The blog ‘Love Letter or Letter of Apology?‘ touched on a missive written in 1819 by Richard Clarke to Harriet Barnard of Great Ellingham Hall. The couple later married. I wondered whether any other correspondence between Richard and Harriet Clarke survived. If so, who may have been the custodian of the family letters over the…
Category: Town Green
Love Letter or Letter of Apology?
I am always pleased to hear from visitors to the website. An email from John Forster from Northamptonshire was no exception. John came across my article ‘Robert Barnard of Great Ellingham Hall‘. He told me of the existence of a letter dated July 12th, 1819, addressed to Harriet Barnard at Great Ellingham Hall. The sender…
Guilty of Theft of Sack of Oats from John Dixon
Illustration Christine Fuller The illustration is creative interpretation and intended for humour only. No offence is intended or implied. Odd Hands In January 1916, farmer John Dixon employed two local labourers, Walter Lister and Charles Hall, to help with the threshing of a stack of oats. Lister and Hall worked at Dixon’s farm at Town…
Harriet Stubbings née Barnard
Harriet Stubbings née Barnard. Image extracted from a Wilkins family photograph. Courtesy of James Margetts Emigration at 52 Widow Harriet Stubbings was 52 years old when, in December 1913, she left Great Ellingham for a new life ‘on the other side of the world’. Harriet accompanied her daughter Florence, and Florence’s extended family, on the…
Private G/7208 George Wilkins
The name of George Wilkins is inscribed on the Great War memorial tablet on the west wall of the Church of St James, Great Ellingham. George was a Private in the 1st Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment). Aged just 28 (or 29), he was killed in action in France, on the 15th September, 1916….
William Robert Lebbell – Blacksmith, Wheelwright & Dairyman Farmer
What follows is a short biography of William Robert Lebbell (1884-1965), written by William’s granddaughter, Susan Fay, from her memories of her grandfather: William Robert Lebbell aged about 17 years. Photograph courtesy of Susan Fay, granddaughter of W R Lebbell Born & Bred in Great Ellingham “William was born in the village of Great Ellingham…
Susannah Storey buys Cottage with Garden
Mill, Mill Cottage and Post Office.Courtesy Angela Campbell-Roberts 1928 Purchase On the 4th April, 1928, widow Sarah Ann Elizabeth Carter sold a cottage with a garden, together with the end of a wash-house, to Susannah Goss Storey. The conveyance deed also included a right for Susannah Storey to use a well and a roadway. This…
Lance Corporal John Lincoln
John Lincoln (1876-1917) taken whilst serving as a British Soldier during the Boer War. Photograph courtesy of Bryan Dye ‘John Lincoln’ is amongst sixteen names inscribed on the memorial tablet set into the wall near to the west door of St James’s Church. The tablet remembers the Great Ellingham men who gave their lives for…
Ellis Carter buys a Homestead at Town Green
In this blog, I follow a paper trail to uncover a succession of owners of a small farmhouse in Town Green, Great Ellingham. I begin with the auction of the property in 1884, and take the ownership back to at least 1800, and, perhaps, even further to the 1700s. 1884 Auction The Crown Public House…
Mary Dennis Inherits Property in Town Green
Legacy of Property and Land in Great Ellingham Anthony Porter of Great Ellingham died c.1786, and left all his freehold and copyhold lands in Great Ellingham to his niece, Mary Dennis (née Willomatt). At this time, Mary was living in the town of Watton, some 8 miles from Great Ellingham. Mary’s use and benefit of…