Kilham In The 20th Century

Kilham House Longknowe Farm

The development of the village in the twentieth century can be traced in the photographs and maps reproduced in this study. Kilham Farm was bought by the Goodson family in 1913. The family added a substantial 3-storey extension to Kilham House (Grundy 1988: KIL 1) in 1926, probably designed by the architect George Reavell of Alnwick, transforming the building from a farmhouse into a small but attractive country house. The use of 12-pane windows throughout lends the house a pleasing unity despite the building having at least three phases (Frodsham 2004, 136).

Farming at Kilham throughout much of the 20th century concentrated on the rearing of pedigree Aberdeen Angus cattle of the highest quality. This activity has been recorded in detail through photographs, newspaper clippings etc. held in the Goodson family archives, which provide a rich record of rural life and agricultural activities in the district.

However mechanisation and the decline in farming incomes mean that agriculture no longer employs the bulk of the village's population. The farm no longer functions as an independent unit being leased out to the neighbouring farmer at Thornington, whilst a few of its buildings have found alternative uses as workshops.

The inevitable result has been a gradually declining population in the village and radical alteration to its demographic profile. Nevertheless it would be wrong to paint a wholly negative picture of the changes which have occurred over the last century. Living standards have vastly improved and the life of resident of Kilham today is immeasurably more comfortable and secure than that of a farm labourer at the beginning of the 20th Century.