Postcard c. early 1900s
For centuries, Church Street was a main thoroughfare through the village. At various times, shops selling an assortment of wares, were along the road. Likely some of these shops would have been just the front room of the shopkeeper’s private house. They would also have been on a modest scale, selling everyday essentials.
However, at least during the Victoria era, there were two significant shops in Church Street. These were broader, general stores and sold a much wider variety of goods and provisions, including cloth and textiles, as well as hats.
Raymond Neave (centre) with his father Joe (right) and possibly Ray’s step-sister Mary (left) outside their Supply Stores c.1930s
Courtesy Cindy & David Dove
One shop is the premises which became known as Ye Olde Thatche Shoppe. The other became known as the Supply Stores. Here we look at a timeline of the owners and occupiers of the Supply Stores.
From at least 1795 until 1970, the owner of the shop also owned the adjacent house. The shop underwent rebuilding work in 1876.
We begin the timeline with the earliest record of a shop which I have, so far, discovered.
| Approx Date | Owner/Occupier | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1795-1799 | William Rose | Shopkeeper William Rose purchased the premises (the house and shop) in 1795. However he was already trading as a grocer in the village in 1792, when he took on an apprentice, also a William Rose. He died in 1799 and was buried in the churchyard at Besthorpe. |
| 1800 | James Rose, as Executor | The Great Ellingham Inclosure documentation lists James Rose as the owner and occupier of the premises. In his will, William Rose appointed his brother James Rose of Besthorpe, his ‘friend’ James Rose of Attleborough and William Colman also of Attleborough, as his executors. He instructed his executors to sell all his property in Great Ellingham and Besthorpe. |
| 1817 | John Rose | A survey of Great Ellingham 1817-1819 reveals John Rose as the owner and occupier of the property. |
| 1830s-1862? | James Rose | Nevertheless by the 1830s, James Rose occupied the premises. I feel sure that James is connected to brothers William and James Rose. The 1841 census captures 30 year old grocer & draper James Rose with his wife Elizabeth and children Charles 2 and Susanna nine months living in Church Street. I have no doubt they were living in the very same premises once owned and occupied by shopkeeper William Rose. By 1845, the ‘Post Office’ was also ‘at James Rose’s’. However by 1851, James Rose had moved to Attleborough where he had a substantial retail business. He retained the ownership of land and property in Great Ellingham. However I do not know whether he still owned this property when he died in 1862. Further, I do not know who occupied the property for the next 30-40 years. At the time there were other shops nearby in Church Street – opposite these premises and to the northern side of the other shop premises (Ye Olde Thatche Shoppe). |
| c.1876-1883 | Thomas Leeder (owner) | My investigations reveal that Thomas Leeder of Mincing Lane, London owned the property before 1876. Leeder was a Great Ellingham man. In his early days, he lived with his family near to this property. I am certain that Thomas Leeder never occupied the property. Indeed at a similar time, Thomas Leeder also owned the property later known as Glenfield House/Glenfield Cottage as well as the cottage (once three tenements and then two) at the other end of Church Street near to the junction with Chequers Lane. I have no doubt that Leeder let the house with the shop – but I do not know the name of his tenant(s). It is also during his Thomas Leeder’s ownership that the two cottages to the north of the shop were erected. |
| 1883-1893 | Louisa Leeder (owner) | When Thomas Leeder died, he left a life interest in his properties to his wife Louisa. Again, I have no doubt that the property was tenanted during her ownership. |
| 1893-1894 | Walter Leeder (owner) | On Louisa’s death, the ownership of Thomas Leeder’s properties (including those in Great Ellingham), passed to his son Walter. Nevertheless, on the 24th May, 1894 (the day after the properties were legally transferred to Walter Leeder), he sold the properties to jeweller George de la Cour of Chatham, Kent, one of his father’s executors. |
| 1894-1914 | George de la Court (owner) | Nevertheless, de la Cour retained ownership of his Great Ellingham properties (including another property in Church Street) until his death. In 1900 de la Cour leased the premises to Joe Neave. The name of the outgoing tenant was ‘R Young’. |
| 1896-1900 | Robert Young (occupier) | Kelly’s Directory of 1896 lists Robert Young as a grocer & draper in Great Ellingham. I believe he arrived in Great Ellingham after the 1891 census, but moved out of the premises before the census of 1901. |
