Walcote resident, John Finnemore has devoted much of his life to compiling a detailed historical record of Walcote and Haselor; its past residents, local folklore as well the unique buildings that make this an area of outstanding beauty.
John was born in 1937 and has spent all his life at the family farm, Walcote Farm, attending Haselor School as a young boy. His family, on his mother’s side, first moved to Upton Manor, Haselor in 1855 and his grandfather, Edward Finnemore, bought Haselor Grounds and Walcote Farm in 1925 for £5500.
In his teens, his father brought back a tin chest with old deeds from the solicitors including deeds from Walcote Farm dating back to the 1590’s, Shakespeare Cottage in Walcote, which was a farm once owned by the Lane family from Walcote Farm and Haselor Grounds Farm, once owned by the Earl of Warwick. There were over 126 pages relating to his ownership and another 34 pages showing the Earl’s income and expenses from 1782 - 1784.
Later, John was given access to historic parish records relating to the Haselor Enclosure Awards of 1767. This sparked a lifelong interest in historical records which over decades has seen him create a Haselor Church and Graveyard Survey, including recording the inscriptions on all the gravestones and plaques.
John has photographed over 800 pages of the church register entries at Warwick Record Office and the church from 1594–2023 and copied the entries onto a spreadsheet ranging from 1687 to 2023. He has recorded the information of every Haselor census available as well as producing several books previously typed or handwritten but not published. “Life at Haselor Vicarage” in the 19th century by William and Francis Sykes, another about the infamous Cornelius Griffin, written by Rev. Frank Wain, vicar from 1955–1983.
John publishes a lot of his information on a website: http://www.walcotefarm.co.uk painstakingly making sure any new information is updated.
John has been the farmer at Walcote Farm since 1967 taking over from his parents and despite the hard work a working farm brings, John has always found time to keep the information up to date, devoting many hours of his spare time.
It's a lifetime of work made possible by his personal knowledge of the area, access to some amazing resources and a commitment to ensuring the information is available to those who share his interests.
As local residents, we are grateful to John for his hard work.
