The Chequers c.1912. The board over the doorway refers to the licensee, Jacob Beales. Assumed to be in the photograph is Jacob Beales (centre) and IsabellaCourtesy Linda Purdy At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Chequers Public House was owned by Mary Warren. Mary also occupied the Chequers her husband, William Warren. An Abstract…
Category: Pubs & Beer Houses
Carpenter John Barnard dies in the Village in 1782
In his will dated 1st August, 1777, John Barnard of Great Ellingham describes himself as a carpenter. St James’s Church, Great Ellingham Four years before making his will, John married Mary Mead in the Church of St James, Great Ellingham on the 22nd October, 1773. Mary Mead was a spinster of the parish of Eye…
Property Owner Mary Warren dies in 1808
Extract from 1802 Map of Great Ellingham. Original held at Norfolk Record Office. Russell James Colman Plans. Cat. Ref. C/Ca 1/84. With kind permission of NRO Properties in Chequers Lane and Church Street At the turn of the nineteenth century, Mary Warren owned five houses and land in Great Ellingham. These properties were in what…
Marital Disagreement results in a Court Appearance
Extract from 1906 Ordnance Survey Map. Second Edition. Surveyed in 1881. Author’s Collection The above extract from a 1906 Ordnance Survey Map shows the location of the Prince of Wales Public House along the Watton Road in Great Ellingham. Norfolk News report on the Court Case The report of a court case appearing in the…
Fourteen Footways Discontinued by the Commissioners
Before the Great Ellingham Inclosure Act of 1799, there were several paths threading their way through the village. No doubt many of these footways were in constant use by the villagers to get from one part of the village to another, or to travel to the adjacent villages or towns. Some of these ancient paths…
Ploughing Match at the Queens Head
Illustration by Christine Fuller The illustration is creative interpretation and intended for humour only. No offence is intended or implied. The Eastern Daily Press of 12th June, 1906 reported on the third annual ploughing match held at the Queens Head Inn, on the previous Wednesday. Under the stewardship of G Banham and D Woodrow, the…
‘Harvest Frolic’ at the Queen’s Head
Illustration by Christine Fuller The illustration is creative interpretation and intended for humour only. No offence is intended or implied. On the last Friday of September, 1894, and in celebration of the end of the Harvest, about fifty people sat down to a ‘repast of good old English fare‘ provided by the landlord of the…
The Crown and Widow Caddy’s House engulfed in flames!
Fire starts at Widow Caddy’s Home The report of a ‘terrible fire’ at Great Ellingham, near Attleborough, made the edition of The Times on the 18th May, 1787. The Widow Caddy must have been in great fear and distress when fire broke out at her home between eleven and twelve o’clock on the ‘Wednesday night…
Quoits belonging to Jacob Beales
Quoits that once belonged to Jacob Beales (1874-1952), the landlord of the Chequers Public House. Photograph courtesy of Graham Beales, great grandson of Jacob Beales In setting out the game of Quoits, Pear’s Cyclopaedia of May 1928 describes the Quoits themselves as ‘flattened rings, convex on the upper side, 8¼ inches to 9½ inches in…
Auction of the Crown with ‘Good Potential’
Crown Inn with adjoining shops. Postcard courtesy of Carol Ewin 1845 Auction Lydia Barnard had been the licensee of the Crown Inn at Great Ellingham for many years prior to the proposed sale of the premises at Auction. The Norwich Mercury of Saturday, September 13th, 1845 included a notice “To Brewers” of the forthcoming Auction…