The Great Ellingham Inclosures documentation not only provides the names of the landowners and their tenants, but allows us to pinpoint where many of the inhabitants were living at the turn of the 19th century.
The Statement of Claims c.1799 and a Particulars & Valuation of Great Ellingham 1800, show that farmer Thomas Warren owned a house in Long Street (which he occupied), as well as two cottages which either housed his workers, or was let to tenants.
One cottage was occupied by John Norman and the other by Peter Reeder.
Apart from one or two exceptions, the numbering used in the schedules to the Particulars & Valuation of 1800 concurs with the numbering used on an 1802 Map of Great Ellingham.
The same document shows that at number 425 is a Cottage, Barn and Garden occupied by John Norman as well as a Cottage and Garden occupied by Peter Reeder.
Extracts from 1802 Map of Great Ellingham. Original held at Norfolk Record Office. Russell James Colman Plans. Cat. Ref. C/Ca 1/84. With kind permission of NRO
The two cottages were at the south-western side of the village, near to (or on) Pennell Common. The black dot on the extract of the 1802 Map (on the left), pinpoints where these were. The red mark with the initials ‘TW’ on the extract of the map to the right, provides a clearer picture of the location of the cottages.
Unfortunately as the cottages, barn and gardens only occupied about half an acre, the number ‘425’ is not visible on the map. However, given the position of the cottages to the other parcels of land which are numbered, I am confident that this is the location of the two cottages.
John Norman
The cottage with the barn and garden was occupied by John and Mary Norman and their children.
Marriage to Lucy Orford
On the 20th October, 1788, John Norman married Lucy Orford in St Mary’s Church, Attleborough. Neither John nor Lucy had been married before, and they had both been living in Attleborough prior to the marriage.
However, John Norman may have been a ‘Great Ellingham man’. John the son of John and Mary Norman, was baptised in the Parish Church of Great Ellingham on the 16th July, 1764.
Children in Great Ellingham
Not long after the marriage, John and Lucy Norman moved to Great Ellingham. It is possible the couple moved into the ‘Cottage, Barn & Garden’ at this time.
Their son John was baptised in the Church of St James, Great Ellingham on the 8th March, 1789. Sadly, just two months after the baptism, the couple buried their infant son.
However, within two years Lucy gave birth to another son. The infant, also named John, was baptised in St James’s on the 20th February, 1791.
Death of Lucy Norman
Just two years later, Lucy was dead. John Norman buried his wife in the churchyard of St James on April 6th, 1793.
Marriage to Mary Halls
Some nine months later, on the 24th January, 1794, widower John Norman married spinster Mary Halls. Their marriage also took place in St James’s Church.
Children
Their son, also named John, was baptised in the same church on the 25th June, 1797. John was followed by Thomas, who was baptised on the 13th July, 1800.
The Norman Family move from the Village
I believe that the Norman family left the village before 1817.
A Survey of Great Ellingham (1817-1819) shows Roger? Turvey now occupying the ‘Cottage Barn and Garden’. At this time, Peter Reeder and William Rider occupied the ‘Cottage & Garden’.
Peter Reeder
In 1800, Peter Reeder with his wife and children occupied the cottage and garden adjacent, or certainly next to, the cottage with the barn and garden. Later, the Reeder family shared the cottage (most likely divided into two tenements) with William Rider and his family.
Baptism & Marriage in St James
A son of Peter and Esther Reeder (née Freeman), Peter was baptised on the 5th March, 1769 in the Church of St James.
On the 2nd November, 1795, and in the same church, Peter married Hannah Hewitt.
Children
The interior of St James’s Church, Great Ellingham. Courtesy Christine Bell
The couple had 8 children who were all baptised in St James’s Church between 1796 and 1814: Elizabeth on the 6th March, 1796, James on 16th July, 1797, Esther March 12th, 1800, Peter on the 3rd April, 18303, John 9th February, 1806, Mary on the 13th August, 1809, Jonathan 18th October, 1812 and, finally, Hannah baptised on the 6th March, 1814.
It is reasonable to assume that some (if not all) of the children were born in the cottage near Pennell Common. Sadly, Elizabeth and Jonathan did not survive infancy.
Cottage & Garden
According to an Estates & Occupations c.1836 (but no later than 1840), Peter Reeder still occupied the ‘Cottage & Garden’ with William Rider (Ryder). The cottage would have been divided into two tenements. An annotation on the document suggests that James Reeder was a later occupier of the cottage.
Death of Peter Reeder
Peter Reeder died aged 73 at the beginning of 1841. He was buried in the churchyard at St James on the 15th January, 1841.
1841 census
The 1841 census undertaken some six months after Peter Reeder’s death, captures Hannah Reeder living alone in Great Ellingham. However, Peter and Hannah’s son, James, and his wife and 6 children appear to be neighbours of his mother.
