchard, after Robert took up residence at Home Farm, where he lived until his own death there in 1958.

He left the entire orchard land to his two sons Robert Wilfred Frederick Rule, who died Banstead, Surrey 2000 and Roy Goodyear Rule, who died 1979 in Cornwall. They in turn left it to their respective sons Robert Douglas Charles Rule and Peter Eric Rule and these two cousins are the ultimate owners in 2023.. Robert lives in 70 Victoria Park, Cambridge, CB4 3EL and Peter, who used to live at Barnham near Thetford, moved in November 2020 to Stonelea, 14 Windsor Road, Chorley, PR7 1LN.  The cousins registered a company Steeplefield Ltd on 14 September 2017 and on 12 October 2017 transferred ownership of the orchard land to the new company in consideration of payment of £45,000.

Rule’s Orchard has been the subject of a number of planning applications for housing over the years, all of which had been refused, including on appeal. In May 2018, Steeplefield Ltd submitted a planning application for outline permission  for the construction of a new rural exception scheme for 8 dwellings (5 affordable and 3 market homes). After lengthy negotiations, permission was finally granted on 24 June 2020, subject to many conditions and caveats.

A significant portion of the plot was to be retained for the Rule family for one of the market dwellings. The overall permission applied to only 1.775 acres abutting Station Road and 3.690 acres of backland was not included. Also excluded was half of the bottom portion of the original L piece of land, as that had been sold to an adjoining owner at some point in the past.

In April/May 2021 Steeplefield Ltd put the land with planning permission on the market with the option to buy the backland as well, but no buyer came forward. The limited scope of the planning permission with conditions and retained market dwelling, plus requirement for 40% overage payment for any increased value from future planning permissions granted over 40 year period, likely made it an unattractive package for any developer.

The planning permission lapsed in June 2023, so for now the abandoned orchard remains a “green lung” in the centre of the village.