Historical deeds can be both interesting and enlightening. Before the relatively recent requirement for the registration of property and land transactions, bundles of deeds were investigated by a buyer’s lawyer and handed over to the new owner on completion. Unlike most of the modern conveyancing documents, the old indentures contain lengthy narratives. These narratives provide…
Category: Lebble
Harry Rix’s Early Boyhood Recollections of Great Ellingham – Long Street
Many written accounts of ‘everyday histories’ focus on prominent figures and major events. However, it is the documenting of the working class which preserves the lived experiences of ordinary people. We are indebted to Great Ellingham man Harry Rix. In 2001, 80 year old Harry decided to record some of his boyhood memories of the…
Francis Colman Negus’s Tenure of Great Ellingham Hall
Great Ellingham Hall 1960sCourtesy of Susan Fay Great Ellingham Hall and the ‘Ellingham estate’ came into the ownership of the Coleman family in 1712. Francis Coleman purchased the estate from the Potts family. Francis Coleman’s Children The surnames ‘Coleman’ and ‘Colman’ are consistently interchangeable in records. However on the most part, ‘Colman’ seems to be…
Charles & Frances Thilthorpe survived only by their daughter Thomasin
Marriage and Children Charles Thilthorpe arrived in Great Ellingham with his wife Frances (neé Bunkall) sometime after their marriage in Watton on 11th October, 1772. Baptisms for at least eight children of Charles and Frances Thilthorpe appear in the Great Ellingham Parish Registers between 1774 and 1785. One entry confirms that Frances was formerly spinster…
Blacksmith’s Shop in Town Green
Property Owner Benjamin Turner In 1800, Benjamin Turner owned five dwellings and one blacksmith’s shop in Great Ellingham. Turner occupied one of the dwellings, and let the other properties to tenants. The blacksmith’s shop (copyhold of the Manor of Ellingham Hall), was occupied by James Lebbell. Where was the Blacksmith’s Shop? Extract from 1802 Map…