Extract from the Book of Family Worship. Downes Family. Courtesy Rita Downes A Family Bible is a useful resource for family historians. Although the information is usually limited to a list of names and birth dates, it nevertheless helps to piece together members of a family. It may also provide details which would otherwise remain…
Category: Town Green
Joseph & Elizabeth Reeder, with roots firmly in Great Ellingham
Joseph Reeder 1862-1953 Courtesy Betty Reeder Above is a wonderful image of a true Great Ellingham man, Joseph (Joe) Reeder. In 1883, Joe (then 21) married 19 year old Elizabeth Reeder. Joseph and Elizabeth were both great grandchildren of Peter Reeder and his wife Hannah nèe Hewitt. This made them ‘second cousins’. However, this was…
Stoker 1st Class K/39160 Frederick Charles Reeve Royal Navy
Fellow local historian, Cynthia Budd, has meticulously researched the men listed on the Great War Memorials throughout the Shellrock Benefice (Great Ellingham, Little Ellingham, Rockland All Saints, Rockland St Peter and Shropham with Snetterton). She has kindly allowed me to reproduce her tributes to the Great Ellingham men, on the Great Ellingham One-Place Study website….
A Double Wedding for the Carter Sisters
1903 ‘Double Wedding’ Jacob Beales & Isabella Carter and Alfred Harry Osborne & Kate Carter. Courtesy Carolyn Boatwright The wonderful Edwardian photograph captures the ‘double wedding’ of sisters, Isabella and Kate Carter. The joint nuptials took place during 1903 at the Baptist Church, Great Ellingham. Looking at the photograph, on the left is 31 year…
Luther Beales – a ‘Man of Many Talents’
Joan Barnard is one of many people who have several family connections to Great Ellingham. What’s more, her family retained many of the memories and stories about members of the families, as well as photographs. What follows is Joan’s account of her family member Luther Beales: Luther Beales was born Great Ellingham 1893. He was…
Town Green at the beginning of the 18th Century
Extract from 1802 Map of Great Ellingham. Russell James Colman Plans. Norfolk Record Office Cat. Ref. C/Ca 1/84. All rights reserved Norfolk Record Office. With kind permission of NRONorth is to the top of the map The ‘triangle’ of Town Green will be familiar to those living in the village today as it was to…
A ‘Choice Farm’ occupied by Mr J Downes for sale by Auction
In the summer of 1892, Auctioneers Salter Simpson & Sons, received instructions to sell a ‘choice farm’ in Great Ellingham. The sellers were referred to as the “Devisees in Trust for Sale under the Will of the late Mr Robert Land.” The Farm The printed Auction Particulars also tell us that the ‘choice farm’ comprised…
‘Houses for the Poor’ Sold at Auction
1769 Dwelling House for the Poor In 1769 a house to accommodate the poor was built upon land at the lower part of the common of Town Green. The land was given to the parish by the Lady of the Manor of Ellingham Hall, Margaretta Colman, the wife of the late Fysher Colman. The common…
Great Ellingham’s Valentines
For centuries, children have been given the name ‘Valentine‘ whether or not they actually came into the world on the 14th February. I wondered whether there had been any ‘Valentines’ in Great Ellingham? Valentine Garratt Church of St James, Great Ellingham Marriage The marriage between Valentine Garratt of Gressenhall and Elizabeth Frost of Great Ellingham…
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….