Discovering House Histories Deeds Title Deeds are one of the best resources when researching the history of a property. Historical deeds will usually include conveyances, mortgages, agreements etc. They may also recite extracts from wills and earlier deeds. Accordingly, title deeds may provide an unbroken chain of ownership through many decades – or even centuries!…
Category: Grice
Jeremiah Grice Buys a Long Street Farm from Henry Beevor
In this blog we continue the story of the history of a farm which lies at the southern end of Long Street in Great Ellingham. Long Street is identified by the purple arrows on the below map of 1802. Extract from 1802 Map of Great Ellingham. All rights reserved Norfolk Record Office. Cat. Ref. C/Ca…
Two Closely Connected Farms in Long Street
At the beginning of the 19th century, Francis Parke owned a farm (which included a farmhouse, barn, yard, garden, outbuildings and some 59 acres) in Long Street, Great Ellingham. Parke also owned an additional nearby barn. Extract from 1802 Map of Great Ellingham. All rights reserved Norfolk Record Office. Cat. Ref. C/Ca 1/84. With kind…
A Link with the Past: The Poor’s Firing Land
In the informative booklet “A Little History of Great Ellingham“, the author, Mr William Robert Lebbell (1885-1965), mentions that (in the 1960s) the ‘Poor’s Firing Land’ was the only link from the time of the Great Ellingham Inclosures (c.1800) with modern Great Ellingham. Mr Lebbell describes the pieces of land as being untended and in…
Robert Le Grice’s Effects to be Auctioned
Auction The Norfolk News of 17th September, 1864, announced a forthcoming Auction taking place in Great Ellingham on September 26th, 1864. The Auction would include the live and dead farming stock, household furniture and other effects belonging to the late Robert Le Grice. Amongst these items were two tumbrils, a road waggon, ploughs, harrows, luggage…
Mary Ann daughter of Jeremiah & Bridget Le Grice
Headstone of Mary Ann Le Grice in the churchyard of St James Great Ellingham Headstone Amongst other headstones hidden by branches, twigs and ivy in the churchyard at St James, Great Ellingham stands the memorial to Mary Ann Le Grice. The headstone inscription tells us that Mary Ann was the daughter of Jeremiah and Bridget…
A Father’s Promise to the Court to keep his son under Restraint
Court Case A special sitting of the Wymondham Petty Sessions took place on 13th April, 1869 to hear a case of the theft of three pistols at Wymondham on 8th April. Robert James Matthews aged 17 of Great Ellingham was charged with stealing three pistols the property of Wymondham ironmonger, Arthur West. The Court was…
December Wedding for John Penson and Ellen Downes in 1924
December 22nd, 1924 Wedding of John Penson and Ellen Downes at Rockland All Saints. Photograph courtesy of Lucinda Bell-Tye Jack Penson Although John Penson was born and raised in Willey, Shropshire, John’s maternal ancestors came from Norfolk. John, born in 1887, was one of four children of John Penson and his wife Lydia née Matthews….
James Matthews – Gamekeeper to Farmer
Headstone for James Matthews in Great Ellingham Churchyard Memorial Inscription After 120 years, the inscription on the gravestone for James Matthews of Great Ellingham which lies in the churchyard of St James remains very clear. James Matthews was born on April 5th, 1817 and died on July 3rd, 1899. James was 82 years old when…
Frederick Grice buried 16th August 1898, aged 62 years
Headstone for Frederick Grice in Great Ellingham Churchyard The Frederick Grice buried in the churchyard of St James on August 12th, 1898 lived in Long Street, Great Ellingham for over thirty years. However, it transpires that Frederick Grice was born in Wolferton, Norfolk, some 40 miles from Great Ellingham. 1891 census The 1891 census finds…