Parish Chests The Poor Law of 1552 brought in mandatory legislation that every parish must have a strong chest, with three keys, in which to keep the alms for the poor. Earlier 16th century legislation required every parish to have a locked parish chest for the safe keeping of the Parish Registers and other parish…
Category: Places and Buildings
The ‘Witches’ of Penhill Road & ‘Dragon’s Blood’ at Downham Market
Witchcraft & Folklore Witchcraft is very much interwoven with Norfolk folklore. Traditionally ‘Witches’ were perceived to have supernatural powers to control people or events. Most villages and towns had ‘wise-men’ or ‘wise-women’ who were acquainted with the old mysterious ways. Although much-feared, it is claimed that these ‘cunning folk’ made sick people better, located lost…
Prominent Footballer & Cricketer Plays for Great Ellingham Cricket Team
Curate to Little & Great Ellingham The Old Parsonage, once the home of George Barkley Raikes In the summer of 1905, Little and Great Ellingham had a new curate, the Reverend George Barkley Raikes. Given that the previous curate, the Reverend Harry Parker, lived at The Parsonage in Great Ellingham, it follows that the Parsonage…
Lincoln Family’s Migration from Great Ellingham to Yorkshire
Movement of People Like many rural communities during the Victorian period, Great Ellingham saw movement in the population. In 1836, several families left the village for a new life ‘on the other side of the world’. A few were ‘forced’ to embark on a journey to Van Diemen’s Land (later Tasmania) following a criminal conviction….
Six of One and Half a Dozen of the Other
Guilty of Assault The Diss Express of Friday, 4th August, 1905, reported on proceedings at the East Harling Magistrates Court. This included the case concerning a fracas between two women in Great Ellingham. Widow Elvina M Rushbrooke of Great Ellingham was charged with assaulting her neighbour Maud Halls on the 23rd July. Halls was charged…
Ted & Alice Lincoln of The Cock Inn, Stanton
It can be difficult to ‘fill in the gaps’ between the birth or baptism of our ancestor, their marriage (if indeed one took place), and their ultimate death. All these ‘rights of passage’ are almost certainly recorded in the parish registers, which can date from as early as the sixteenth century. However in relatively recent…
A Triumph for the People
Before parish councils were first established c.1894, the responsibility for the day to day administration of the parish fell to the rector and some of the more affluent landowners. The Norfolk News of the 26th April, 1873, published a report of a meeting attended by many discontented parishioners in Great Ellingham. A correspondent, who appears…
A Church with ‘No History’?
Great Ellingham Parish Church of St James 1935 Archaeologists’ Tour A report of an archaeologists’ tour published in the Yarmouth Independent on the 18th May, 1935, caught my eye. Amongst the three churches visited in the Wymondham District was St James’s at Great Ellingham. A comment made by Mr E J Tench FIBA particularly grabbed…
Theft of Two Bushels of Wheat results in Prison Sentence
Norfolk Assizes 29-year-old Edward Long appeared at the Norfolk Assizes on the 31st July, 1841. Long stole two bushels of wheat in chaff from local farmer, Mary Mann. What’s more, Long had been working for Mary Mann at the time of the offence. He was found guilty and sentenced to two months’ imprisonment. Edward Long…
Frances Kerrison’s Claim to the Commissioners for the Inclosures
At No.23 of the Statement of Claims to the Commissioners for the Great Ellingham Inclosures c.1799, is a claim by Frances Kerrison. Frances, the wife of Richard Kerrison, claimed one Messuage and 8 Acres of Land, occupied by Richard Kerrison. Of the whole property, one acre and two roods were copyhold of Bury Hall. Along…