Photograph taken December 2023 Great Ellingham is fortunate to have a wealth of historical houses. Many of these may have narrowly escaped the fate of demolition, as happened to so many of the village’s old cottages. Glenfield House and Glenfield Cottage comprise the characterful thatched house standing along the Attleborough Road, near to the junction…
Category: Tan Yard Farm
The History of the Double Cottage built on Pennell Common – Part I
Double Cottage at Penhill Road. Photograph courtesy of McDouall family For nearly two centuries, the above double cottage is one of just a few houses in Penhill Road. It was built around 1810 on a piece of land formerly part of of ‘Pennell Common’. Like many other historical houses in the village, the cottage has…
Jack Penson takes in Evacuees at Tanyard Farm
Early 1930s Jack Penson with son Sidney John at Tanyard Farm Great EllinghamCourtesy Lucinda Bell-Tye Just before the outbreak of World War II, the government initiated Operation Pied Piper. The result being an evacuation of some 800,000 children from urban areas to the countryside. As a consequence, Great Ellingham welcomed a number of evacuees. Although…
Mary Ann Scent, daughter of James Matthews
A resident of Chequers Lane, Mary Ann Scent died in Attleborough on the 29th March 1929 at the age of 79. She was buried a few days later on April 3rd in the churchyard at the Parish Church of Great Ellingham. John Penson, Executor In her Will of July 7th, 1927, Mary appointed her nephew…
A ‘Counting Room’ at Tanyard Farm
Tanyard Farm. Date unknown. Photograph Lucinda Bell-Tye. Auction 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…
A Father’s Promise to the Court to keep his son under Restraint
Court Case A special sitting of the Wymondham Petty Sessions took place on 13th April, 1869 to hear a case of the theft of three pistols at Wymondham on 8th April. Robert James Matthews aged 17 of Great Ellingham was charged with stealing three pistols the property of Wymondham ironmonger, Arthur West. The Court was…
December Wedding for John Penson and Ellen Downes in 1924
December 22nd, 1924 Wedding of John Penson and Ellen Downes at Rockland All Saints. Photograph courtesy of Lucinda Bell-Tye Jack Penson Although John Penson was born and raised in Willey, Shropshire, John’s maternal ancestors came from Norfolk. John, born in 1887, was one of four children of John Penson and his wife Lydia née Matthews….
James Matthews – Gamekeeper to Farmer
Headstone for James Matthews in Great Ellingham Churchyard Memorial Inscription After 120 years, the inscription on the gravestone for James Matthews of Great Ellingham which lies in the churchyard of St James remains very clear. James Matthews was born on April 5th, 1817 and died on July 3rd, 1899. James was 82 years old when…
Mrs Abigail Studd buried March 16th, 1867
Great Ellingham Parish Church Abigail Studd was buried in the churchyard of Great Ellingham Parish Church on March 16th, 1867. She was aged 42 years. Abigail’s burial entry is one of only three burials for the name Studd in the Great Ellingham Parish Registers between 1813 and 1878. In the same period, there are no…