Many of us will be familiar with the large recreation ground we are fortunate to have in our village. But I wonder whether any of us have ever thought how long the village has actually had the recreation ground. Farm Meadows Before the creation of a designated recreation ground, several owners of the larger farms…
Category: Schools, Societies, Charities
Great Ellingham’s Recreation Ground’s Byelaws
On the 28th February, 1931, the Parish Council purchased a piece of land known as ‘Town Piece’ for the purposes of a recreation ground. The blue arrow on the below map shows the location of this ‘L-shaped’ piece of land. Extract from O.S. Map c.1945. Courtesy Ray & Maureen Beales Although the Parish Council purchased…
A Recreation Ground for All!
At a meeting of the Parish Council held on the 20th May, 1932, it was agreed that the Recreation Ground is free “to any party in the parish for useful purposes, providing application is made to the council for their sanction”. A year earlier, and as trustees, the Parish Council had purchased land for the…
The Creation of Great Ellingham Parish Council
Parish Administration Prior to 1894 Prior to the establishment of Parish Councils, the responsibility for the day to day administration of the parish fell to the rector and some of the more affluent landowners – particularly those who could read, write and keep accounts. In Great Ellingham, the parish ‘officers’ such as the churchwardens, the…
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…
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 Link with the Past: The Poor’s Firing Land
In the informative booklet “A Little History of Great Ellingham“, the author, Mr William Robert Lebbell (1885-1965), mentions that (in the 1960s) the ‘Poor’s Firing Land’ was the only link from the time of the Great Ellingham Inclosures (c.1800) with modern Great Ellingham. Mr Lebbell describes the pieces of land as being untended and in…
Schools’ Netball League
Great Ellingham Girls School Netball Team. Possibly early 1930s. Teacher Olive Summers. Back row: Joy Lee, Mary Pollard, Ada Saunders, Ethel Edwards Front row: Georgina Newby, Vera Catling, Elsie Leech. Photograph courtesy of Carol Ewin. At an annual meeting of the South Norfolk Schools’ Football League held in October, 1927, it was suggested that ‘something…
John & Frances Pelly of The British School
John K Pelly and his wife Frances likely arrived in Great Ellingham in January 1869, when they took up the respective positions of schoolmaster and schoolmistress at the British School. A report of a ‘Public Tea Meeting’ held in Great Ellingham for the benefit of the British School, which appeared in the Norwich Mercury of…
Rally of the Members of the Baptist Women’s Meeting
The Diss Express of the 16th September, 1955, reported on a rally held in Great Ellingham of members of the ‘Baptist Women’s Meeting’. The Baptist Chapel was ‘well filled’ with members from various parts of Norfolk, including those from the Diss Baptist Women’s Meeting. Mrs F Bartram of Diss was in the Chair and the…