Illustration Christine Fuller The illustration is creative interpretation and intended for humour only. No offence is intended or implied. Odd Hands In January 1916, farmer John Dixon employed two local labourers, Walter Lister and Charles Hall, to help with the threshing of a stack of oats. Lister and Hall worked at Dixon’s farm at Town…
Category: Barnard
Sarah Thompson Reeder 1874-1951
Sampler stitched by 12 year old Sarah Thompson Reeder in 1886. Photograph courtesy of Rosemary Jones In 1886, 12 year old Sarah Thompson demonstrated her needlework skills by stitching a sampler at her school in Great Ellingham. By the time the girls at the Board School finished their education, most (if not all) of the…
Messuage built upon the tenement Greenhouse – Part II
The delightful thatched house on the corner of Church Street and Chequers Lane. Postcard possibly dates from the early 1900s. Courtesy of Carol Ewin The Story of the Owners and Occupiers of the House We continue the story of the owners (and some of the occupiers), of the delightful thatched house in the centre of…
Messuage built upon the tenement Greenhouse – Part III
The delightful south facing thatched house with adjoining cottages to the east on the corner of Church Street and Chequers Lane. Postcard possibly dates from the early 1900s. Courtesy of Carol Ewin The Story of the Owners and Occupiers of the House In Part I we began to explore the owners and occupiers of an…
Great Ellingham’s Pubs and Beer-houses
The Crown Public House in the centre. Courtesy of Attleborough Heritage Group Village pubs have always been a focal point of a community. Great Ellingham is no exception. During the Victorian period, Great Ellingham had five public houses, some of which were former beer-houses. Today, the village has one remaining pub. At the end of…
Robert Brooke’s Farmhouse in Long Street
Robert Brooke (c.1757-1829) Robert Brooke of Great Ellingham died in March 1829. He was 73 years old, a bachelor, and a yeoman i.e. a farmer owning a reasonable amount of property and land, but not sufficient to be classed as ‘gentry’. Variations of Name During my research, I have found that this family’s surname ‘Brooke‘…
Rose’s Messuage, Shop & Garden
1900 House & Shop in Church Street The early 1900s postcard shows Herbert J Neave’s Shop and an adjoining House in Church Street. This is the same House and Shop which William Rose owned and occupied over 100 years earlier. c.1800 The Statement of Claims c.1799 for the Inclosures of Great Ellingham reveal a claim…
Jeremiah Fielding sells Windmill & Emigrates
Mill House which replaced an earlier dwelling with the Mill behind. Postcard postmarked 1905. Tower Windmill made from Local Bricks The brick tower windmill standing in what is now Church Street, Great Ellingham, was erected by Jeremiah Fielding c.1849. The bricks were made locally at the brick kiln in Hingham Road. It has also been…
Ellis Carter buys a Homestead at Town Green
In this blog, I follow a paper trail to uncover a succession of owners of a small farmhouse in Town Green, Great Ellingham. I begin with the auction of the property in 1884, and take the ownership back to at least 1800, and, perhaps, even further to the 1700s. 1884 Auction The Crown Public House…
Medieval Manor Hall House in Church Street – Part I
The fine thatched building standing in Church Street (not far from the Crown Public House), is one of the oldest properties in Great Ellingham. The Grade II listed building was (in relatively recent times) known as “Ye Olde Thatche Shoppe“. Thought to have been a medieval Manor Hall House (comprising a public hall with living…