The lights which adorn the church tower of St James at Christmas draw our attention to the tower and spire during the winter months, but I wonder how many of us look up at the spire at any other time? When he wrote his notes about the village in 1951, former Great Ellingham resident, William…
Category: Places and Buildings
William Barnard in Financial Difficulties at Bury Hall
To be unable to meet the demands of creditors would have been bad enough for William Barnard and his family to endure, but it seems that this Barnard family suffered additional heartache. A son of James and Sarah Barnard (nee Rose), William Barnard was born in Great Ellingham (most likely at Bury Hall) around 1835….
In Memory of the Late King
I wonder how many of us walking along Church Street have noticed the rectangular limestone tablet in the wall surrounding our Parish Church? How long has the tablet been in the wall and why was it put there? Sadly, the tablet has not weathered well and there is little left of the inscription. However, a…
Village Postmasters
From at least the time of the introduction of the ‘Penny Black’ in 1840, Great Ellingham has been served by a Post Office. This service to the community continues today with the Post Office & Stores in Long Street. But has this building always been the village’s Post Office? A few facts about the Post…
A ‘Counting Room’ at Tanyard Farm
I came across a notice in the Norfolk News of the 14th May 1864 announcing the forthcoming auction on the 16th June of a ‘Desirable Small Farm’ in Great Ellingham. The farm (including a dwellinghouse, agricultural buildings and cottages), were being sold by the Executors of the late Samuel Warren. Samuel Warren had inherited the…
Alms House to be Built on Lower Part of Town Green Common
Payment towards the Building of an Alms House The ‘Town Books’ for Great Ellingham between 1740 and 1760 reveal that the Overseers of the Poor of the Parish of Great Ellingham were making annual payments for ‘Town Rents for the Poor’. These annual payments ranged from £10 7s. 6d in the year 1742, to £3…
Choir Stalls Painted Dark Green
St James is fundamentally a mid-14th century church. Kelly’s Directory of 1904, describes the church as “a spacious building of flint, with stone dressings, in an Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, north porch and an embattled western tower with spire, containing 5 bells, re-hung in 1900”. There were said…
1685: Anthony Beales sells his Windmill to John Browne
Since the 1600s, Great Ellingham has had at least three windmills. The tower of the brick built Windmill, which was erected in the late 1840s, is still visible in the village today. The Statement of Claims for the Great Ellingham Inclosure (c.1800), referred to a decayed Mill on land occupied by John and Elizabeth Turner….
1875: Plans for Two Cottages, Shop & Premises
Mr T Leeder of 7 Mincing Lane, London inserted a notice in the edition of the Norfolk News dated the 3rd July, 1875 inviting Tenders for the erection of two cottages, shop and premises etc. to be built at Great Ellingham, Norfolk. Whilst the Tenders were to be sent to Mr Leeder in London, the…
‘Copings’ on the Church Wall made at the Brick Kiln, Hingham Road
According to the author of ‘A Little History of Great Ellingham‘ the coping stones to the northern end of the front wall of the Church of St James, Great Ellingham came from bricks made at Brick Kiln Farm around 1850. It is also said that the same people who made the coping bricks built the…