At the turn of the 19th century, there were very few dwellings along the lane which we know today as Swamp Lane. Those that did exist were at the northern end of the lane.
Part I
In Part I, we discovered that at the time of the Great Ellingham Inclosures, the Commissioners awarded Alice Jessup an allotment at Swamp Lane. This was given in lieu of certain rights over common and waste lands relating to her properties. In fact, Alice held the properties (and, subsequently, the allotment) in trust for her daughters, Hannah, Frances and Elizabeth Leath.
In 1809, and as part of an agreement between the Leath sisters, the allotment at Swamp Lane was divided amongst Hannah, Frances and Elizabeth, and their respective husbands.
By 1817-1819, two of the three pieces of the allotment had a cottage and garden. The other piece remained as an allotment.
Part II
In this article, we look at the owners and occupiers of the cottage which was once owned by Henry and Hannah Balls (nèe Leath).
Extract from 1906 Ordnance Survey Map. Second Edition. Surveyed in 1881. Revised 1904
The above extract from a much later map, shows the location of the Balls’ cottage in Swamp Lane.
The map also shows the nearby allotment owned by Hannah’s sister Frances and her husband Benjamin Dennis. The cottage once owned by Hannah’s sister, Elizabeth, and her husband Edmund Kerrison is also identified.
1809
In 1809, Henry and Hannah Balls became the owners of a piece of land described as:
... 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
Mortgage
27th April 1811 Mortgage Deed (1) Henry & Hannah Balls to Robert Harvey
Courtesy Shirley Caston
Two years later, on the 27th April, 1811, Henry and Hannah borrowed £44 from Robert Harvey, a gentleman of Watton. They conveyed the land to Robert Harvey as security for their loan. The term of the mortgage is 700 years. However, historically, many mortgage terms were over 500 or even a 1000 years!
Assignment of Mortgage
14th April 1813. Assignment of Mortgage. (1) Robert Harvey by direction of Henry & Hannah Balls (2) John Warren
Courtesy Shirley Caston
On the 14th April, 1813, Robert Harvey assigned his mortgage debt to John Warren, a tanner of Tanyard Farm, Great Ellingham. Warren settled the outstanding principal debt of £44 to Robert Harvey. In addition, Henry and Hannah Balls borrowed a further £36 from John Warren, bringing the total debt to £80.
The mortgage deed also mentions that the security in favour of John Warren included ‘all houses and buildings now erected thereon’.
Accordingly, we can be confident that the cottage was built on Henry and Hannah Balls’ allotment between 1809 and 1813.
Although Henry Balls was originally of Great Fransham, I feel sure that Henry and Hannah lived in the cottage in Swamp Lane. Henry is described as a ‘husbandman’. This is generally viewed as a farmer, although one of low rank.
Further Mortgages
Two years later, Henry and Hannah Balls borrowed a further £40 (plus interest) from John Warren. Again this sum (together with the original loan of £80) is secured over their property which is now described as a ‘freehold messuage’ and land. The total borrowing now stands at £120 plus interest.
On the 4th May, 1818, Henry and Hannah borrowed a further £30 from John Warren. This brings their total debt to £150 plus interest.
1817-1819 Valuation
A Valuation of Great Ellingham 1817-1819 provides the names of the occupiers of the cottage, which then comprised of at least two tenements. The occupants included the owners Henry and Hannah Balls.
The other occupants are named as Dye, Miller and James Ryder. Joseph Yeomans was a previous occupant.
Great Fransham
Henry and Hannah Balls married in St James’s Church, Great Ellingham in 1806. However early in their marriage, the couple lived in Great Fransham. Their daughter, Hannah, was baptised in the parish church at Fransham on the 12th November, 1809.
Nevertheless by 1817, the couple (with their daughter) were back in Great Ellingham, living in part of their cottage in Swamp Lane.
1823 New Owner John Warren
However it seems that, financially, all was not well with Henry Balls. He was still in debt to John Warren for the £150 plus VAT.
Henry and Hannah Balls had once owned a cottage along the Hingham Road, but had sold it prior to 1817-1819.
Nevertheless, Henry Balls reached an agreement with his lender, John Warren. Warren agreed purchase the cottage and land (comprising 2 acres 1 rood and 13 perches) from Henry and Hannah Balls for the sum of £170.
Extract from the Indenture of Release dated 9th October 1823 (1) Henry & Hannah Balls & another (2) John Warren and his trustee
Courtesy Shirley Caston
The Indenture Deed of the 9th October, 1823, shows that £150 of the purchase price is used to discharge the mortgage debt owed to Warren. Henry and Hannah Balls received only the balance of £20.
The deed describes the property as:
ALL THOSE tenements or cottages of them the said Henry Balls and Hannah his wife with the houses outhouses edifices buildings yards gardens grounds and appurtenances to the same belonging and also all that the aforesaid piece or parcel of land in Great Ellingham aforesaid containing by estimation two acres one rood and thirteen perches bounded by land lately belonging to the said Benjamin Dennis and Frances his wife and now of Hardyment towards the south by land belonging to Jeffery Towler towards the north by beck or rivulet towards the east and by a road there towards the west or howsoever otherwise the same premises are bounded or abutted and are now in the respective occupations of the said Henry Balls, Isaac Milla, Richd Dey & Jeffrey Warren
I assume that following the sale of their cottage, Henry and Hannah Balls continued to live there along with the other tenants. As it happens, John Warren’s son, Jeoffrey, also lived in the cottage. However, it is not clear whether the cottage was divided into more than two tenements.
Nevertheless a year later, Jeoffrey Warren purchased the property from his father.
