Description:Halfhead Farm is located on Worston Lane, Shallowford. This view of the farmhouse, which still stands (2026) was taken from the farmyard in 1963 by Dr J.E.C. Peters.
Halfhead Farm was owned by Izaak Walton, the famous angler and author whose best known work 'The Complete Angler' was published 1653 and is still in print. He purchased the farm and lands, which included the adjacent cottage in May 1655 from Mr Walter Noell/Nowell. The cottage is now Izaak Walton’s Cottage, a museum dedicated to him. The farm was let to tenants. Halfhead Farm has been rebuilt with a Georgian facade since Walton’s time.
Born in Stafford in 1593, Walton moved to London to become an apprentice draper and later lived in Worcester and Winchester. He died in 1683 aged 90 and is buried in Winchester Cathedral. In his will he left the farm house and land including the cottage to the town or corporation of Stafford. The rent from the tenancy was to be used for charitable purposes, including the purchase of coal for the poor.