‘Swamp’ can mean an area of low-lying, boggy or marshy uncultivated land. We can apply some of this description to ‘Swamp Lane’ in Great Ellingham.
The area on the eastern side of the lane is certainly low, and was once part of the common of Great Ellingham. A stream or rivulet borders this area and is part of the boundary of the village with Attleborough. However, perhaps those who know the area well will know whether or not the land is actually boggy or marshy!
Swamp Lane
It is not until the 1901 census that I find the name ‘Swamp Lane’. However, earlier electoral registers going back to at least 1878, refer to the area as ‘The Swamp’ or ‘Swamp’.
Nevertheless, some of the census returns prior to 1901 refer to the few cottages along the lane as being part of Low Common.
For ease of reference, I will refer to the lane as Swamp Lane whether or not it was known by that name at the time.
1802
The Great Ellingham Inclosures map of 1802 reveal very few dwellings along Swamp Lane. However, those that did exist were at the northern end of the lane.
The area around the lane was made up of various pieces of arable and pasture land. Indeed the parcels of land on the eastern side of the lane were once part of the village’s common land.
Alice Jessup owned an allotment of over six acres on the eastern side of the lane.
Extract from 1802 Map of Great Ellingham. Russell James Colman Plans. Norfolk Record Office Cat. Ref. C/Ca 1/84.
All rights reserved Norfolk Record Office. With kind permission of NRO
Inclosure Award
The Commissioners acting under the Inclosure Act for Great Ellingham, awarded the allotment to Alice Jessup in lieu of the rights she enjoyed in relation to the properties which she owned. In fact, Alice held these properties in trust for her three daughters, Hannah, Frances and Elizabeth Leath. They were the daughters of Alice and her first husband, the late Richard Leath.
Alice Jessup
Richard Leath died in 1785. His three daughters where then aged two, one and just four months. The following year, Alice Jessup married shoemaker William Jessup. Jessup was the landlord of The Rose & Crown Public House (The Crown) in Church Street.
Alice also held the ownership of the Rose & Crown for her three daughters.
Marriages of the Leath Sisters
On the 8th December, 1803, Frances Leath married Benjamin Dennis. Hannah Leath married Henry Balls on the 17th June, 1806. Finally, Elizabeth Leath married Edmund Kerrison on the 26th September, 1808. All three weddings took place in St James’s Church, Great Ellingham.
Joint Property
By 1805, all three Leath sisters had reached the age of 21.
Hannah is now married to Benjamin Dennis. Given that in 1805, married women had little or no rights regarding property ownership, Benjamin Dennis had control of his wife’s share of the Leath family assets. He may also have had some influence with regard to his sisters-in-law’s shares in the properties.
Be that as it may, the sisters reached a decision concerning their joint assets.
In 1806, Hannah and Elizabeth conveyed their respective third shares in the Crown Public House to Benjamin and Hannah Dennis. Hannah, of course, already held a one third share. The sisters agreed to sell a cottage occupied by Stephen Houchen as well as the allotment at Swamp Lane.
Auction
The allotment at Swamp Lane and the cottage along the Hingham Road were advertised for sale at an auction to take place at The Crown, Great Ellingham on the 19th June, 1806. The allotment was described as:
Lot II. An allotment of fine rich arable land, late parcel of the common pasture of Great Ellingham, containing by survey 6A 1R 15P now in the occupation of Benjamin Dennis and others
However and for whatever reason, the allotment at Swamp Lane and the cottage along the Hingham Road did not sell at the auction. Of course, the sellers may well have withdrawn the property before the auction. Alternatively, the reserve price was not reached.
Whatever the circumstances, the sisters agreed to divide the property and land between themselves and their respective husbands.
They would split the allotment into three pieces.
With all three sisters married, I am sure that their respective husbands played a major part in any negotiations.
Division of the Remaining Leath Family Property
Extract from an Indenture dated 28th September 1809 between Henry & Hannah Balls, Benjamin & Frances Dennis,
Edmund & Elizabeth Kerrison and John Harvey
Courtesy Shirley Caston
An Indenture of the 28th September, 1809, confirms the agreement reached between the sisters and their respective husbands.
The house along the Hingham Road was conveyed to Henry and Hannah Balls. Henry and Hannah also received a piece of the allotment, as did Edmund and Elizabeth Kerrison and Benjamin and Frances Dennis.
The allotments are described in the 1809 Indenture as follows:
Edmund & Elizabeth Kerrison
All that that piece of land parcel of the said allotment of common situate in Great Ellingham aforesaid containing by survey two acres and four perches bounded by the next described piece towards the north by land belonging to Mr Hardyman towards the south by a road there towards the west and by a beck or rivulet towards the east and which said piece of land is now in the occupation of the said Edmund Kerrison and is divided from the residue of the said allotment by a hedge and ditch and hath been accepted by the said Edmund Kerrison and Elizabeth his wife as their purparty of the said allotment
Benjamin & Frances Dennis
And also all that piece of land (being other parcel of the said allotment) situate in Great Ellingham aforesaid containing by survey two acres and thirty eight perches bounded by the last described piece towards the south and by the next described piece of land towards the north by the beck or rivulet there towards the east and by a road there towards the west and now in the occupation of the said Benjamin Dennis and divided from the next described piece by a hedge and ditch (which last described piece hath been accepted by the said Benjamin Dennis and Frances his wife as their purport of the said allotment
Henry & Hannah Balls
And also all that piece of land being other part and residue of the said allotment in Great Ellingham aforesaid containing by estimation two acres one rood and thirteen perches bounded by the last described piece towards the south by land belonging to Jeoffrey Towler towards the north by the beck or rivulet towards the east and by a road there towards the west and now in the occupation of Francis Turrington (which last described piece hath been accepted by the said Henry Balls and Hannah his wife as their purparty of the said allotment
As far as I know, there was no house or cottage on any of the pieces of land at this time.
1817-1819
However by 1817-1819, the piece of land owned by Henry and Hannah Balls and the piece of land owned by Edward and Elizabeth Kerrison, each had a cottage with a garden.
We look at the history of these two cottages in Part II.
Sources:
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD 609. Also available at FamilySearch.org
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
Private Deeds Collection. Shirley Caston
1901 census RG13/1867/82
Bury and Norwich Post, 11 June 1806, p. [1]+. British Library Newspapers, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/R3209546570/BNCN?u=nl_earl&sid=BNCN&xid=387942f2. Accessed 8 June 2020.