Home Cottage Farm
Photograph taken October 2023
Great Ellingham is fortunate to have some fantastic historical buildings. One such gem is a delightful farmhouse in Penhill Road. Today, this house is known as Home Cottage Farm. Situated at the far western end of Penhill Road, Home Cottage Farm is a stone’s throw from the parish boundary with Rocklands.
The blue arrow on the above extract from a 1906 O.S. Map shows the position of Home Cottage Farm.
Second Edition. O.S. Map, 1906. Wayland Union R.D. Norfolk Sheet LXXXV. S.W. Great Ellingham. Courtesy of Ray & Maureen Beales
The inscription on the front of Home Cottage Farm
Photograph taken October 2023
Stone Tablet
This charming and fascinating inscribed stone is set centrally into the front wall of the house. The inscription clearly reads ‘R. & C. M. Home Cottage 1838’. These initials relate to earlier owners of the house – Robert and Catherine Martin.
Changes
Without seeing any property deeds, the brief history of the house has been assembled using schedules and maps relating to the Great Ellingham Inclosures c.1800, surveys from around 1817 and 1830s as well as the Great Ellingham Tithe Map (with schedule) of 1843. In addition, I have used census returns and electoral registers.
There is no doubt that the house will have experienced some changes over the centuries. It has certainly been extended to the rear. The windows and doors may well have been replaced – perhaps many times over the years.
Although the stone tablet gives a date of 1838, I know there was a house on this land much earlier. However, I do not know whether the earlier house was completely replaced in 1838, or whether the earlier house underwent extensive renovations.
Brief History Through Time
This brief history of the cottage begins around 1800. We conclude with the entries from the 1942 Great Ellingham Invasion Committee Records.
| Approximate Dates | Owners and/or Occupiers |
|---|---|
| Before 1800 | The Great Ellingham Inclosure documentation of c.1800 describes the property as ‘Cottage, Barn & Yard”. It is owned by Joseph Flodman Clover but occupied by Robert Pain. |
| c1819-1836 | Schedules show that Jonathan Lock owned and occupied the cottage. A Jonathan Lock had previously lived at the property which became the Queen’s Head. |
| 1838-1841 | At this time, Home Cottage Farm was owned by Robert Martin. However, the property was occupied by a tenant. The 1841 census captures Robert Martin with his wife Catherine and four of their children at Old Hay Hill, Norwich. Robert is described as a sheriff’s officer. Born around 1795, Robert was the son of Leonard Martin and his wife Abigail nèe Kett. Catherine was the daughter of William Barnard and Catherine Martin. She was baptised in 1795 in the Parish Church of St Michael at Thorn, Norwich. The couple married in 1816 in the Parish Church of St Peter Parmentergate in Norwich. They had 7 known children between 1817 and 1835. The earlier children’s baptism records show Robert Martin’s occupation as a weaver. However in the later entries, Robert is a publican. By 1841, Robert is a sheriff’s officer. I do not believe the couple ever lived at Home Cottage Farm. Catherine died in December 1850. The same 1841 census captures farmer Reuben Haythorpe with his wife Hannah living in the Penhill area. By 1843, the couple had moved on. |
| 1843 | The Tithe documentation of 1843 shows John Cowles to be occupying Robert Martin’s house in Great Ellingham. However, I believe it is possible that around this time nearby farmer, Robert Manning Denew of Rockland St Andrew actually leased the property from Robert Martin and consequently sub-let it. This arrangement may have continued to at least 1860. |
| 1851-1861 | Robert Martin still owned the property at this time. The property was now occupied by Robert Fulcher, who may have occupied the premises from at least 1851. The 1851 census shows him as a 35 year old farmer of 22 acres at Pen Hill. With him is his 31year old wife Susannah and 5 children aged between 11 years and 6 months. Robert’s mother 81 year old widow Mary Fulcher is also with the household. The family had then been in Great Ellingham for around 5 years. The Fulcher family is still there in 1861. Bressingham born Robert Fulcher is now farming 18 acres. |
