It is not until the 1901 census that I find the name ‘Swamp Lane’ recorded on the census returns. 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.
Dwellings
At the turn of the 19th century, there were very few dwellings along the lane. However, those that were there were at the northern end of the lane.
By 1817-1819, two cottages had been built. One on land owned by Henry and Hannah Balls and the other on land owned by Hannah’s sister and brother in law, Elizabeth and Edmund Kerrison.
By 1843, there were three. A house with allotment adjoined the northern boundary of Henry and Hannah Balls’s property. This house and allotment (together comprising 1 acre 2 roods and 26 perches) was owned and occupied by William Mann.
Extract from 1906 Ordnance Survey Map. Second Edition. Surveyed in 1881. Revised 1904
The above extract from a later O.S. map shows the location of the three cottages along Swamp Lane and the names of the earlier owners in 1843 – William Mann, Jeoffrey Warren and Roger Turvey.
William Mann occupied his own cottage. Warren’s cottage was tenanted to Robert Hurst ‘and others’. However I believe that Jonathan Rivett who rented the allotments adjoining Warren’s cottage, also lived in part of the cottage. Roger Turvey’s cottage was occupied by Richard Kerrison.
Jeoffrey Warren’s Cottage
Here we continue the story of Jeoffrey Warren’s cottage which was divided into at least two tenements.
In 1824, Warren purchased the property from his father, John Warren, of nearby Tanyard Farm.
Jeoffrey Warren also owned other properties in Great Ellingham – a cottage with baking office in Church Street, as well as five dwellings on the road to Attleborough. This included a house with wheelwright’s shop and other dwellings, which had been converted from a barn and outbuildings.
Borrowing
5th March 1852. Mortgage. (1) Jeoffrey Warren (2) the Revd. Samuel Colby
Courtesy Shirley Caston
In 1852, Jeoffrey Warren mortgaged all his properties (including the cottage at Swamp Lane) to the Reverend Samuel Colby of Little Ellingham. He initially borrowed £150. However in 1859, Warren borrowed another £50 from Samuel Colby. Accordingly, the total debt to Samuel Colby now stood at £200 plus interest.
By this time, Jeoffrey Warren and his wife Elizabeth lived in Great Hockham. Warren was in partnership with his son-in-law, William Nurse and, together, they leased a farm of over 220 acres.
Warren had mortgages on his other properties. He owed £400 plus interest to widow Emily Cole of Norwich.
Death of Samuel Colby
On the 2nd April, 1860, Samuel Colby died.
Colby’s surviving executor, James Fisher, a gentleman, of the City of Norwich, called in the debt. As it happens, Fisher set about selling the cottage at Swamp Lane to recover at least some of the mortgage debt due to Colby’s estate.
Auction Notice
Accordingly, the following notice is published in the Norfolk Chronicle of the 27th September, 1862:
GREAT ELLINGHAM
NEAR ATTLEBOROUGH
Salter & Simpson are instructed to offer for SALE by AUCTION, at the New Inn, Attleborough, on Thursday, October 2nd, 1862, at Five for Six o’clock in the Afternoon, in One Lot, the following FREEHOLD PROPERTY:
A MESSUAGE, now let in Two Tenements, with sheds thereto belonging, Yards, Gardens, and Land adjoining, containing together 2A 1R 13P, more or less, abutting upon lands of William Mann, and now or late of ________ Hardyment, and ow in the occupation of Jonathan Houchen and Richard Hurst, as yearly tenants, at an annual rent of £16.
I believe the tenant’s name of Richard Hurst is mistaken for Robert Hurst.
The Royal Hotel, Attleborough was formerly known as the New Inn. Salter & Simpson held the auction here on the 2nd October, 1862
Postcard from the author’s own collection
New Owner William Brighton
Extract from the Conveyance dated 27th December 1862 (1) James Fisher (2) William Brighton
Courtesy Shirley Caston
William Brighton, farmer of Great Ellingham, was the highest bidder at the auction at £160. This sum was, of course, £40 less than the outstanding mortgage debt. Nevertheless, James Fisher conveyed the cottage to William Brighton free from the mortgage debt. The transaction completed on the 27th December, 1862.
Which William Brighton?
As it happens there were two villagers with the name ‘William Brighton’ in Great Ellingham at this time.
Widower William Brighton who farmed at Rose Farm, just off the Hingham Road and his son, William Brighton who was at the farm in Penhill Road, which later became known as Penhill Farm West.
I believe that it was William Brighton junior of Penhill Farm West who purchased the Swamp Lane cottage at the auction.
Turvey’s Cottage
I also wonder whether William Brighton Jnr had control of the other cottage to the south, which was owned by Roger Turvey.
William Brighton Jnr was married to Roger Turvey’s granddaughter, Lucy Allison.
When Roger Turvey died in April, 1860, he left a life interest in all his property to his wife Rebecca. Thereafter, life interests were created in favour of Lucy (nèe Allison) and her husband William Brighton, with the property passing to their children after both Lucy and William had died.
Accordingly, and if Roger Turvey did not dispose of the cottage during his lifetime, the ownership of this cottage passed to Lucy and William Brighton following Rebecca Turvey’s death in 1868.
Occupants
When William Brighton purchased the double tenement cottage at the auction in 1862, the cottage was occupied by Jonathan Houchen and Robert Hurst.
