To the left of the house bordering the street, two stone steps led to a raised garden which stretched down to the entrance to the Poplars, now the council offices.  From the back window of the Council Chamber one could look down onto the cattle in the crew yard.

Threshing in the early 1950s at Willows Farm, Cranford, also owned by the Dentons. Pictured are Ray Annis, Jack Craddock, Edgar Denton and his daughter, Mary Denton

Mr and Mrs Denton had three children, Edgar, Minnie and Daisy. Edgar Denton, although living at Cranford, came over seven days a week and spent all day on the Burton Farm. Daisy milked the cows, nurtured the young calves and would deliver milk around the town on her bicycle.  She also drove the cattle down the High Street, wielding a stick!  At harvest-time, she would take refreshments into the fields for the harvesters.  Daisy was kind to the POWs who worked on the farm. Edgar’s daughter, Mary, also worked on Burton Farm. After the death of her parents, Daisy lived alone in the big farmhouse.  In his will Mr Denton left £2,357 15s 4d.  The farmland included the fields bordering the allotments,  (now occupied by the schools and houses in Park Road) and the field at the top of Pioneer Avenue which, in 1937, was sold and became St George V playing field now more familiarly known as the Recreation Ground.  During World War II the cellar of the Denton ’s farmhouse was used as an air raid shelter. In 1965, the Denton family decided to sell up.  Their fine old farmhouse and land extending to about 47 acres was sold for the development of Churchill Way houses and shops for £86,000.

The Denton s continued to farm, purchasing Hillsborough Farm and building a new farmhouse on the Finedon Station Road above the railway. Click here to read more about the Denton family.