| 1868 | Robert Martin died on the 26 January, 1868, aged 72. He had been suffering from bronchitis. In his will made some 27 years before his death, Robert specifically mentions his Great Ellingham property: “All that my farm house and lands situate at Great Ellingham in the County of Norfolk containing about eighteen acres in the occupation of Reuben Haythorpe..’. Robert left the property to his wife Catherine. However this gift was limited to her lifetime and upon her decease, the house to be sold. In the event, Catherine did not survive Robert. |
| 1871 | On the 22 July, 1871, the executors of the late Robert Martin published a notice of a forthcoming auction of the property in the Norfolk Chronicle. The auction would be held at the Royal Hotel, Norwich on 29 July. The property was described as ‘A valuable small FREEHOLD ESTATE, with Dwelling-House, and all requisite Outbuildings and about 17 acres of excellent arable and pasture land situate in the Parish of Great Ellingham…. and now in the occupation of Mr Robert Self, whose tenancy expires at Michaelmas’ The 1871 census finds 42 year old Old Buckenham born widower James Self in the Penhill area of the village. James is farming 17 acres and employing 1 boy. With James are his 2 young sons, James 6 and Frederick 3 along with 21 year old general servant Maria Garrod. Unfortunately I do not know for sure who purchased the property at the auction. |
| 1875 | However, it appears that Henry Frost occupied the farm around this time. On 25 September 1875, a notice of an auction was published in the Lynn Advertiser. An auction would take place on 1 October at Home Cottage Farm, Great Ellingham of live stock, carriages, implements and various household furniture and dairy utensils as ‘Mr Henry Frost’ was relinquishing his occupation. |
| c1878-1899 | The next owners and occupiers are George & Harriet Bailey. The 1881 census captures 67 year old Shelton born George Bailey in Penhill Road. George is farming 18 acres and employing 1 labourer. With him is his 47 year old wife Harriett and domestic servant, 21 year old Jane Drake. George Bailey died in February 1889. His widow Harriett would continue to live and farm at the property. The 1891 census finds 63 year old widow Harriett Bailey at Home Cottage Farm. She is described as ‘farmer & owner’. With Harriett is her 68 year old sister Mary Ann Carpenter and domestic servant, Jane Drake. Harriett died in January 1899 |
| 1901 | I believe the farm was unoccupied at the time of the 1901 census |
| 1911 | The next occupier of the farm may have been Joseph Cooper. The 1911 census lists 38 year old Hingham born farmer Joseph Cooper in a 7-roomed property at Penhill Road. With him is his 36 year old wife May and children, Dorothy 10 and Bertie 6. 18 year old May Fincham is the family’s domestic servant. |
| Bef. 1921 to around 1937 | At the time of the 1921 census, Home Cottage Farm is occupied by farmer, Albert George Harvey. 44 year old Albert Harvey was born in nearby Attleborough. With him is his 40 year old Rocklands born wife Mary Ann and children Ella Grace 19, Ernest William 14 and three month old Norman Kenneth George. Ella and Ernest were born in Little Ellingham. Infant Norman was born in Great Ellingham – presumably at Home Cottage Farm. Albert’s 16 year old nephew, Reginald Jack, is also with the household. He is working as a cowman for H.E. Bush at Rookery Farm. The Harvey family are still living at Home Cottage Farm when Ernest William Harvey married Grace Peyton Howlett at St Mary’s Church, Tharston in February 1934. |
