1960s Long Street with the old farmhouse of Broadmarsh Farm to the top of the photograph. Fir Tree Farm is the white cottage to the right (as facing the photograph)
Courtesy Michelle Baron
Broadmarsh Farm lies at the northern end of Long Street. For centuries, the farm included a thatched farmhouse. Built before 1681, the old farmhouse was demolished in the 1960s. Over time, the extent of the land with Broadmarsh Farm will have changed, with some land sold off and other land purchased.
The Great Ellingham Inclosure documentation of 1800 describes the farm as ‘House, Outbuildings, Barn, Stables, Yard and Garden’. A nearby cottage was also in the same ownership as the farm.
It was only in the 20th century that the name ‘Broadmarsh Farm’ came into regular use. The name may well have been taken from the field name of ‘Bredmersh’ or ‘Broad Marsh’.
For ease of reference, I refer to the farm as Broadmarsh Farm whether or not it was known by the name at that particular time.
Earlier Owners
Benjamin Jarvis owned Broadmarsh Farm until around 1681. It was then in the ownership of Stephen Paine. [Also found as Payn and Payne]. In 1724, he sold the farm to Zachariah Browne. The Browne family owned the farm until 1819.
Extract from the Indenture of Bargain & Sale 5 November 1819 William Ripper Coe & Others to Thomas Warren & his Trustee
Courtesy David & Julia Matthews
On the 5th November, 1819, Thomas Warren purchased Broadmarsh Farm. It would remain in the ownership of the Warren family for the next century.
This article takes the history of Broadmarsh Farm from the death of Thomas Warren’s grandson, Jeremiah Warren, in 1896 through to the early 1940s.
Jeremiah Warren
It was in 1858 that Jeremiah Warren inherited a life tenancy Broadmarsh Farm from his grandfather, Thomas Warren. As far as I know, Jeremiah never lived at the property.
Jeremiah died in East Dereham on the 30th November, 1896. As Jeremiah only had a life interest in the farm, the ownership would now pass in accordance with the will of Thomas Warren, and not by the will of Jeremiah Warren.
Accordingly, Broadmarsh Farm now passes to Jeremiah’s eldest son, Robert William Warren. As it happens, Robert Warren died before taking his inheritance.
Robert William Warren
Above Frederick Neeve’s shop in Church Street. Neeve ran the shop between 1912 and 1927
Some 60 years earlier, Jeremiah Warren had his drapery and grocer’s shop at the premises
Courtesy Ewin family
Great Ellingham Born
Robert was the first child and eldest son of Jeremiah and Jane Warren (nèe Boyce). He was born in the village in 1853. His father, Jeremiah, had a drapery and grocer’s shop in Church Street. Accordingly, it is possible that Robert was born there.
Move to London
However Robert may have had little memory of his first few years in the village. In 1856, Robert moved with his parents, Jeremiah and Jane, from Great Ellingham to London. The move was a result of his father’s financial difficulties.
The 1861 census captures 7 year old Robert with his parents and siblings in Hoxton, London.
Ten years later, the 1871 census finds 17 year old Robert with his family at 14 Malvern Terrace, Tottenham. He is working a a clerk to a merchant.
Nevertheless, his father Jeremiah continued to own Broadmarsh Farm which was occupied by tenants.
Robert Warren marries Julia Boyce
On the 4th August, 1878, Robert William Warren marries Julia Boyce at St John’s Stratford. Julia’s father is Robert Boyce of Hockham. In fact, Robert Warren and Julia Boyce were first cousins.
1881 census
The national headcount of 1881 captures 27 year old commercial clerk, Robert W Warren, with his 26 year old wife Julia living at 6 Charles Terrace, East Ham. They have two children. William Jeremiah born on the 15th November, 1878 and Ellen, who at the time of the census, was just three months old.
Move to Canada
Around 1884 Robert and Julia Warren emigrated to Canada. Unfortunately, I then lose track of Robert and Julia. However documentation with historical deeds relating to Broadmarsh Farm, tell us that Robert and Julia lived at Stonewall, Manitoba and later in Vancouver. They also went on to live in Prince Albert in Saskatchewan.
In accordance with his paternal great grandfather Thomas Warren’s will, Robert William Warren would stand to inherit a life interest in Broadmarsh Farm after the death of his father, Jeremiah Warren.
