Finkel family grave and coat of arms, Steeple Morden church

Lower Gatley End Farmhouse

History of Lower Gatley End Farmhouse

Listed Building:

House, formerly a farmhouse. Late C14 with late C16, late C17 or C18, and C19 alterations and additions. (Historic England)

Lower Gatley Farm

This was one of the farms run by the Finkel family.

In 1806 Jabez Ablett of Gamlingay married Ann Finkell of Steeple Morden (1794 – 1872), the wedding taking place in Steeple Morden.  Jabez, born in 1791,  was the third child of Job Ablett and Dinah Sumpter. Ann was one of six children born to Francis Finkell and Keziah Barfoot of Steeple Morden.  Ann’s older sister, Mary, married William Hitch Strickland, another local family.  Their daughter, Elizabeth, subsequently married Jabez, the son of Jabez and Ann.  For more than two centuries the Finkells had farmed in the area, including Lower Gatley Farm at Steeple Morden. Abletts, Stricklands and Finkells were closely entwined. (info from Ablett family)

Ann’s brother, John, was killed after a riding accident in the vicinity of the The Thrift public house in 1821 on the Royston Baldock Road.

Ann and Jabez moved to Cottenham by 1817 and most probably lived in and possibly built Ablett’s House.