The former Beer House and Queen’s Head Public House
Photograph taken 2019
Historic England describes the Grade II Listed Building ‘The Old Queen’s Head’ as a late 17th century timber framed building. With a thatched gabled roof, the building is constructed on a flint plinth with a rendered wattle and daub infill.
Built during the reign of the Stuarts, the house will have seen the comings and goings of many families during the last 350 or so years.
When it was built, the road from the village to Attleborough may well have been much nearer to the house than it is today. The lay-by near the house was once part of the highway.
Prior to being a ‘Public House’, the property was a ‘Beer House’. In 1800, the house comprised two dwellings with another cottage behind.
We look at a brief history of the Queen’s Head beginning around 1800.
| Approximate Dates | Owners & Occupiers |
|---|---|
| Before 1800 to before 1817 | Around this time, the property was owned by Jonathan Lock. However it was occupied by John Wenn and Robert Elmer. In 1817, Lock was an insolvent debtor in the King’s Bench Prison in Southwark. Later he was convicted of several offences of stealing. In 1820, Jonathan Lock and his son Robert were sentenced to 7 years transportation. The following year, father and son were two of some 152 convicts onboard the ‘Grenada’ bound for Australia. |
| 1836 | By 1836, Robert Hurst occupied the premises. Born in Thorpe Market (a village some 4 miles from Cromer), Hurst is described as a keeper of a beer-house. However by 1851, Hurst moved from the property but remained living in the village. He died in 1863. The parish registers record his age as 105! |
| c.1845 | The property is now owned by Anne Hardiman. However, the occupier is Jonathan Rivett who later lived at Mill Farmhouse. |
| 1854 | White’s Directory of 1854 shows John Foulsham at a beer-house in the village. The 1851 census captures 37 year old John Foulsham with his wife Susan and children Frederick 9, Felix 6, Charles 4 and Thomas 3 in Great Ellingham. I believe they were at the Queen’s Head. |
| 1861-1864 | Harrods Directory of 1863 lists Jonas Castleton in Great Ellingham as a farmer and beer-retailer. It is not uncommon to find that landlords or beer-retailers had an additional occupation. The 1861 census finds 39 year old Jonas Castleton as a blacksmith, innkeeper and farrier at the Queen’s Head Public House. He is with his wife Charlotte, who was the daughter of local farrier William Leeder. The couple married in St James’s Church, Great Ellingham in 1845. |
| 1864-1876 | By 1864, Samuel and Theodosia Morley were at the Queen’s Head. Samuel Morley was a Chelsea Pensioner. In 1858 (and at the age of 42), Samuel married Theodosia Gostwick at East Harling. The couple moved to the Queen’s Head before Samuel died there on the 29th October, 1864. Theodosia continued to run the Queen’s Head until her death at the age of 62 on the 14th September, 1876. They are both buried in the churchyard of St James. |
| 1879-1892 | The next landlord of the Queen’s Head was John Mace. The 1881 census captures 40 year old John Mace with his 30 year old wife Mary Ann and sons Thomas 4 and Bertie 3 at the Queen’s Head. John Mace is described as an innkeeper, a farmer of 10 acres and a farrier. At the East Harling Petty Sessions in 1883, Mary Ann Mace pleaded guilty to assaulting Ellen Fox, the daughter of their neighbour John Fox who lived at the cottage near the Baptist Burying Ground. |
| 1894-1896 | By 1894, Charles Allen was landlord. In September 1894, Charles Allen hosted a Harvest Frolic at the Queen’s Head. Some 50 people sat at tables in the specially decorated large barn. They were treated to a ‘repast of good olde English fayre’. |
| 1900-1903 | Charles Allen was succeeded by Charles Stimpson. The 1901 census finds 47 year old Wacton born Charles Stimpson at the Queen’s Head. The census describes Stimpson as a ‘worker’. Accordingly, we can be certain that he did not own the pub. With Charles is his 39 year old wife Hannah and two children – 17 year old Charles and 14 year old Helen. |