| 1900-c.1939 | Herbert Joseph (Joe) Neave | In 1895, Herbert Joseph Neave married Florence Rolfe – probably in Brandon, Suffolk. Herbert – or, rather, Joe as he was known to his family, may well have been living and working in Brandon at this time. Their daughter, Mary Josephine, was born two years later in Brandon. In January 1900, Joe and Florence together with Mary Josephine, came to Great Ellingham. They rented the shop and house from George Henry de la Cour. Joe Neave purchased the stock, fixtures and trade relating to the Supply Stores from the outgoing tenant, Robert Young, for £138. Sadly, Florence Neave died aged 34 on the 27th June, 1900. Joe was left a widower with a three year old daughter. Perhaps it was at this time that Joe’s mother, Eliza, came to live with her son. The 1901 census finds 27 year old widower Herbert J Neave with his 3 year old daughter Mary, his 70 year old widowed mother Eliza and their 21 year old servant, Mary Ducker, living in Church Street. In the latter part of 1910, Joe Neave married Mary Ann M Higgins. Born in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire, Mary was the daughter of Baptist Minister, William Higgins and his wife Emmeline. William Higgins was the Pastor at Great Ellingham Baptist Church from 1906 to 1912. The 1911 census captures Mary’s sisters Alice (27) and Lavinia (21) with their father at the Manse. Given that Alice is described as a draper’s assistant, it would follow that Alice is working for Joe Neave at the Supply Stores in Church Street. On the 20th June, 1912, Joe and his wife Mary welcomed a son, Raymond Fuller Neave. He is said to have been born in a room above his parents’ grocery shop. Joe Neave’s landlord, George de la Cour, died in 1914. However it was not until 1920, that Joe Neave purchased the shop and premises. The purchase price was £300. The census of 1921 lists 47 year old Herbert Joseph Neave with his 42 year old wife Mary and their 9 year old son, Raymond Fuller Neave, in Church Street, Great Ellingham. On the 26th March, 1938, Raymond Neave marries local girl Evelyn Dove. Perhaps it was at this time that Joe Neave decided to retire as it seems that Raymond took over the running of the shop. After his marriage to Evelyn, Raymond Neave became involved in preaching at the Baptist Church. In the late 1940s, Raymond became a Minister’s Assistant to Pastor George Yaxley. In 1954, Raymond Neave took up the pastorate at Great Ellingham. After 46 years of marriage, Joe Neave buried his 77 year old wife Mary in the churchyard at St James’s Church, Great Ellingham on the 28th December 1956. At the time of Mary’s death, the couple were living at ‘Church View’ in Church Street, Great Ellingham. Just two years later, Herbert Joseph Neave (Joe) of Church Street, Great Ellingham died on the 23rd November, 1958. He was 85. |
| c.1939-1962 | Raymond Neave | Although Ray Neave had taken over his father’s business some twenty years earlier, it was not until his father’s death that Ray became the owner of the premises and continued to run the shop. However in 1961, Ray Neave was offered the pastorate at the New Mill Baptist Church in Tring, Hertfordshire. Nevertheless, It took him 18 months to find a buyer. |
| 1962-1964 | Thomas A Bradley | On the 3rd September, 1962, Raymond Neave completed the sale of his shop premises and dwelling house to Thomas Bradley. |
| 1964-1973 | William Frank Burnett | However Bradley’s tenure was short lived. He sold the premises on the 3rd June, 1964 to William Frank Burnett of Westcliff-on-Sea. As far as I know, William Burnett remained trading at the shop for nearly 10 years. |
| 1960s | ? Neal | It may have been during this time that a Mr Neal had a grocery shop at the premises. However I have no further details. |
| 1973 | Ian & Anne Arundel | Nevertheless in 1973, William Burnett sold the entire premises as well as the goodwill of the business to Ian and Anne Arundel. The Arundels owned the other shop in Church Street known as ‘Ye Olde Thatche Shoppe’. It was during the Arundel’s tenure that the shop and the dwellinghouse became separated. |
| The shop later became a Pet Shop. However, I have no details or owners or dates. |
Sources:
Historical deeds to cottage in Church Street. Thanks to Christine Fuller
Historical deeds to house in Church Street. Thanks to Adrian & Sue Carlton
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
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD/609. Also available via www.ancestry.co.uk and www.familysearch.org
1881 census RG11/1956/75
1891 census RG12/1552/83
1901 census RG13/1851/11; RG/1867/80
1911 census RG14/11473/135
1921 census RG15. Registration District 231. Great Ellingham Sch 25. Also index only searched. www.findmypast.co.uk
GRO Index. Also available via FreeBMD website.
1895 June Qtr. Marriage. Neave, Herbert Joseph. Rolfe, Florence. Thetford 4b 667. https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=C2Xv3pZ1BmH8QIAQwyQS9w&scan=1
1910 Dec Qtr. Marriage. Neave, Herbert J. Higgins, Mary A M. Wayland 4b 709. https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=sramxS3qJXVy%2F5YUgc5EsA&scan=1
Norfolk News 3rd July 1875
Norfolk Chronicle 4th March 1876.
Downham Market Gazette 8th December 1900
Downham Market Gazette 19th January 1901
Eastern Daily Press 26th March 1938
Diss Express 31st August 1962
Newspapers viewed via British Newspaper Archive
The Story of 300 years of the Baptist Church at Great Ellingham – David Bugden
1939 England &Wales Register. The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: 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 Record. Sue Fay
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1858 to 1995, Herbert Joseph Neave. Died 23 Nov 1958. Norwich. Principal Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. London. Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Kellys Directory 1896