Cwm Farm Rogerstone
270 years of farming
Cwm Farm, or ‘The Cwm’ as it was always called in our family, is a 41-acre farm in Rogerstone, Monmouthshire. Our grandmother, Catherine Alice Mary Phillips, was born there in 1907 and it has been in the Phillips family for more than 120 years. The farm is situated off Cwm Lane in Rogerstone, a beautiful location with the Ynys-y-Fro Reservoir behind it. When the Phillips family moved to the farm, Rogerstone was a working-class hamlet that included the village of Tydu and had a population of 2,389.
Rogerstone today is a residential middle-class area, popular with families, and contains around 11,000 people. The large Mount Pleasant estate is built on former farming lands and has continued to grow since initial construction in the 1970s. The estate now borders Cwm Lane, immediately opposite Cwm Farm.
We know that ‘The Cwm’ had been a farm for a very long time, a plan of the farm (then known as Coomb Farm) along with a copy of a mortgage deed still exists from 20th August 1730. An agricultural property, the farm included a four-bedroom farmhouse, barn, various outbuildings and 41 acres of land. In the 1880 and early 1890s the farm was tenanted by John Hunter and his mother Hannah, from Melksham in Wiltshire and in 1894 by Robert Sansom from Dorset who won a prize at the Bedwellty Agricultural Society awards. This was followed by prizes for his Swedes and Mangolds at a local show in 1895.
In 1896 Robert hosted an annual ploughing match at Cwm Farm. The event was well attended and covered by the South Wales Daily News. Robert won a prize in the horse category for Most Valuable Team in the Field. The post-event dinner was held at the Tredegar Arms Inn in Cefn with the Rev. R. Jones presiding. We last see a trace of Robert at Cwm farm in 1899 when he was advertising for a man to help with the horses. It is said that Robert left Cwm Farm following a dispute with Lord Tredegar, who then bought the property, and by 1901 Robert was farming in Risca.
Our connection to Cwm Farm dates to 1900 and the marriage of Catherine Phillips from Bryngwyn Farm in Nash to John Phillips from Greenmoor Farm in St Brides. They leased Cwm Farm from The Tredegar Estate and settled in Rogerstone where they had two children; John Augustus (known as Gus) was born in 1903 and our grandmother Catherine in 1907.
The Tredegar Estate owned huge tracts of land in Monmouthshire and beyond. Estate records are now held by the National Library of Wales and run to 16.5 cubic metres of records. This comprises 902 loose volumes, 361 large boxes, 296 small boxes, 7 deed presentation boxes, 6 loose rolls, 4 loose bundles, 4 loose envelopes, 2 loose folders. The Tredegar Estate was dissolved in 1958.
John and Catherine Phillips created a farming partnership that concentrated on stock rearing, principally cows, which lasted until 1996. They also had grazing rights on moorland, some 6 miles from the farm. Cwm Farm played an important role in the local community with various agricultural events being held at Cwm Farm. John Phillips was also the President of the Monmouthshire Chamber of Agriculture and an Executive Member of the National Farmers Union.
John retired in 1930, and the tenancy passed to his son Gus Phillips and his wife Olive. The 1939 Register shows Gus listed as Master Farmer at Cwm Farm and that the couple had a daughter named Enid Meriol Amelia Phillips. Also recorded on the register was Margarite R Flook (private secretary), Sylvina M Sumsion (typist) and Winifred D Whittle (domestic maid). John Phillips died in January 1943 after 44 years at Cwm Farm, he was buried at St. John’s church in Rogerstone.
Gus and Olive ran the farm as tenants until 1958 when they were able to purchase the freehold after the Tredegar Estate was dissolved. In 1989 Gus and Olive passed 39 acres of the land to their daughter Enid and son in law Alan Rosser. They then ran Cwm Farm alongside their own farm in New Inn, near Pontypool.
Gus and Olive continued to live in the farmhouse, tend their 2 acres and help out on the farm until their deaths in 2001. Following the passing of her parents, Enid inherited the farmhouse, land and barn. Unfortunately, this legacy led to a significant inheritance tax case with the HMRC when Enida appealed against their valuation of the property for tax purposes.
The central issue for determination was whether the value transferred by the disposition of the house and barn attracted agricultural relief within the meaning of Inheritance Tax Act 1984. The court had to decide were the house and/or barn agricultural land? Could the house be considered a farmhouse? The occupation and ownership status of the property.
The outcome was the house did not qualify for agricultural relief, but the barn did. The precedent set in this case now forms the basis of the legal definition used to establish what a farmhouse is.
