Copyhold Tenure Until the abolishment of copyhold tenure in 1922, Great Ellingham (like many other towns and villages throughout the country), was a mixture of freehold and copyhold land. Copyhold land was subject to the customs of the manorial court. Any change of ownership had to go through the Lord (or Lady) of the Manor,…
Category: Places and Buildings
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 We continue the story of the owners (and some of the occupiers), of the delightful thatched house in the centre of the village. Before c.1862, the house was copyhold of the…
Messuage built upon the tenement Greenhouse – Part III
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 In Part I we began to explore the owners and occupiers of an early 18th century house, which stands in the…
Private G/7208 George Wilkins
The name of George Wilkins is inscribed on the Great War memorial tablet on the west wall of the Church of St James, Great Ellingham. George was a Private in the 1st Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment). Aged just 29, he was killed in action in France, on the 15th September, 1916. Early Life…
1920 Sale of Pieces of Arable Land in Long Street
James Sadd Buys White House Farm James Sadd was already farming and living at White House Farm in Long Street, Great Ellingham, when he completed the purchase of the farm. On the 29th September, 1920, he bought the freehold farm for the sum of £750 from spinster Mary Fortune, of Poplar Grove, Scremerston, Berwick-on-Tweed. The…
William Robert Lebbell – Blacksmith, Wheelwright & Dairyman Farmer
What follows is a short biography of William Robert Lebbell (1884-1965), written by William’s granddaughter, Susan Fay, from her memories of her grandfather: William Robert Lebbell aged about 17 years. Photograph courtesy of Susan Fay, granddaughter of W R Lebbell Born & Bred in Great Ellingham “William was born in the village of Great Ellingham…
W R Lebbell, Shoeing & General Smith & Wheelwright
To the far right of the above postcard is William R Lebbell’s smithy in Long Street. 1911 census The 1911 census shows 26 year old William Robert Lebbell with his wife Lily (née Wigby) and their two year old son, Owen William, living in a 5-roomed dwelling in ‘the Street’, Great Ellingham. Self employed, William…
Susannah Storey buys Cottage with Garden
1928 Purchase On the 4th April, 1928, widow Sarah Ann Elizabeth Carter sold a cottage with a garden, together with the end of a wash-house, to Susannah Goss Storey. The conveyance deed also included a right for Susannah Storey to use a well and a roadway. Josiah Carter’s Purchase in 1906 Sarah Carter’s late husband,…
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…