Extract from 1906 Ordnance Survey Map. Second Edition. Surveyed in 1881. Author’s Collection The black dot on the above extract from a 1906 Ordnance Survey Map, shows the home of Leonard and Gertrude Rivett at Pond Farm in Watton Road, Great Ellingham. Pond Farm still exists. Further, there has been a dwelling on the site…
Category: Occupations
Messuage in Long Street later known as Fir Tree Farm
Inclosures At the beginning of the 19th century Thomas Warren owned and occupied a house in Long Street. This house was later known as Fir Tree Farm. A Statement of Claims c.1799 relating to the Great Ellingham Inclosures, provide details of the owners and occupiers of houses, cottages and the various parcels of land in…
Vic Howlett creates Butcher’s Shop from a Shed!
Vic Howlett’s Butcher’s Shop (blue building) in Chequers Lane. Photograph taken c.1990 If you lived in Great Ellingham during the 1960s to the 1990s, you most likely would have bought your meat from Vic Howlett’s Butchers Shop in Chequers Lane. Vic was always cheerful and had a kind word for everyone. I recently listened to…
Stained-Glass Window in Memory of Robert Barnard Lebbell and his wife Mary
Photograph courtesy of Steve Moore-Vale On the south side of the Church of St James, is a fine stained-glass window dedicated to two members of long-standing local families: Robert Barnard Lebbell and his wife Mary née Mann. The cost of the window was funded by their family. Photograph courtesy of Steve Moore-Vale Who was Robert…
Emma Le Grice widowed after the tragic death of husband Robert Le Grice
Father – Local Publican Robert Lebbell Emma Le Grice was born Emma Lebbell in the village of Great Ellingham. The day of her birth was either at the very end of 1842 or just into 1843, as she was baptised in the Church of St James on the 8th January. Her parents were local publican…
James Fox ‘gives up’ his Farm in Bow Street
1904 Auction of Farm in Bow Street Occupied by James Fox The Norfolk Chronicle of the 6th August, 1904, included notice of the sale by auction of a ‘Desirable Small Occupation Farm’ in Bow Street, Great Ellingham. The auction would take place at the Royal Hotel, Norwich at 7 o’clock in the evening of the…
Seven Acre Farm in Bow Street
At the beginning of the 19th century, there were 13 dwellings along Bow Street. These dwellings included eight houses and five cottages. Of the eight houses, six were farms with land ranging from around seven acres to 43 acres. George Cady (Caddy) of Rockland All Saints, owned one of the houses together with seven acres…
Samuel & Catherine Hilling of Low Common
Jeffrey Towler owned several properties in Great Ellingham at the end of the eighteenth century. He leased two dwellings together with 22 acres of land to Samuel Hilling. These properties were at the end of the lane which we know today as Swamp Lane. Swamp Lane The above extract a plan of c.1802 clearly shows…
Increase & Decline in the Population of Great Ellingham in the 19th Century
Increase At the beginning of the 19th century, and over a period of 30 years, the population of Great Ellingham gradually increased from 655 in 1801 to 882 in 1831. Decrease However, save for a small increase in the populace in 1871, there began a steady decline in the population over the next 70 years….
Sworn Statements Found in Cottages in Long Street
Two nineteenth century legal documents provide evidence of a shoemaker and his apprentice living in Great Ellingham. The documents were found in the home of Lily Lebbell, following her death in 1973. Lily was the widow of blacksmith, wheelwright and dairyman William Robert Lebbell. For many years, William Lebbell was also the parish clerk. Extract…