| 1935 | In August, 1935, 44 year old Florrie Drake of Home Cottage Farm, Great Ellingham, is amongst those seriously injured in a road traffic accident involving a Eastern Counties Omnibus crash involving a bus travelling from Yarmouth to Norwich. Given that Florrie Drake is a domestic servant with Albert and Mary Harvey at Fen Farm, High Starlings, Banham at the time of the 1939 Register, I have no doubt that at the time of her accident, Florrie is part of the Harvey household. However the 1939 Register gives Florrie’s date of birth as 10th June, 1888, which means that she is 50 and not 44 at the time of the crash. By 1938, the Harvey household along with Florrie Drake had left Home Cottage Farm. |
| 1938 to at least 1942 | The Yarmouth Independent reported on the 19th March, 1938, that E.A. Hubbard of Home Cottage Farm, Great Ellingham is now on the telephone. The 1939 Register for England & Wales (which provides a snapshot of the civilian population at the beginning of WWII), lists 39 year old Eric A Hubbard and 38 year old Winifred Hubbard at Home Cottage Farm. Eric is described as a farmer and market gardener. With the couple are four other persons. These include Margaret Hubbard, born 30th March, 1938 and Doris M Mockett, born 4th Sepember, 1906. The names of the two others have been redacted from the online Register as they may well still be alive today. Eric A Hubbard had married Winifred Bilham in the Aylsham District in 1931. The 1942 Great Ellingham Invasion Committee Records list Mr Hubbard 42, Mrs W. Hubbard 40 and 2 children. There is also an indication of another female person with the household mentioned only as ‘Miss’ Eric Hubbard has been assigned general utility duties for the local war effort and Winifred is a member of the casualty service. |
Unfortunately, I do not know who occupied Home Cottage Farm after Eric and Winifred Hubbard.
Sources:
1802 Russell James Colman Plans. Great Ellingham. Norfolk Record Office. Catalogue Ref. C/Ca 1/84.
1799-1842 F W Horner, Records of the Surveyors to Commissioners for Inclosure in Parishes in Norfolk and Suffolk. Great Ellingham (Act 1799). Norfolk Record Office. Catalogue Ref: NRO, BR 90/2
1800 Inclosure Commissioner’s Particulars and Valuation, Great Ellingham. Norfolk Record Office. Catalogue Ref: NRO, MC 2213/119
1799 Statement of Claims. Great Ellingham Inclosure. Norfolk Record Office. Catalogue Ref: MC 2213/118
Great Ellingham Tithe Map 1843. Tithe Apportionments, 1836-1929 [database online]. TheGenealogist.co.uk 2023. Original data: “IR29 Tithe Commission and successors: Tithe Apportionments” The National Archives
England, Norfolk Register of Electors, 1832-1915. Norfolk Record Office. Viewed via FamilySearch
Norwich, St Peter Mancroft Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD 26. Viewed via www.ancestry.co.uk
Norwich, St Michael at Thorn Archdeacon’s & Bishop’s Transcripts. Norfolk Record Office. PD 74. Viewed via www.ancesty.co.uk
Norwich, St Peter Parmentergate Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD 162. www.ancestry.co.uk
1841 census HO107/790/7, HO107/781/8
1851 census HO107/1815/350, HO107/1823/112-113
1861 census RG9/1217/172, RG12/1237/81-82
1871 census RG10/1841/77-78
1881 census RG11/1974/82
1891 census RG12/1549/71
1911 census RG14/11473/62
1921 census The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; 1921 Census Returns; Reference: RG 15/9790, ED 5, Sch 80; Book: 09790 Ancestry.com. 1921 England Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2025.
1939 Register for England & Wales. The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/6591E and RG 101/6590H. Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018.
1942 Great Ellingham Invasion Committee Records. Sue Fay
Norwich, St Peter per Mountergate M.I.s. Norfolk Family History Society.
11th August 1935. Sunday Express
19th March, 1938. Yarmouth Independent
2nd March, 1934. Diss Express
22nd July, 1871 Norfolk Chronicle
29th January, 1868. Norwich Mercury
14th December, 1850. Lynn Advertiser. Newspapers viewed via The British Newspaper Archive
24th February 1868. Probate of Will dated 27th April 1841 & Two Codicils 24th September 1864 & 17th September 1867 of Robert MARTIN late of the city of Norwich. Copy obtained from https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate