Our History

Our History

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William H Gittins took the tenancy of Hall Farm Ruyton XI Towns in 1898. He built a large dairy herd for that time and started a dairy on the farm to make cheese. After the First World War he formed a cooperative with other like-minded local farmers and created Ruyton Co-operative Dairies (see the history of this later). This was to prove very valuable to the local farming community and provided much employment and prosperity to our parish and surrounding communities.

William Gittins was well a well-known farmer in the area, and besides being a large milk producer he also had a large pig enterprise, fattening the pigs on whey from the farm dairy enterprise, on the arable side of the farm malting barley was an important crop, winning many awards, including nationally.

To the end of the 1940s, the farm supplied milk to the village; villagers would go to the farm late afternoon with milk cans to collect their milk.

In 1936 he handed the running of the farm over to his son Wilfred Gittins and it was around this time that the Gittins family’s long association with the Manor estate began when the Manor land to the south of the estate was rented from Major Threlfall. Today, we contract farm the estate for the Jarvis family.

During World War II the drive to feed the nation encouraged more cropping. At this time Hall Farm produced sugar beet and potatoes as well as cereal crops and forage for the horses and livestock. Agriculture was hugely labour intensive until the 1960s, so Hall Farm was an important employer for many years. At planting and harvest times whole families would come to hoe beet, pick potatoes, or help with threshing. In the war Italian and German prisoners also worked on the farm. Between the War and the 1960s some of the staff that worked on the farm included: –

Jack Edwards – General farm worker for over 50 years, starting in 1920

Harold Davies – Cowman and tractor driver for over 50 years, also starting in 1920

George Walton – tractor driver in the 1930s and 1940s

John Jones – The shepherd, worked on the farm for over 50 years

George Lloyd – Blacksmith from the Smithy who also worked on the farm. He served in WW1 as a sergeant and Lewis gunner

Jim Alec (Alexander) – Prior to working at Hall Farm he was a Lewis Gunner with George Lloyd in WW1

Alec Lloyd – worked on the farm in the 1950s and 1960s

Bob Evans – worked at Hall Farm until he left to fight in WWII where he fought in the battle of Monte Cassino

Graham Edwards – moved on to become a farmer in his own right in Petton

Apologies for anyone we have forgotten!

In 1957 the Gittins family bought Hall Farm for the princely sum of £10,500 from their landlord. John Gittins became involved from the early 1960s and rapidly expanded the farm. Between 1964 and 1970 John bought around 660 acres of land at Wykey, the Park, Queens Court and Baggymoor, all of which is still in the partnership today.

John Lycett (JL) joined the business in 1966 and is still part of the farm today, 57 years later. JL and his wife Margaret’s contribution over the years has been huge. JL’s drive, positivity and dedication to the farm are still in evidence today, he maintains close contact, still does a bit of ‘estate management’ and is often called upon for his sage advice.

The 1970 through to the mid 1990s saw much success and expansion under the leadership of John Gittins and John Lycett. The team at that time deserve much thanks and respect. Key personnel through those years included: –

Craig Adkins, Peter Bennett, Dennis Brown (Brownie), Barry (the Brick) Crosbie, Ern Davies, Roger Davies, (Curly) Jack Foster, Richard Griffith (Little Rich), John Guest (Clod), Alan Jones (AJ), Lyn Jones, Simon Jones (Baldrick), Mike Kynaston (Ditcher), Doug McGowen, Adrian Meddins, John Mottram (Motty), Brian Poutney (Pout), Stuart Owen, Andrew Parry, John Price (Price the Bucket), John Stocking, Mark Taplin, Dave Tudor, Ian Williams, Terry Williams, and others I am sure I have failed to mention.

There were also many locals, students and casual workers during that time. In the early years we were able to fulfil peak harvest requirements from the village, but soon we needed to look elsewhere, initially students from the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Africa, and then latterly from Poland, Hungary and other Eastern European countries including Russia. It is always great to hear from them and JL is still in contact with many. If any of you are reading this – please do get in touch!

