Fairfax Manor House, Barford, Church Street
Fairfax Close lying behind the Memorial Hall, takes its name from the site of the Fairfax Manor House which dated from the 1500s. This was situated on land that was the village recreation ground and long regarded as the village green until the playing field was opened by the Duke of Kent in 1938.
When baby Samuel Fairfax was baptised, Thomas Dugard, (rector from 1647 to 1683) wrote touchingly in the register about the 4 generations of the family who lived in harmony in the same house. Sadly Barford’s last Manor House was demolished in 1875.
Incidentally a descendant, Robert Fairfax, inaugurated the “Leamington Courier,” and the family until the late 1990s controlled the “Sydney Morning Herald,” Australia. Their house in Sydney is called “Barford”.
The land, which extended from Keytes Lane down
Fairfax Close new build
to the bridge, was farmed in the mid 1900's by Mr Carter – hence Carter Drive. His dairy was in Bridge Street and is now a dwelling.
Fairfax Close 1970
