In the August of 1852, Rhoda Carter of Great Ellingham appeared before a special sitting of the Petty Sessions at Attleborough. She was charged with violently assaulting Elizabeth Fame of Hingham. However, the report in the Norfolk News of the 28th August, 1852, did not provide specific details of the offence. Was this just a…
Memories of the Lebbell family’s Blacksmith’s Smithy & Shop
Sue Fay spent her early life in the village of Great Ellingham and has connection to many Great Ellingham families, including her paternal line of Lebbell. Long Street with Lebbell’s Smithy to the right The Lebbell family had a smithy and shop in Long Street. Sue has a clear recollection of her family’s Smithy and…
Work for the Poor of the Parish at Denew’s Farm in Rockland
The 1830s was a difficult time for many agricultural labourers in the country. With other factors, the mechanised practices in agriculture resulted in unemployment, reduced wages and poor conditions. The inhabitants of Great Ellingham were not immune to the struggles. The village was affected by the widespread uprising during this time. Farmer John Barnard had…
John Roberts’ Bill for Repairs to the Church
Parish Chests The Poor Law of 1552 brought in mandatory legislation that every parish must have a strong chest, with three keys, in which to keep the alms for the poor. Earlier 16th century legislation required every parish to have a locked parish chest for the safe keeping of the Parish Registers and other parish…
Elizabeth Terrington gains free travel to Van Diemen’s Land
As a result of the reformation of the Poor Law in 1834, the administration of parishes transferred from the parish to a local district Poor Law Union. Consequently, Great Ellingham came under the Wayland Poor Law Union with an elected Board of Guardians. Wayland Union Workhouse. Courtesy of Liz Barrett The Minutes of a meeting…
The ‘Witches’ of Penhill Road & ‘Dragon’s Blood’ at Downham Market
Witchcraft & Folklore Witchcraft is very much interwoven with Norfolk folklore. Traditionally ‘Witches’ were perceived to have supernatural powers to control people or events. Most villages and towns had ‘wise-men’ or ‘wise-women’ who were acquainted with the old mysterious ways. Although much-feared, it is claimed that these ‘cunning folk’ made sick people better, located lost…
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…
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….
Ellis Clarke’s Successful Emigration from Rocklands to Tasmania
Ellis Clarke’s Railway Coffee Palace in Ulverstone, Tasmania. Ellis’s son Stephen and his wife Louisa are in the ‘buggy’. Courtesy of Kim O’Brien Death some 10,500 miles from his native home of Rocklands Ellis Clarke died in August 1903 at his home at the Railway Coffee Palace in Ulverstone, Tasmania. He was born in Rockland…
Charles & Jane Clarke – Sponsored Passage from Rocklands to Tasmania
By the time that Charles and Jane Clarke secured sponsorship for their emigration to Tasmania in 1855, they likely knew what to expect ‘on the other side of the world’. Charles’s eldest brother Robert and his wife and family had emigrated to South Australia the previous year. Although this was a time before the telephone…