Through acquisition, innovation and hard work the farm went from being a 300 acre tenanted farm to a peak of 4000 acres of which 1200 was owned. Throughout this time the farm has been at the forefront of innovation and development in the farming sector. For example, WHG were among the first to bring large scale potato growing to the county by developing the use of destoning technology and contracting the crop for making crisps was something new in agriculture. We were also among the first UK farmers to develop environment controlled on farm potato storage, which is now the mainstay of the potato industry.

Along the way John continued to invest in infrastructure within the business. This has led us to the enviable position we have today, with excellent versatile facilities at Wykey farm coupled with boreholes, water licences, pipework infrastructure and lagoons all strategically placed to maximise the use of water and biofertiliser for the benefit of all the land within the Parish and beyond.

The return of Simon Gittins to the farm in 2010 saw a change of emphasis and focus within the business at a time when its direction was uncertain. The business re-focussed on land closer to home, invested further in infrastructure and was among the very first in the country to develop on-farm anaerobic digestion. The technology used, in which Simon had a major part in its design, is now seen as the number one technology in the UK AD industry. These developments have insulated the business from the vagaries of the agricultural commodity markets and have seen profitability increase year-on- year, in a period where farming incomes have almost universally fallen.

The last 12 years has seen unprecedented growth within the business, with more land being bought and more land being farmed under various contract and rental agreements. The renewable energy part of the business has grown to include Ground Source Heat and Solar which all have strong synergies with the core farming business.

The future looks bright. WH Gittins & Sons has a long-term outlook and will continue to strive to be an innovative hard working community-minded family business.

Ruyton Dairy

The dairy business in Ruyton originated as a private concern at Hall Farm with cheese being made in the back kitchen of the house. Then in 1912, Mr Willian Howell Gittins built a new dairy with the sole purpose of making Cheshire cheese. The dairy building still stands today and was used as the farm office from the 1960s through until the office moved up to Wykey Farm in 2018.

Only milk produced on the farm was used for several years. The cheese was made by Mrs Gittins, later assisted by the family and Mrs Davies from Startlewood, who was then Olive Tomlinson.

The cheese won many prizes at local and national Dairy shows and later became known as ‘G’ Brand cheese. Much of the cheese was sold in Manchester and district and some was retailed in the village.

After three or four years, milk was purchased by Mr Gittins from one or two local farmers. The cheese was still made at Hall Farm in the summer months and liquid milk cooled and sent away by train in the winter.

In 1918 a few farmers decided to form a limited company and it was registered as Ruyton Co-operative Dairies Ltd. William Gittins was made Managing Director and remained in that office for well over 20 years. The dairy moved to its main site (now Pentons Haulage), which had previously been bought by William Gittins, and Miss Tomlinson took over the cheesemaking.

A piggery was built soon after this, so that the whey could be fed to the pigs. This proved very profitable. This was the nucleus of the dairy at Ruyton, which was added to and extended very successfully over many years.

A dairy was opened at Baschurch about 1920 or soon after. This dealt with liquid milk to be sent away and a pasteurising and brine-cooling plant was installed. The man in charge of this was Mr E G Lewis, who in later years set up a butchery business in Baschurch.

Also about this time, an office, shop and four distribution depots were acquired in Birmingham. Milk was also sold in London and Liverpool and supplied to hospitals, institutions and restaurants.

In 1936 the business was sold to Kraft Company, who in turn, sold to Express Dairies. By 1990 the dairy had been developed into one of if not the, most, modern, efficient sites in the UK. Regrettably, in 1993 it became a victim of its own success. Express Dairies took the decision to close Ruyton Dairy as opposed to many other poorer performing sites on the basis that they would get a bigger pay-out from the EU.  This came as a huge shock to the workforce and the village as a whole, and so ended a very important, vibrant and memorable chapter in the history of Ruyton XI Towns.