The parish of Lydiard Tregoze contained a number of medium-sized farms. Consisting of pasture and dairy farming, the main produce was cheese and butter.
Farms including Wick, Marsh, Windmill Leaze, East Leaze, Hook, and Shaw belonged to the St.John estate, but mounting debts led to the decline of the estate with parts being sold by Lady Bolingbroke in 1920 and again in the 1930s. The remaining farmland was sold by auction in 1943 following her ladyship's death.
In 2021 The Friends of Lydiard Park launched The Lydiard Tregoze Family History Project which has allowed us to digitise a large number of privately owned photographs and documents, thanks to the generosity of local families. From family snaps to tenancy agreements, prize animals to childhood tales, the collection is a growing legacy to the vibrant rural community of Lydiard Tregoze.
The stories of some of the people who owned, lived, or worked on the farms in the twentieth century have been told in a remarkable series of memoirs and diaries, while the history of the farms and its workers before this time can be found in documents such as wills and parish records.
