Cricket in fiction was particularly true in the era before the Second World War, for example, during the Edwardian era, and in the 1920s and 1930s. An early chapter of Dickens's famous first novel "The Pickwick Papers", serialised as early as 1836, features a brief description of a cricket match between the All-Muggleton team and the Dingley Dell Cricket Club. Mr Pickwick watches as Mr Jingle provides a running commentary on the game (""Capital game—smart sport—fine exercise—very"" is a typical Jingle comment.) Cricket also plays a prominent part in "Tom Brown's Schooldays" (1857), Thomas Hughes' classic novel of life at Rugby. A century
Manor Farm, West Challow was farming over 500 acres and employing 17 men and 12 women. When he died in 1870, his son Frederick took over the farm and then later moved to the Rectory Farm in Cambridgeshire. He died in 1919 a fairly wealthy man. Charles Cotton Ferard died in 1886, and in 1887 the property was advertised for rent. In 1899 the farm was sold to Robert Loyd-Lindsay, 1st Baron Wantage, and when he died in 1901, his wife Lady Harriet Wantage became the owner. Manor Farm, West Challow Manor Farm in West Challow, Berkshire, England, is a building of historical significance