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Hertfordshire House

The Grove family of Penn acquired Hertfordshire Farm by marriage in the mid 18th century. The family had land in Wooburn, barges on the Thames and business interests in London. The editor of the Dictionary of Music was also descended from this family. Thomas Grove, who started the Congregational Church at Wooburn, was a popular non-conformist minister, first at Rotherham and later at Walsall. In 1780, Hertfordshire Farm, belonging to the Rev. Thomas Grove, was let to a relative, Edmund Grove, who probably rebuilt the house. In 1792, Hertfordshire Farm, still occupied by Edmund Grove, formed part of the marriage settlement when the Rev. Thomas Grove's daughter, Claudia Sophia, married Richard Ibotson the younger of Span House, Treeton, Yorkshire. Hertfordshire Farm was let in 1796 to Edmund Grove and George Grove. Edmund Grove was buried at Penn in 1823, aged 94, and George Grove of Hertfordshire Farm was buried there in 1843.

For many years, Hertfordshire House was let by Grove's trustees then in 1935, Hertfordshire House was bought by Franz Walter Burmann, formerly of Dortmund, Germany. He set up a company named H.H. Farms Ltd and established a fine dairy herd at nearby Luckings Farm. His cattle regularly won prizes at the agricultural shows but in 1954, Burmann's farming enterprise was in liquidation. When F.W. Burman left Coleshill, Hertfordshire House was purchased by Laura Countess of Dudley, who had been divorced from the 3rd Earl Dudley in 1954. In 1960, she married Michael Canfield, son of a New York publisher, who lived at Coleshill until his death in 1969. Both Michael and Laura Canfield are buried at Coleshill. Hertfordshire House was then bought by David Heimann. He was married to Diana, daughter of the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, Iain Macleod. Macleod's widow, Baroness Macleod of Borve, lived at nearby Luckings Farm until her death in 1999.

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