In 1788 the land was bought by Major John Cartwright, the political reformer. He sold his estate at Marnham, Nottinghamshire soon after and by the time he leased the estate and moved to Enfield, Middlesex in 1803 or 1805 had developed the rich loam soil into a profitable site for the cultivation of woad, assisted by new machinery, some of his own invention and some developed by his bailiff and later steward William Amos (agriculturist) He began addressing his letters as being from Brothertoft Farm.