Furtho Manor Farm

In March of this year, Sarah Hodgkins (Charlotte Designs/@muralsbysarah on Instagram) came to our ceremony room, Furtho East, to paint a mural. Sarah's design was inspired by her view having passed through the farm on a run.  Sarah started Charlotte Designs in 2005 and paints murals across the area. Her expertise as a farmer's daughter has perhaps leant her a helping hand in being able to capture the essence of the farm in her mural. The mural saw the culmination of some of the most poignant elements of the view from the lake below, as seen in the painting of the gazebo and the dovecote. The gazebo stands on an island in the lake and is available to be used for ceremonies, after it was purpose built in 2019. The dovecote is one of the historic landmarks on the farm often used as a background for photographs on their wedding days. Whilst the mural is not an exact representation of the venue it creates a pleasing background for ceremonies which may take place in the room, as seen...

Furtho Manor Farm has a long history dating back to its existence as a medieval village. It  appeared as ‘Forho’ in the 1086 Domesday book, and was likely named after Walter de  Furtho, who inhabited the farm after his arrival with William the Conqueror in 1066. The  Ancient Parish was 693 acres, bounded by Potterspury and Yardley Gobion on the west, and  Cosgrove on the east. There was often conflict between those settled in Furtho and its  surrounding areas. In fact, after Edmund Arnold bought the farm in 1662, he was warned  that the inhabitants of Cosgrove were prone to stirring up trouble between the two  parishes. The church was the central point of the village’s expansion, although its growth  remained limited, with the parish never housing more than 46 people. Furtho was subject to  enclosure during the early 16th century which led to its depopulation. This was completed in  1572 by Thomas Furtho with the sale of farmlands. In 19...