Death of Robert William Warren
As it happens, Robert William Warren died (probably in Canada) before his father. He also died without leaving a will.
Heir at Law William Jeremiah Warren
Accordingly when Jeremiah Warren died in 1896, Broadmarsh Farm passes by lineal descent. In consequence the successor and ‘heir at law’ to Broadmarsh Farm is Robert William Warren’s eldest son, William Jeremiah Warren. He was born in Stratford, London on the 15th November, 1878.
Moreover, William Jeremiah Warren lives in the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada some 4000 miles away from Great Ellingham!
It certainly appears that there was some contact between the Warren and Boyce families in Canada and their family members in England. Indeed, one of Robert William Warren’s sisters, Maria Louisa (born 1858) also lived in Canada. She married Horace Boyce, her first cousin, who is also the brother of Robert William Warren’s wife Julia!
Agent – Auctioneer Tom Healey Warren
It transpires that William Jeremiah Warren appointed his father’s first cousin, Tom Healey Warren, to act as his agent in relation to at least some of the paperwork relating to his late grandfather, Jeremiah Warren’s estate. Auctioneer, Tom Warren, lived in East Dereham.
Declarations with regard to Identity
Nevertheless, in order to deal with the paperwork concerning the ownership of Broadmarsh Farm, William Jeremiah Warren appointed two attorneys – Frederick A C Redden and Charles V Booth, both London solicitors.
Extract from Declaration by William Jeremiah Warren dated 2 November 1912
Courtesy David & Julia Matthews
In a Declaration dated 2nd November, 1912, William Jeremiah Warren confirms his address as the city of Saskatoon in the Province of Saskatchewan in Canada. He is working as a railroad fireman.
He tells us that he left England ‘about the Spring of 1879…’. However William Jeremiah Warren’s recollection of events is mistaken as the 1881 census captures William with his parents and sister in East Ham. The error is understandable as he was, after all, only two years old at the time of the census.
Nevertheless, he also tells us that ‘I well remember my father [Robert William Warren] and mother [Julia Warren] and I last saw my father in 1886 at Stonewall in the Province of Manitoba‘. He goes on to say that since 1886 he has ‘not heard authentic news of him‘.
Extract from Declaration of Maria Louisa Boyce dated 6 February 1913
Courtesy David & Julia Matthews
On the 6th February, 1913, Maria Louisa Boyce (nèe Warren) makes a Declaration in support of William Jeremiah Warren. Maria confirms that she is the wife of Horace Boyce and they live at North Penver Island in the Province of British Columbia.
She states that she is an Aunt of William Jeremiah Warren and that he is the eldest son of Robert William Warren and his wife Julia Warren. She also confirms that William Jeremiah Warren, a railroad fireman, now residing in Saskateen and the William Jeremiah Warren son of Robert and Julia Warren are one and the same person.
Copyhold Tenant
Although the old farmhouse was freehold, certain pieces of the land ‘belonging’ to the farm were copyhold. Accordingly, any change of copyhold ownership is recorded in the relevant Manor Court Books (earlier Manor Court Rolls).
Manor of Bury Hall
Extract from the Admission of William Jeremiah Warren. Manor of Bury Hall dated 21 November 1913
Courtesy David & Julia Matthews
On the 21st November, 1913, William Jeremiah Warren’s attorneys, Redden and Booth, appeared before the Steward of the Manor of Bury Hall. Redden and Booth applied for William Jeremiah Warren to be ‘admitted’ as a copyhold tenant of the Manor as the heir and successor to his grandfather, Jeremiah Warren.
William Jeremiah Warren became a copyhold tenant of the Manor of Bury Hall in relation to an acre of land in a field called Holme Field in Moore Row Furlong.
Given that William Jeremiah Warren dealt with the change of ownership of the copyhold land, it follows that Broadmarsh Farm was also transferred to him.
Extract from the Deed of Enfranchisement Manor of Bury Hall dated 21 February 1920
Courtesy David & Julia Matthews
Indeed on the 21st February, 1920, solicitors Redden and Booth dealt with the Enfranchisement of the piece of copyhold land ‘Holme Field’ on behalf of William Jeremiah Warren. This meant that this piece of land became freehold. The Deed of Enfranchisement confirms that William Jeremiah Warren of the city of Saskatoon in the Dominion of Canada was still the owner of lands and premises in Great Ellingham.
Manor of Ellingham Hall
Extract from the Deed of Enfranchisement dated 1 March 1920 Manor of Ellingham Hall
Courtesy David & Julia Matthews
On the 1st December, 1920, Alfred Taylor Esq., of Starston, the Lord of the Manor of Ellingham Hall, conveyed the freehold of certain copyhold pieces of land in Great Ellingham to William Jeremiah Warren.
This included three parcels of land in ‘Holme Field’ as well as five acres known as ‘Bredmersh’ and a pightle included in an orchard 80ft x 10ft in a street called Morewest Street.
Again it follows that in 1920 William Jeremiah Warren still owned Broadmarsh Farm. The farm would continue to be occupied by tenants, although it is possible that at times it was unoccupied.
Occupiers
Indeed, Broadmarsh Farm may well have been unoccupied when William Jeremiah Warren inherited the farm in 1896.
Extract from Inland Revenue Account Jeremiah Warren Deceased
Courtesy David & Julia Matthews
However an Inland Revenue Estate Duty Account following the death of Jeremiah Warren, provides the occupier’s name and also gives a description of Broadmarsh Farm.
"a Messuage or Farmhouse and 23a 2r 0p of freehold land situate in Great Ellingham Norfolk in the occupation of Pilgrim also 8½a of land copyhold of the Manor of Ellingham Hall and 1a copyhold of the Manor of Bury Hall in Ellingham in the same occupation"
William Pilgrim
The 1901 census captures 49 year old farmer William Pilgrim living in Long Street with an extended family. The household includes William’s brother Maurice Pilgrim, his sister-in-law Ellen Pilgrim, his sister Mary Ann Pilgrim and Mary Ann’s son, 15 year old Thomas. With the exception of Ellen Pilgrim (who was born in Lambeth), they were all born in Morley St Peter.
However I do not know for sure that they were at Broadmarsh Farm. Nevertheless, it appears that William’s nephew, Thomas Edgar Pilgrim, ‘took on’ Broadmarsh Farm when he married.
Thomas Edgar Pilgrim
It was during the latter part of 1906 that Thomas Edgar Pilgrim married Emma Reeder.
Emma was a daughter of James and Elizabeth Reeder. The 1901 census captures 19 year old Emma with her parents, two brothers, John and Arthur, and niece Maud Ketteringham in Town Green.
It was then that Thomas took over at Broadmarsh Farm. Sadly in the June of 1907, Thomas’s mother died at the age of 47.
The 1911 census finds 25 year old farmer Thomas E Pilgrim with an extended household in a six-roomed dwelling in Long Street. I have no doubt that this was Broadmarsh Farm.
With him is his 28 year old wife Emma and children Thomas J aged 4, Harold 2 and eight month old Edna. Thomas’s uncle, 60 year old William Pilgrim, is also with the household along with Emma’s widowed mother, 67 year old Elizabeth Reeder. Farm labourer, William Pilgrim may well be working for his nephew.
Tragic Misadventure
On the 28th February, 1914, the family is rocked by tragedy. What may have begun as a ‘normal’ day for Emma Pilgrim, ended with the terrible loss of her husband, 28 year old Thomas Edgar Pilgrim.
An inquest found that Thomas had accidentally shot himself whilst loading a gun in the barn at Broadmarsh Farm. The gun was little used, it had jarred, hit the floor and exploded.
On the 14th March, 1914, Thomas was laid to rest in the churchyard of St James’s Church. This is some six months before the outbreak of the Great War.
Following her husband’s tragic death, Emma Pilgrim together with her children and her mother, moved to Attleborough.
Death of Emma Pilgrim
Sadly on the 26th June, 1917, Emma Pilgrim died in Attleborough. She was 35. Her death resulted from spinal myelitis, a condition that she had been living with for some time.
The 1921 census captures Emma’s four children 14 year old Thomas, Harold 12, Edna 10 and 8 year old Eileen living with their maternal grandmother, 77 year old Elizabeth Reeder at Miller’s Square in Attleborough.
David Daniel Crawford
By 1921, Broadmarsh Farm is occupied by farmer David Crawford. I am confident that William Jeremiah Warren still owned the farm.
Nevertheless, the 1921 census captures 34 year old Griston born David Daniel Crawford with his 42 year old wife Amy at Broadmarsh Farm. They have two children 3 year old Mildred Mary and 2 year old Beatrice. David Crawford employs 14 year old Mildred Houchen as a domestic servant.
Living nearby is 69 year old farm labourer William Pilgrim. He is working for David Crawford at Broadmarsh Farm. I think it possible that William Pilgrim kept the farm going following the death of his nephew Thomas in 1914, and prior to the Crawfords moving in.
Sadly it seems that the Crawford’s tenure of Broadmarsh Farm was fairly short. Daniel Crawford died on the 4th April, 1922, whilst still living at Broadmarsh Farm.
Ida Alice Jackson
According to the electoral registers, Ida Alice Jackson was at Broadmarsh Farm from at least 1923 to 1928.
Ida Alice Jackson (1884-1966)
Courtesy Fiona Rainbird Clarke
Ida Jackson was the eldest daughter of William and Alice Jackson who lived at nearby Fir Tree Farm.
The 1921 census captures William and Alice Jackson (both 67) at Fir Tree Farm. With them are their two daughters, 36 year old Ida Alice Jackson and 30 year old Eva Kate Harper, and Eva’s children Audrey 7 and four year old Irene.
It may well have been her father’s death in 1927 that prompted Ida Jackson to move back to Fir Tree Farm. The 1929 electoral registers confirms that she is back living at Fir Tree Farm.
I do not know whether the farmhouse of Broadmarsh Farm was ever occupied during the next 10 years. Further I can only assume that the Warren family still owned the farm at this time.
Lucilla Reeve
Nonetheless in 1942, Broadmarsh Farm is advertised for sale. It was then that Lucilla Reeve purchases the farm.
Lucilla Reeve was an agent for the Walsingham Merton Estate. She was born in 1889 in Hunstanton. However, she spent her early life in Tottington where her family had lived for some time.
Broadmarsh Farm
J. McLean’s publication ‘Miss Reeve. The Account of a Norfolk Woman and the Stanford Battle Area‘ provides a description of Broadmarsh Farm at that time. The author refers to Lucilla Reeve’s visit to the property in or about October 1942.
The farmhouse “was tall and the roof needed thatching, and both chimney stacks were very bad and likely to topple over. There were no beds of flowers, and the entrance was a quagmire. This led to a barn“. Nevertheless, Miss Reeve found the inside of the farmhouse to be “spotlessly clean“.
She also reported that “The bedroom had a badly sagging ceiling. One downstairs room had a Queen Anne fireplace and one of the windows was blocked off“. Lucilla Reeve also mentions a dairy-cum-pantry “just opposite what had been the other cottage door, and the copper was in the passage which led to the middle living room….”
She also noticed a “very beautiful horse chestnut tree” in one of the meadows near to the barn. The roof to the barn was tin and it had no guttering. The barn walls were constructed of wattle and daub.
Repairs
Following her purchase, Lucilla Reeve carried out repairs to the roof of the house and to the chimneys. She also turned the cowshed into an open cattle shed.
Nonetheless, I do not know whether Lucilla Reeve actually lived at the farm. However in J. McLean’s interesting book, the author mentions that Lucilla Reeve’s “5th Rogationtide Service was held at Broadmarsh Farm and both vicars from Thompson and Great Ellingham took part“.
Tragic Deaths
Apparently Lucilla Reeve had heard of two tragic deaths at the farm. I have, of course, mentioned Thomas Pilgrim’s untimely death in 1914. However, I have found no evidence of any other tragic event at Broadmarsh Farm. Nevertheless over the centuries, the families living at Broadmarsh Farm will have experienced many life events – many joyful affairs but there would also have been many events tinged with sadness.
Ex-Serviceman
On the 13th November, 1944, Lucilla Reeve let Broadmarsh Farm. According to J. McLean, it was to “the ex-serviceman she had hired to run it for her, and the following year, when his son came back from the war, he took possession.”
End of the Warren Era
If it had not already come to an end, the purchase of Broadmarsh Farm by Lucilla Reeve around 1942, brought the Warren family’s ownership of the farm to a conclusion.
For over two centuries, the ownership of Broadmarsh Farm had remained with two families – Browne and then Warren.
1960s Long Street with the old farmhouse of what was later known as Broadmarsh Farm to the top of the photograph.
Fir Tree Farm is the white cottage on the right.
Courtesy of Michelle Baron
I do not know exactly when Lucilla Reeve sold Broadmarsh Farm and to whom. However as previously mentioned, the old thatched roofed farmhouse was demolished in the 1960s. The extent of the farmland has also changed over the years. Nevertheless, ‘Broadmarsh Farm’ is still a working farm in the village today.
Sources:
Private Deeds Collection. David & Julia Matthews
1800 Inclosure Commissioner’s Particulars and Valuation. Great Ellingham. Norfolk Record Office MC2213/119
F.W. Horner, Records of the Surveyors to Commissioners for Inclosure in Parishes in Norfolk & Suffolk. 1799-1842. Great Ellingham (Act 1799). Norfolk Record Office. Catalogue Ref BR 90/2
1802 Map of Great Ellingham. Russell James Colman Plans. Norfolk Record Office. Catalogue Ref. C/Ca 1/84
1901 Census of Canada. 1901; Census Place: Manitoba; Page: 2; Family No: 17. 1901; Census Place: Manitoba; Page: 6; Family No: 63 Ancestry.com. 1901 Census of Canada [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1901. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2004. http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1901/Pages/about-census.aspxl. Series RG31-C-1. Statistics Canada Fonds. Microfilm reels: T-6428 to T-6556.
Manitoba Marriage Index 1881-1937. Manitoba Consumer and Corporate Affairs; Manitoba, Canada; Vital Statistics. Ancestry.com. Web: Manitoba, Marriage Index, 1881-1937 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: Vital Statistics. Manitoba Consumer and Corporate Affairs. http://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/Query.php: accessed 2 April 2012.
1891 Census of Canada. Year: 1891; Census Place: Broadview, Assiniboia East, Territories, Canada; Roll: T-6425; Family No: 140. Ancestry.com. 1891 Census of Canada [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
1921 Census of Canada. Reference Number: RG 31; Folder Number: 24; Census Place: Tp17 R18 W1 Village of Erickson, Marquette, Manitoba; Page Number: 10 Ancestry.com. 1921 Census of Canada [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2013. Original data: Library and Archives Canada. Sixth Census of Canada, 1921. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2013. Series RG31. Statistics Canada Fonds. www.ancestry.co.uk
1931 Census of Canada. Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Seventh Census of Canada, 1931; Folder Number: T-27323; Census Place: Souris, Manitoba, Canada; Page Number: 8. Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Seventh Census of Canada, 1931; Folder Number: T-27370;Census Place: Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada; Page Number: 3. Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2023. Original data: Library and Archives Canada. Seventh Census of Canada, 1931. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2023. Series RG31. Statistics Canada Fonds. From the collection of Library and Archives Canada De la collection de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada.
7 March 1914. Downham Market Gazette. Viewed via The British Newspaper Archive website
Jeremiah Warren. England & Wales National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills & Administrations), 1858-1995. Principal Probate Registry; London, England; Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD 609. Also available to view via FamilySearch website and other subscription genealogy websites
1861 census RG9/243/39
1871 census RG10/1338/149
1881 census RG11/1380/87, RG11/1724/77
1901 census RG13/1867/79
1911 census RG14/11473/72
1921 census RG15/9789 ED1 Sch. 126, 1921 RG 15/9790, ED 5, Sch 94, 105 & 106; Book: 09790
Certified copy Marriage Certificate St John’s Stratford. 4th August 1878, Robert William Warren & Julia Boyce. David & Julia Matthews
Extract from GRO Death Register. Emma Pilgrim died 26 June 1917
GRO Index available via FreeBMD. Also GRO
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1858-1995. David Daniel Crawford 1922. Principal Probate Registry; London, England; Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
1920-1929 Electoral Registers. Parliamentary County of Norfolk, Southern Division. Great Ellingham
Perry, Hilda & Edmund. 1999. Tottington. A Lost Village in Norfolk. Reprinted 2000. Geo. R Reeve Ltd. Wymondham. Pages 264-265
McLean, J. 1989. Miss Reeve. The Account of a Norfolk Woman and the Stanford Battle Area. Reprinted 1994. Pages 58-62.