West View, Church Street, Great Ellingham
Photograph taken October 2026
The delightful cottage named ‘West View’ in Church Street was probably built around the 1870s. The house will have seen the comings and goings of many families during the last 150 years.
One such family is the King family.
1939 Register
The 1939 England & Wales Register captures 39 year old George G. King and his 36 year old wife Lily B King in ‘The Street’, Great Ellingham. They were at ‘West View’. With the couple is their 8 year old son, Lionel R.G. King (known to the family as Roderick).
1924 Marriage
George King is a son of Great Ellingham blacksmith Andrew King and his wife Mary Naomi King (nèe Walker). He married Hellington born Lily Blanche Land (known to the family as Blanche) in 1924, probably in the Parish Church of Rockland St Peter.
1921 census
Chapel Street, Rockland St Peter
Some years earlier, the 1921 census captures 18 year old Lillie Blanche Land with her parents, Elijah and Millie Land, and her siblings Percy 21 and Dorothy 13 in Chapel Street, Rockland St Peter. 51 year old Elijah Land is working as an agricultural for farmer E. Blackburn at Cottage Farm.
King’s Corner also known as Timberhill (junction of Church Street with the B1077)
King’s blacksmith’s shop on the left. ‘West View’ is the far cottage on the right
Courtesy Jill Francis
The same census finds 21 year old George Gregory King with his parents, Andrew and Mary King at the blacksmith’s shop at Timber Hill, Great Ellingham. George is working as a blacksmith with his father.
1942 Invasion Committee Records
I do not know when George and Blanche moved into West View, but it was before September 1939. The 1942 Invasion Committee Records lists Mr G King, Mrs B King and one child in Church Street. George King has been assigned ‘contamination duties’ and Blanche ‘general utilities’.
A Mrs Cox is living in the adjacent cottage (to the north).
Left to right: Roderick King; (his mother) Blanche King nèe Land; (his father) George King;
(his maternal grandfather) Elijah Land. c.1950s
Courtesy David Cordy
West View may was also once occupied by Obadiah Wigby.
Sources:
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]. Draper, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018.
1921 census RG 15/9790, ED 5, Sch 26; Book: 09790
1911 census RG14/11717/73
Norfolk England Church of England Marriages and Banns 1754-1938. George Gregory King & Lillie Blanche Land. Banns Mar 23, 30 and 6 April 1924 Rockland St Peter. Norfolk Record Office; Norwich, Norfolk, England; Norfolk Church of England Registers. Ancestry.com. Norfolk, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
1942 Great Ellingham Invasion Committee Records. Sue Fay