Parish Administration Prior to 1894 Prior to the establishment of Parish Councils, the responsibility for the day to day administration of the parish fell to the rector and some of the more affluent landowners – particularly those who could read, write and keep accounts. In Great Ellingham, the parish ‘officers’ such as the churchwardens, the…
Category: Kerrison
Messuage built upon the tenement Greenhouse – Part V
On the left is a fine thatched house (formerly a copyhold messuage) with a pair of cottages built onto the eastern wall (to the right) on the corner of Church Street (the Street) Chequers Lane & Long Street. Postcard courtesy Carol Ewin The Story of the Owners and Occupiers In Parts I, II, III and…
Messuage built upon the tenement Greenhouse – Part IV
Semi-detached cottages (once referred to as the ‘Messuage built upon the tenement Greenhouse’) with adjoining cottages on the right. Corner of Chequers Lane/Long Street & Church Street. Postcard courtesy Carol Ewin The Story of the Owners and Occupiers of the House In Parts I, II and III, I have taken the history of this delightful…
Frances Kerrison’s Claim to the Commissioners for the Inclosures
At No.23 of the Statement of Claims to the Commissioners for the Great Ellingham Inclosures c.1799, is a claim by Frances Kerrison. Frances, the wife of Richard Kerrison, claimed one Messuage and 8 Acres of Land, occupied by Richard Kerrison. Of the whole property, one acre and two roods were copyhold of Bury Hall. Along…
Guilty of Theft of Sack of Oats from John Dixon
Illustration Christine Fuller 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 Green, Great Ellingham, as ‘odd hands’. Magistrates’ Court Lister and Hall subsequently found themselves before the…
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…
Poplar Farmhouse – an Ancient Timber Framed Building
Poplar Farm, Long Street. Courtesy of Susan Fay In the informative booklet, A Little History of Great Ellingham, the authors describe ‘Poplar Farm’ as “an ancient timber framed building purporting to be made from reclaimed ship’s timber”. “This house has a long corridor down one side’”. The booklet also mentions that there is a spring…
Messuage divided into Three Tenements lying in Churchgate
During the 19th century, many of the dwellinghouses in the village of Great Ellingham were tenanted. Further, not all the landlords lived in the village. Late 17th Century Dwellinghouse in Church Street An example of this is a late 17th century dwellinghouse lying in what we today know as Church Street, just opposite Mill Farm….
Penalty & Costs of Thirty Shillings
Furious Driving James Wilkins of Great Ellingham appeared before the Magistrates at the Petty Sessions held at New Buckenham in early May 1864. An account of the offence of furious driving on the road from Great Ellingham to Stow Bedon was given by Police Constable Bugg. James Wilkins was convicted and adjudged to pay 30s…
Caught by Footprints on the Ground!
Illustration by Christine Fuller On their return from chapel on Sunday, 3rd December 1865, Charles and Harriet Barnard may well have been shocked to find that their home had been broken into, and money stolen from their shop till. Court Appearance for William Clarke William Clarke, described as a youth and living with his parents…