The former Police House
Photograph taken 2024
The Lynn Advertiser of 3rd March, 1939, contained the following notice:
COUNTY OF NORFOLK
POLICE HOUSES
THE Standing Joint Committee invites applications from Building Contractors desirous of tending for the erection of Police Houses in the following Parishes:-
Great Ellingham, Great Fransham, Hillington, Itteringham, Marham & Swardeston
Plans of the proposed buildings may be inspected at the office of the County Architect, 25, Thorpe Road, Norwich to whom names must be submitted before 12.0 noon on
Saturday 11th March, 1939.
H.C. DAVIES, Clerk to the Committee
Council Offices,
Thorpe Road, Norwich
1st March, 1939
We can deduce from this that the former Police House in Great Ellingham was built after 11th March, 1939.
Who occupied the Police House?
| Approximate Dates | Occupiers |
|---|---|
| c.1939-after 1955 | Perhaps the first constable to occupy the property was Police Constable Eric Savill. The 1942 Gt Ellingham Invasion Committee Record lists P.C. Savill, Mrs Savill and 2 children at the Police House. The 1939 Register lists 28 year old Eric Edward Savill & his 29 year old wife Hilda Joan Savill at the Police Station in East Harling. They had at least one child with them. The couple had married the previous year. Eric Savill was still in Great Ellingham in 1955. It was reported in the Eastern Daily Press of 12th July, 1955, that P.C. E Savill of Great Ellingham was commended by the East Harling Magistrates for his observation in a case where two Great Ellingham men were convicted of theft. Apparently it was not the first time that the Bench had an occasion to compliment P.C. Savill on his work. |
| c.1960 | It may have been when the Savills left that Police Constable Dennis Fox moved into the house. P.C. Fox was known to cycle around the village. Dennis Fox and his wife had a son Colin. The story goes that unfortunately Colin suffered a broken leg after getting off a bus at the ‘Church Green triangle-Timber Hill’ because the bus was still moving! It is possible that by 1960, the Police House had a telephone. In a newspaper article published in the Diss Express on Friday 25 November 1960, P.C. Dennis Fox of Great Ellingham said he had received a “‘phone call regarding a collision at Swangey Road.” |
| c.1968 | Perhaps the last Police Constable to occupy the house was Brian Leak. A past resident of the village who remembers the Leak family, recalls that P.C. Leak came from Liverpool. Although he usually rode around the village on a bicycle, P.C. Leak also had the use of a police car. The Leaks likely moved out of the Police House in the mid-to late 70s. |
Like many other former Police Houses, the former Great Ellingham Police House is now a private home.
Sources:
Thanks to Sue Fay for her memories
1960 25 November Diss Express
1939 3 March Lynn Advertiser
1955 12 July Eastern Daily Press
Newspapers accessed via The British Newspaper Archive website
1939 England & Wales Register. The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/6588E. Viewed via www.ancestry.co.uk
1942 Great Ellingham Invasion Committee Record. Sue Fay
GRO Index. FreeBMD website