Dunstable Road Bylands Farm (?)
There has been property associated with the name Balam in Harpenden for at least three hundred years. The earliest reference is in the will of Richard Sheppard, written in 1652 and proved in 1653 in which he left to his son Robert, "the house I now dwell in called and knowne by the name of Balams and all the freehold land thereunto belonging lyeing and being in Harpenden in the parish of Whethamstede in the County of Hertford and one peece of freehold land lyeing in the Lie Common in Redbome in the County aforesaid". An entry in the Feet of Fines for Michaelmas 1695 records that Robert Shepherd and Mary his wife transferred "Messuage and lands in Harpenden and Redboum" to Richard Hale. In 1716, Richard Hale, by a codicil to his will, charged his estate called Balambs in the parishes of Redboum and Harpenden with the yearly sum of £10.8s towards a charity. There is then a gap in information until 1764 when Mr Edward Hawkins was assessed for land tax on "Bailams". The property remained with the Hawkins family until after 1851, during which time the name had changed to Bylands. Bylands House stands today about half a mile outside Redbourn village on the right hand side of the old A5 going north. On estate maps of Harpendenbury Farm the field where Bylands House stands can be clearly identified, but no buildings are shown there on the 1721 and 1753 maps. On the evidence of the maps then it would seem that the house shown at "Bear Lambs" on the Drury and Andrews map of 1766 had not been built when the earlier maps were drawn. The present house at Bylands is relatively modern but it does have a brewhouse attached which has been dated to the 18th century
The farm was first recorded in 1832 so it is likely that the house dated from this time
Colonel de Falbe had a herd of Jersey cows at Bylands Farm, Dunstable Road, Redbourn in the early 1930’s. The thatched ricks are typical Hertfordshire style.
Other farm buildings fronted the road.
The site later became a garage and filling station. The photo was taken in 1936. After the bypass was built, the garage lost business, after a fire, the site was developed into the present office building