| 1903-1925 | Stimpson’s tenure as landlord was relatively short. By 1903, Arthur S Sewell was landlord. The 1911 census captures 52 year old Hackford born Arthur Sewell with his 56 year old wife Elizabeth at the Queen’s Head. The couple have been married for some 27 years. With them are two of their three children – 23 year old railway clerk Edward and 24 year old Hilda. The Sewells are still at the pub at the time of the 1921 census. Arthur and Elizabeth have their married daughter 34 year old Harriet H Dixon and grandchildren Edith Dixon 7, Edward Dixon 5 and one year old Arthur Dixon. |
| 1928-1929 | The 1928 Electoral Register lists Albert Eric Stubbings and his wife Ellen at the Queen’s Head. Kelly’s Directory of 1929 lists Eric Stubbings as a beer retailer in Great Ellingham. At some point, Stubbings occupied a house with a ‘knacker’s yard’ in Swamp Lane. |
| 1931 | William James Pitcher and his wife Ella are listed at the Queen’s Head in the 1931 Electoral Register. |
| 1933-1939 | The 1939 Register for England & Wales shows 67 year old William Foyster as a licensed victualler and farmer at the Queen’s Head along with (presumably) his wife Mary. |
| 1942 | However by 1942, I believe John George Last was the landlord of the Queen’s Head. |
| 1955 | Possibly the last occupiers of the Queen’s Head as a Public House were Stanley and Edna Jane Acton. Accordingly to Norfolk Pubs website, the Queen’s Head Public House closed after 1955. The property is now a private residence with business. |
Sources:
1802 Russell James Colman Plans. Great Ellingham. Norfolk Record Office. Catalogue Ref. C/Ca 1/84.
1799-1842 F W Horner, Records of the Surveyors to Commissioners for Inclosure in Parishes in Norfolk and Suffolk. Great Ellingham (Act 1799). Norfolk Record Office. Catalogue Ref: NRO, BR 90/2
1800 Inclosure Commissioner’s Particulars and Valuation, Great Ellingham. Norfolk Record Office. Catalogue Ref: NRO, MC 2213/119
Great Ellingham Tithe Map 1843. Tithe Apportionments, 1836-1929 [database online]. TheGenealogist.co.uk 2023. Original data: “IR29 Tithe Commission and successors: Tithe Apportionments” The National Archives
The London Gazette. 25th October, 1817. Issue 17297. Pg 2188. Viewed via https://www.thegazette.co.uk/ 19 July 2021
Norfolk Chronicle 20th January, 1821. Viewed via https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk 16th July 2021.
Australian Royalty website https://australianroyalty.net.au/tree/purnellmccord.ged/individual/I80230/Jonathan-Lock Accessed 20 July 2021.
https://australianroyalty.net.au/tree/purnellmccord.ged/individual/I80204/Robert-Lock Accessed 20 July 2021.
Convict Records of Australia. https://convictrecords.com.au/convicts/lock/john/77468 Accessed 20 July 2021
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD609. Also available at www.ancestry.co.uk and www.familysearch.org
1851 census HO107/1823/125
1854 White’s Directory University of Leicester website
1863 Harrods Directory Norfolk Record Office
Norfolk Pubs Website
1881 census RG11/1974/93; RG11/1974/95
Norfolk Chronicle & Norwich Gazette August 4th, 1883. Viewed via The British Newspaper Archive
Eastern Daily Press 5th October 1894. Viewed via localrecall.co.uk accessed 4th August 2020
1896 Kelly’s Directory
1901 census RG13/1867/82
1911 census RG14/11473/143
1921 census RG15. Registration District 231. Great Ellingham Schedule 6 viewed via www.findmypast.co.uk
England & Wales Electoral Registers 1910-1932, Parish of Great Ellingham. Viewed via www.findmypast.co.uk
England, Norfolk Register of Electors, 1832-1915. Viewed via www.familysearch.org
1939 England & Wales Register. The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/6590H. Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018.
1942 Great Ellingham Invasion Committee Record. Sue Fay