Diary entries can be a very useful historical source. Many will include entries about an individual’s ‘day to day’ life as well as a record of other happenings and events. Minute Books for meetings taking place in a particular parish can also include details of important and, sometimes, unusual events. In this case, I found…
Category: Long Street
The Baptist Church sells the ‘Old School Room’
The former British School in Long Street. Image courtesy of Sue Fay Norfolk Heritage Explorer describes ‘Great Ellingham British School’ as ‘A small, plain building’. It also goes on to say that ‘There is little known of its history, and it is now a house’. Looking at the image of the building (possibly from the…
Thomas Rix buried in the Grave of his first Wife
White House Farm, Long Street, Great EllinghamCourtesy Justin Wilkins From Great Dunham to Great Ellingham It may well have been around 1839 that Thomas and Elizabeth Rix moved from Great Dunham to Great Ellingham. Thomas Rix purchased White House Farm, which included several acres of arable land. Marriage Prior to moving to the village, Thomas…
Widow Eliza Rix marries her Lodger William Kerrison
Eliza Rix was 33 years old when her husband Thomas Rix died at the age of 76 in February, 1870. The couple had been married nearly 17 years during which time Eliza had given birth to 7 known children. Sadly, Thomas and Eliza’s youngest child (and only son), Benjamin Robert, died at just one year…
George & Louisa Edwards both die from Phthisis
According to Simon Willis in his book ‘How our Ancestors Died‘, at least one in six people died of tuberculosis during the Victorian period. Tuberculosis was also known as phthisis as well as consumption. My own family (as well as those families living in Great Ellingham), were no exception in being affected by this disease….
George Saunders makes an elm coffin for Jeremiah Edwards
George Saunders’ house & premises is in the centre of this postcard (the house side-ways) in Church Street, Great Ellingham Kelly’s Directories of 1908 and 1912 lists the name ‘George Saunders’ under Great Ellingham. Saunders is described as a carpenter, builder and undertaker, with the added words ‘joinery a speciality‘. Bill of G.Saunders for providing…
Marriage at the Baptist Chapel celebrated at The Manse
Illustration Christine Fuller The Downham Market Gazette of Saturday 23 April, 1910, reported the following: GREAT ELLINGHAMThe wedding took place at the Baptist Chapel on Saturday last, of Mr C Higgins and Miss A BurrowsThe bridegroom’s father (the Rev. W Higgins) conducted the service. The bride was attended by Gwendoline Higgins as bridesmaid and Master…
For Sale – Newly built farmhouse known as Wylands Farm
Illustration Christine Fuller Wylands Farm lies to the most southern end of Long Street not far from the village boundary with Attleborough. Extract from O.S. Map c.1945. Courtesy Ray & Maureen Beales The Thetford & Watton Times of the 23rd September, 1916, published the following notice: PROPERTY SALE On Wednesday afternoon Messrs W S Hall…
Magistrates order Nehemiah Carter to contribute towards his Wife’s Care
A Workhouse was intended to provide work and shelter for the most poverty stricken members of society. However, many of the Victorian Workhouses operated with prison-like conditions. Accordingly it was only the desperate who would seek the shelter of the workhouse. Nevertheless by the latter part of the Victorian era, workhouses became more of a…
The Marriage Settlement of Harriet Barnard and Richard Clarke
Historically it was common for aristocratic families, the gentry and those families owning land, to want to control the descent of their property. This could be done by incorporating a trust within a purchase deed or in a Will. However it was also common to do this by Marriage Settlements. Arranged Marriages For centuries, arranged…