Culpins Farm was at the junction of Middle Road and White Post Road. That junction is now adjacent to the underpass that goes under the A16 by-pass. It is not known for certain when Culpins Farm was built. What we can be sure of is that it was there before 1825 and the residents at that time were John Culpin and his wife Mary. John Culpins name appears on a list of residents of Newborough dated 1825, it identifies that there are two people living in the household. There is no indication that John and his wife Mary had any children. The Culpin family in Newborough originate from Waternewton. It is not recorded when John and Mary moved to Newborough, he was described as a successful farmer of 36 acres. John, the first recorded resident of Culpins Farm was himself born in Waternewton; he was the son of Charles and Sarah Culpin. John’s grandfather Richard Culpin had been a successful landowner who had fallen on hard times. It has been said that Richard’s children were renting homes which their father had once owned. Both John and his wife were mentioned in a very unfortunate incident which was reported as far afield as Ireland. Newspapers reported the incident where John Culpins wife was attacked and injured by his nephew William Culpin;
Northampton Mercury Saturday 14th November 1835
“On Wednesday week at noon, William Culpin, a labourer of Warmington, near Oundle went to the cottage of his uncle, John Culpin in Newborough, near Peterborough, and in his absence most brutally assaulted and ill-treated Culpins wife. After breaking open a chest and stealing therefrom three sovereigns, about £1 in silver and a receipt of Messrs York and Co for £200, he was in the act of sharpening a knife to cut the poor woman’s throat when a sudden knock at the door alarmed the delinquent and dropped the steel. He put the open knife in his pocket and ran away. Culpin is about 22 years of age, 5ft 2 inches high. Walks erect and had a drab coloured coat and gaiters. A reward is offered for his apprehension”
The Dublin Morning Register on Saturday 21st November 1835 gives further details of that violent incident;
“Upon hearing that his uncle was not at home William Culpin followed his aunt into the parlour where he seized hold of her and attempted to violate her person; but being prevented from doing so by her resolute resistance. He beat her over the head and body in a most brutal manner. He found his unfortunate relative endeavouring to escape from his brutal violence. He again attacked her and was in the process of sharpening a knife with which to cut her throat when he was disturbed. He ran away, although almost immediately pursued he affected his escape”
The ordeal was something of a scandal and you can only imagine the trauma it caused for Mary. It is not known for certain if the effects of the attack or the injuries she received contributed to her death which occurred just six months after the attack. In 1841 the census indicates that John is living at Culpins Farm and he has now taken in a housekeeper; a Jane Robinson from Glinton aged just 20. At this point John is aged 66 or there about as his age varies on different census dates and his birth in Woodnewton is between 1771 and 1776, his grave stone in
Newborough Cemetery has his date of death as October 27th 1860 with his age at death as 86 years old, this would give him a birth year of 1774. However, the story is not about his age as much as he still fathers a child with Jane. At Caroline’s baptism in Glinton on 26th July 1840 John is named as the father and Jane Robinson is listed as his wife. Caroline is listed as Caroline Culpin and not Robinson. She shows up on official documentation as either Caroline Culpin Robinson or Caroline Robinson-Culpin. The 1851 census shows that Caroline is the daughter of the head of the household.
In 1860 upon the death of John the farm is taken over by one of his relatives; Charles Culpin. Charles was almost certainly John’s nephew, along with his wife Sarah and his five children. Whilst at Culpins Farm Charles and Sarah did have another child William.
Tragically William died aged 2yrs and 9 months in 1864. The family lived and worked at the farm until Charles died in May 1877 at the age of 57. He too is buried in Newborough Churchyard. Earlier that year on 30th April 1877 Charles’s son John Thomas marries Mary Hart at Sutton St Edmunds in Lincolnshire. By 1881 John Thomas is now farming at Culpins Farm.
John and Charles have a brush with the law in May 1875 when they are summoned for allowing their horses to wander onto the highway. The report in the Peterborough Standard on the 8th May 1875 reads as follows;
Peterborough Standard 8th May 1875
“Stray horse- Charles Culpin, cottager of Newborough was summoned for allowing a horse to stray onto the highway at Newborough on 29th April. The defendant said the horse was on the road of which he hired the herbage and a man was in charge of it. PC Glithro saw two of the defendants horses on the road leading to Newborough. One of them stood in the centre of the road for some time and there was a man lying down on the road but at a considerable distance from the horses, so far in fact that he could not have had control over them. A witness for the defendant said that the horses were in charge of the defendant’s son who was laying down about 24 chains from where they were. John Thomas Culpin Jnr, son of the defendant said he went down the road to fetch his father’s cows and was bringing them back towards where the horses were, when he saw the policeman. Neither of the horses were observed standing on the metalled part of the road, for he did not lose sight of them at all.
The chairman told the defendant that he must keep his horses off the hard standing of the road. He could only hire the herbage and must see that the horses did not stand in the centre of the road. He would have to pay 1s penalty and 14s 6d costs.
Defendant said he would let it stand over for a week; he would do what was right, but he would see Mr Percival about it. He was told that unless the money was paid a distress warrant would be issued. He then paid the money.”
It is not the only time that the Culpin family were in trouble for wandering livestock. The Stamford Mercury on Friday 5th November 1909 reported that;
Mary Culpin of Newborough was summoned for allowing three cows to stray onto the highway at Newborough on October 24th. The defendant did not appear and she was fined 6d per cow.
By 1914 the entry into the Kelly’s Directory of Northamptonshire indicates that both Mary and John Jnr are both farming at Culpins farm, although they do have separate listings. This is probably where he is living at home but has acquired some land of his own to farm. The same directory dated 1910 indicates that Mary was the sole farmer at that address. Yet the 1911 census still lists John as living at Culpins Farm and he is recorded as a farmer still working on the farm. Whilst his sister Lizzie is listed as a farmer’s daughter doing dairy work. Also resident at the farm is Mary’s grandson Leslie Martin. Leslie is the son of Esther Annie
Culpin, who was the daughter of John Thomas and Mary Culpin of Culpins Farm. She married a William Augustus Masters in 1902. Their son Leslie Masters was born in 1905. Tragically Esther also died in 1905, on August 16th. Her obituary was reported in the Stamford Mercury on the 1st September 1905. It is not known whether her death was a result of child birth. Following her death her son went to live with his grandmother. Mary Culpin died in 1919.
John Thomas Culpin Jnr continued to farm from Culpins Farm. The next record of him appears in 1932. He gives evidence against a bricklayer from Crowland who was accused of stealing a watch from the house previously being lived in by William Robert Jesson. John was overseeing the building work being carried out at his uncle’s house when it was realised that the watch, that was in a cabinet, was missing. The bricklayer was later found guilty but, due to his previous good behaviour, he escaped a prison sentence. It is unclear when the farm house at Culpins Farm became uninhabited. We know that John Culpin Jnr had a bungalow built on Guntons Road in 1933-4 which he moved into with his wife Mary, nee Woolstenholme, whom he married in 1915. The bungalow they named “Sunnyside”. They were still in residence in 1939 as they are recorded on the 1939 register. John was still farming though and would regularly advertise his potatoes in the local papers. He would also donate quantities of potatoes for the war effort and the local hospital. John again made the local papers in 1946 when he was elected as a member of Newborough Parish Council. A position he held until his death. John also made the newspapers on 30th May 1952 when a report ran regarding him hanging his coat up in his barn and when he went to wear it again a Tom Tit had built a nest in its pocket.
John’s sudden death was also recorded in the Peterborough Advertiser on 15th July 1958. The coroner had ordered a post mortem examination on John Thomas Culpin as he had collapsed and died suddenly at home on 13th July 1958.
Living at the farm in 1939 was John and Elizabeth’s older brother Charles who is described as single and a Charles Sutton. Charles Sutton was a smallholder (Charles also served on HMS Victory during WW1) whilst Charles Culpin was a horseman on a farm. Elizabeth, now a Sutton, is listed as a housewife with land work in her spare time. There are clues from the 1911 census to believe that John Thomas Culpin was living at Culpins Farm but farming land in his own right. His older brother Charles and his older sister Elizabeth were also living there and helping to farm the land at Culpins Farm. Up to and beyond when John Thomas left with his wife to live in Guntons Road, Charles and Elizabeth continued to live at Culpins Farm. However, by 1923 Elizabeth had married Charles Sutton and the three of them lived together as is evidenced by the 1939 register. Charles Culpin died in 1947 and Charles Sutton died in 1956. Elizabeth Sutton who was by all accounts the last resident of Culpins Farm passed away in 1966. This fits with the records from Rose Dunn who suggests that the building was demolished in the 1950’s by Charles Godfrey. In summary; it is almost certain that a member of the Culpin family were the only people to have lived at Culpins Farm.
