Robert Brooke (c.1757-1829) Robert Brooke of Great Ellingham died in March 1829. He was 73 years old, a bachelor, and a yeoman i.e. a farmer owning a reasonable amount of property and land, but not sufficient to be classed as ‘gentry’. Variations of Name During my research, I have found that this family’s surname ‘Brooke‘…
Category: Wills
Jeremiah Fielding sells Windmill & Emigrates
Mill House which replaced an earlier dwelling with the Mill behind. Postcard postmarked 1905. Tower Windmill made from Local Bricks The brick tower windmill standing in what is now Church Street, Great Ellingham, was erected by Jeremiah Fielding c.1849. The bricks were made locally at the brick kiln in Hingham Road. It has also been…
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 (neé Willomatt). At this time, Mary was living in the town of Watton, some 8 miles from Great Ellingham. Mary’s use and benefit of…
Medieval Manor Hall House in Church Street – Part I
The fine thatched building standing in Church Street (not far from the Crown Public House), is one of the oldest properties in Great Ellingham. The Grade II listed building was (in relatively recent times) known as “Ye Olde Thatche Shoppe“. Thought to have been a medieval Manor Hall House (comprising a public hall with living…
Daniel William Cocking
Daniel Cocking was just 14 years of age when his maternal grandfather, Daniel Lister, died in 1799. He inherited all his grandfather’s property and land in Great Ellingham which included a thatched house in Church Street, which in more recent times, was known as ‘Ye Olde Thatche Shoppe‘. Although pictured over 100 years later, on…
John Barnard
In his will dated 1st August, 1777, John Barnard of Great Ellingham describes himself as a carpenter. 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 in Suffolk, and John Barnard…
Death of Quaker, Ann Smith
Included in a list of interments (1687-1857) at the Friends’ Burial Ground at Hingham is ‘Ann Smith 1765, widow’. Some 13 years earlier, the remains of Ann Smith’s daughter Elizabeth had been interred in the same burial ground. On her death in 1752, Elizabeth had bequeathed her house and land in Great Ellingham to her…
A Silver Table Centre Piece amongst the Personal Effects
Illustration by Christine Fuller Wills are a great source of information for both family and local historians. Not only providing names of family members and friends, wills can provide details of some of the personal items treasured by the testator, as well as a description of any land or premises owned or occupied by the…
‘Highly Respected’ John Warren
Death of John Warren Great Ellingham born John Warren died within a month of his 83rd birthday on the 7th April, 1897. He was buried in the churchyard at Little Ellingham. Little Ellingham Parish Church. Photograph taken May 2020 According to a report in the Eastern Daily Press published on the following Saturday, the 10th…
Stock, Trade Materials & Effects to James Reeder
Amongst the legacies mentioned in wheelwright William Lebbell’s will of the 17th July, 1897, was the gift of all his stock, trade materials and effects to carpenter, James Reeder who was said to be in William’s service. Further, the will states that William Lebbell had already conveyed his dwellinghouse, premises and land to James Reeder….