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‘…
Category: People
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…
Thomas Mann’s Assignment
At the beginning of 1846, James Rose, a shopkeeper of Great Ellingham, published a notice in a local newspaper. This Notice was headed ‘Thomas Mann’s Assignment‘. What was the story behind the Notice? Indenture dated 27th October, 1843 The Notice dated 12th January, 1846 was printed in the Norfolk Chronicle five days later. James Rose…
Samuel Le Grice’s Ownership of the Mill
Mill House, Mill and Cottage at Great Ellingham. Photograph courtesy of Attleborough Heritage Group Purchase On the 12th October, 1854, Samuel Le Grice purchased a tower windmill and other premises at Great Ellingham from Jeremiah Fielding. Le Grice paid the sum of £825 for the mill, a nearby messuage with baking office, barns, stables, outbuildings,…
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…
‘Golden Couple’ Joseph & Susanna Dye
Joseph & Susanna Dye with their family c.1941. Photograph courtesy of Bryan Dye The above photograph is a fabulous snapshot of a couple celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary, surrounded by generations of their family. Marriage Joseph Alfred Dye married Susanna Lincoln in 1891. They were both aged 21, and from long-established Great Ellingham families. Both…
Lance Corporal John Lincoln
John Lincoln (1876-1917) taken whilst serving as a British Soldier during the Boer War. Photograph courtesy of Bryan Dye ‘John Lincoln’ is amongst sixteen names inscribed on the memorial tablet set into the wall near to the west door of St James’s Church. The tablet remembers the Great Ellingham men who gave their lives for…
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…
Mary Dennis Inherits Property in Town Green
Legacy of Property and Land in Great Ellingham Anthony Porter of Great Ellingham died c.1786, and left all his freehold and copyhold lands in Great Ellingham to his niece, Mary Dennis (née Willomatt). At this time, Mary was living in the town of Watton, some 8 miles from Great Ellingham. Mary’s use and benefit of…
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…