However, given that the 1841 census does not say exactly whereabouts in the village they are living, I cannot be absolutely certain that the Hannah Reeder and her son James are living in the same cottage which this Reeder family occupied some forty years earlier, although I think it likely.
1851 census
Ten years later, the 1851 census finds 69 year old widow, Anna (Hannah) Reeder with her son, James, and his wife and three children living in Long Street. I think we can be certain that this is not the cottage on Pennell Common which they had previously occupied.
Death of Hannah Reeder
Hannah Reeder died at the age of 89 in February, 1858. Like her husband, Peter Reeder, Hannah is buried in the churchyard of St James.
William Rider
A much younger man than either John Norman or Peter Reeder, William Rider first occupied part of the ‘Cottage & Garden’ with Peter Reeder around 1817.
St James’s Church, Great Ellingham
Marriage
On the 24th December, 1816, William Rider married Anne Chapman in the Parish Church of Great Ellingham. Both from the village and single, they each put their mark ‘X’ in the marriage register. This suggests that they (like many others at the time) had no (or very limited) literacy skills.
Children
Not long after the marriage, Anne Rider gave birth to Mary. She was baptised in St James’s Church on the 31st March, 1817. I have found three further children of William and Anne baptised in Great Ellingham Parish Church – Sarah Ann on March 31st, 1822, William on 26th September, 1830 and Elizabeth on the 5th February, 1837.
1841
The 1841 census finds William and Anne Rider aged 40 and 45 respectively with their children Sarah Anne 15, William 12 and four year old Elizabeth living in Great Ellingham. However, again as the census does not specify exactly where they are living, I cannot say whether they were still living in the same cottage as they were some 20 years earlier.
Death of Anne Rider
53 year old Anne Rider died in 1846. The 1851 census captures 52 year old widower and farmer of seven acres William Rider living in Long Street. William has a lodger, 51 year old house servant, Lydia Briggs. Again, I think we can be certain that William Rider was not living in the ‘Cottage & Garden’ which he occupied some 20 years earlier.
Death of William Rider
William Rider died at the age of 82 during the latter part of 1877. The census of 1871 finds him in the household of his son in law and daughter, Edward and Mary Long, in Long Street.
Owners of the Cottages
Thomas Warren
We know from the Inclosures documentation that Thomas Warren owned the cottages (i.e. ‘Cottage & Garden’ and ‘Cottage, Barn & Garden’) near to or on Pennell Common at the turn of the 18th century.
Extract from 18th Century Map. Pennell & Anchor Commons in Great Ellingham held at Norfolk Record Office. Cat. Ref. MC2213/114, 941X7 With kind permission of NRO.
The properties are also identified on the above extract from an 18th century map. I have inserted a black dot alongside the rectangular outline of the building (or buildings). The map also shows (on the left of the map) the properties which are today known as Home Cottage Farm and (above) Penhill Farm West near to the western boundary of the village with Rocklands.
William Warren
However, Thomas Warren died c.1804. His eldest son, William, inherited the cottages together with his father’s house and land. As far a I know, William continued to let the properties.
William Warren died on the 20th May, 1816.
Edward Wilkins
William Warren left all his property in Great Ellingham to his cousin, Edward Wilkins. I feel sure that this included the ‘Cottage & Garden’ occupied by William Rider, Peter Reeder (and subsequently James Reeder) and possibly the ‘Cottage, Barn & Garden’ once occupied by John Norman and then by Robert Turvey.
James Rose
An annotation on the Estates & Occupations c.1836 (not no later than 1840) reveals that at some point in time, James Rose purchased the ‘Cottage, Barn & Garden’ as well as parcels of land near to the ‘Cottage, Barn & Garden’. I do not know whether it was William Warren who sold the property to James Rose, or whether it was Edward Wilkins.
Disappeared
Today, the cottages have long disappeared. They do not show on the First Edition of the Ordnance Survey Map for Norfolk 1879-1886. Further, I cannot find reference to the cottages on the Tithe Map covering Great Ellingham (1836-c.1850). Accordingly, I believe the cottages had disappeared (or were no longer used as dwellings) by 1851.
Sources:
1802 Russell James Colman Plans. Great Ellingham. 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
1799 Statement of Claims. Great Ellingham Inclosure. Norfolk Record Office. Catalogue Ref: MC 2213/118
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office. PD 609. Also available at www.familysearch.org
Attleborough Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office. PD 438. Viewed via www.ancestry.co.uk
1841 census HO107/781/8
1851 census HO107/1823/128, HO107/1823/13
1871 census RG10/1841/77
GRO Index. FreeBMD website
Deaths. Mar Qtr 1846. Rider, Ann. Wayland. https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=wgZJ79kS%2F9GoA1mwQC83nQ&scan=1
Deaths. Dec Qtr 1877. Rider, William. Wayland. https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=kspzN305hn5UqPsMnKxgpg&scan=1