1824 New Owner Jeffrey Warren
Born in Great Ellingham c.1785, Jeoffrey Warren was the fifth child of John and Elizabeth Warren. He was baptised in St James’s Church on the 18th June, 1786. [NB. ‘Jeoffrey’ is found written in various forms in documents but, for ease of reference, I will keep to ‘Jeoffrey’]
He married widow Elizabeth Nurse (nèe Hoy) in Hockham on the 29th September, 1808. Following the marriage, the couple probably lived in Great Ellingham. I believe they had only one child, a daughter, Elizabeth, who was born in Great Ellingham c.1812.
Jeoffrey Warren owned other property in the village, including a cottage with a ‘baking office’ in Church Street, near to the junction with Chequers Lane. Jeoffrey occupied this cottage some time around 1817-1819. He also had an interest the house with a wheelwright’s shop along the Attleborough Road (much later known as Glenfield House and Glenfield Cottage).
Deeds of 15th & 16th March 1824
16th March 1824. Deed of Release (1) John Warren (2) Jeoffrey Warren & his Trustee
Courtesy Shirley Caston
By Deeds of Lease and Release dated the 15th and 16th March, 1824, the cottage and land purchased the previous year by John Warren from Henry and Hannah Balls, was conveyed to Jeoffrey Warren.
Baker Jeoffrey Warren paid his father the sum of £190. The deeds again recite the occupiers as Henry Balls, Isaac Miller, Richard Dey and Jeoffrey Warren. However given that property descriptions can be recited ‘word for word’ in consecutive conveyances, it is difficult to know whether there was indeed any change in the occupiers at this time.
Nevertheless by the 1830s, an ‘Estates & Occupations’ of Great Ellingham give the occupiers as James Ryder, Henry Balls, Richard Dye and Isaac Miller.
1834 Jeoffrey Warren Inherits from his Father
In the June of 1834, Jeoffrey Warren’s father, John Warren, died at the age of 87.
Amongst other provisions in the will, John Warren bequeathed the wheelwright’s shop and house along the Attleborough Road to Jeoffrey.
It may have been around this time that Jeoffrey Warren also purchased the allotment which adjoined the southern boundary of his cottage and land at Swamp Lane.
1843 Tithe Documentation
The Great Ellingham Tithe documentation of 1843 shows Jeoffrey Warren as the owner of the cottage and land once owned by Henry and Hannah Balls, as well as the neighbouring allotment once owned by Benjamin and Frances Dennis.
Jeoffrey Warren’s cottage and garden is occupied by Robert Hurst ‘and others’. The allotment land is occupied by Jonathan Rivett.
By this time, Jeoffrey Warren had moved to Great Hockham. He was in partnership with his son-in-law, William Nurse, leasing a farm of over 220 acres.
In addition to the cottage and land at Swamp Lane, Jeoffrey Warren also owned the cottage with baking office in Church Street as well as five tenements along the Attleborough Road. In 1843, Warren had borrowed £400 against these additional properties.
Deaths of Henry & Hannah Balls
I do not know whereabouts Henry and Hannah Balls are living at this time. However, I do not believe they were still in Great Ellingham.
Nevertheless, Hannah Balls died at the age of 69 at the very end of 1850, or just into the New Year of 1851. She was buried in St James’s Church, Great Ellingham on the 4th January, 1851.
The 1851 census (30th March) captures 74 year old widower Henry Balls with his daughter Hannah and her husband Benjamin Long, in ‘Stalling Common‘, Great Ellingham. Married for some 17 years, Benjamin and Hannah Long also have children John 16 and Mariah 3 with them.
Given that the census describes Henry Balls as a ‘pauper’, it seems that sadly his financial situation never improved.
Henry Balls died in 1856, and is also buried in the churchyard at St James.
Lender, the Reverend Colby
5th March 1852. Mortgage. (1) Jeoffrey Warren (2) the Revd. Samuel Colby
Courtesy Shirley Caston
On the 5th March, 1852, Jeoffrey Warren borrowed £150 plus interest from the Reverend Samuel Colby of Little Ellingham.
The borrowing was secured over all of Jeoffrey Warren’s properties, including the cottage and land in Swamp Lane.
Although I cannot be certain, I believe one side of the cottage was occupied by 86 year old widower Robert Hurst and his lodger, 74 year old widower John Margetson. The other side is occupied by 23 year old higler Jonathan Houchen and his wife Hannah.
Further Borrowing
On the 23rd March, 1859, Warren borrows a further £50 plus interest from Samuel Colby. This again is secured against all Warren’s properties. At this time, Warren was in arrears regarding the interest.
Jeoffrey Warren still owed £400 plus a considerable amount of outstanding interest to another lender, Emily Cole of Norwich.
Death of Samuel Colby
As it happens, Jeoffrey Warren’s financial position took a turn for the worse when his lender, the Reverend Samuel Colby, died on the 2nd April, 1860.
As a consequence, Colby’s surviving executor, James Fisher, ‘called in’ the debt. It seems that Warren was unable to make the repayment.
As accorded to him within the provisions contained in the mortgage documentation, Fisher ‘took possession’ as mortgagee and set about selling the property.
We continue the story in Part III.
Sources:
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD 609. Also available at FamilySearch.org
Great Fransham Parish Registers. Archdeacon’s & Bishop’s Transcripts. PD 683. Viewed via www.ancestry.co.uk
Hockham, Great and Little. Archdeacon’s & Bishop’s Transcripts. Norfolk Record Office PD 486. Viewed via www.ancestry.co.uk
Transcript of Hockham, Burials 1721-1870. Norfolk Family History Society. Kirby Hall, 70 St Giles Street, Norwich NR2 1LS
1836 White’s Directory. Norfolk Record Office
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
1851 census HO107/1823/125
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
Norfolk Pubs Website