The 1861 census captures 97 year old widower Robert Hurst living alone at Low Common. He is still working as an agricultural labourer.
Nearby is 33 year old fowl dealer Jonathan Houchen with his wife 32 year old Hannah. The couple have a boarder, 7 year old London born Emma Pitts.
Occupying the cottage to the north of Brighton’s cottage (occupied by Hurst and Houchen) is the cottage owned and occupied by 62 year old William Mann. He is with his 63 year old wife Pleasance together with a boarder, 7 year old Mary Ann Lincoln.
1883 Mortgage
On the 21st April, 1883, William Brighton mortgages “all those tenements or cottages formerly of John Warren and late of Jeoffrey Warren with the houses etc“.
He borrows the sum of £500 plus interest at £5 per cent per annum from Norwich spinster, Maria Amelia Higgins. The mortgage deed provided for payment and interest on the 21st October next, with a promise by Brighton to pay the interest half-yearly. There was also the power of sale to Maria Higgins to sell the property should Brighton default on the mortgage.
1889 Transfer of Security & Repayment
On the 10th August, 1889, Maria Amelia Higgins assigned her security on Brighton’s property in Great Ellingham to solicitors, Henry Blake Miller and Walter George Stevens of Norwich. In effect, Maria Higgins borrowed £450 plus interest against her security on the property.
As it happens, Henry Blake Miller died on the 26th April, 1890.
An Indenture dated 27th November, 1891, tells us that by 1891, all the principal money and interest owed by Maria Higgins to Miller and Stevens had been repaid. In consequence, Walter George Stevens confirmed the discharge of the lending.
1891 Assignment of Higgins’ Mortgage
On the following day, the 28th November, 1891, Maria Higgins assigned the mortgage debt owed to her by William Brighton.
John Henry Martin Muskett, a gentleman, of Spooner Row agreed to pay off Brighton’s outstanding mortgage debt of £400 due to Maria Higgins. Brighton had paid all interest to date.
The deed provided for a redemption date of the 28th May next. Interest was set at £4 10s per cent per annum. Brighton to insure all the property against fire.
I believe that the mortgage was secured over other land or property owned by Brighton. The deed includes a covenant by Brighton to ‘surrender copyholds’. The cottage at Swamp Lane is freehold.
1902 Assignment of Muskett’s Mortgage
On the 7th March, 1902, the Brighton’s mortgage debt was assigned to Caroline Rebecca Bayfield.
At the time, Brighton’s mortgage debt stood at £250. He had paid all interest due to John Muskett. Norwich widow, Caroline Bayfield, agreed to pay off Brighton’s mortgage to Muskett and take the same property as security for her loan. Interest on this loan was again set at £4 10s per cent per annum.
Occupiers of the Cottage
At this time, the deeds are silent in relation to occupiers. However, the 1901 census now lists those household specifically in Swamp Lane. Accordingly, it is possible that these two households occupied Brighton’s double cottage.
56 year old agricultural labourer George Banham and his 47 year old wife Mary Ann occupied a dwelling with four rooms. Perhaps in the adjoining cottage is 39 year old James T Dixon and his 39 year old wife Annie and their children Robert 12, Florence 8 and two year old Arthur.
Death of Lender
William Brighton’s lender, Caroline Rebecca Bayfield, died on the 2nd October, 1906. In her will, Caroline Bayfield appointed Louis Charles Miller and Robert Herbert Mason as her executors. I think it is more than likely that Miller and Mason ‘called in’ the mortgage debt.
By an Indenture dated the 29th November, 1906, Miller and Mason confirm receipt of all the principal mortgage debt with all interest due. Accordingly, they conveyed and released all Brighton’s land and property from the mortgage.
1906 Mortgage
However on the very next day, William Brighton enters into a new mortgage with spinster Alice Mary Broughton of No.22 Queens Gardens, Herne Bay, Kent.
Brighton borrows the sum of £200 with half-yearly interest at the rate of £4 10s per cent per annum. He conveys his ‘double cottage land and hereditaments’ at Swamp Lane to Alice Broughton as security for the loan.
The cottage is currently occupied by William Wilkins and George Banham.
Living Conditions
I have no doubt that living conditions in Swamp Lane (and the village itself), were not easy. There was, of course, no electricity. The inhabitants of the village relied on wells (and later water pumps) for their water. The residents of Swamp Lane were no exception. Often these wells were shared. Further, sewage disposal was certainly not as it is today.
Indeed in 1907, Dr Foster, the Medical Officer of Health, had occasion to inspect one of the houses in Swamp Lane. The cottage was ‘condemned’.
Unfortunately, the report of the Medical Officer found in a local newspaper does not provide the name of the owner or the occupier. Further, I do not know whether this particular dwelling was demolished or improved.
1911 census
Nevertheless, the 1911 census lists 10 households in Swamp Lane, including the occupants of the farmhouse at the far end of the lane. The households, of course, include the occupiers of Brighton’s double cottage, one of them being the household of Thomas William Wilkins.
The census captures 43 year old Thomas W Wilkins with his 43 year old wife Jane (nèe Rivett) in a four roomed dwelling in Swamp Lane. With the couple are their children George 23, Charles Elden 17, Ena 10, Eric 7, Leslie 6 and two year old Thomas.
Thomas W Wilkins and his sons George and Charles are all working as fish hawkers.
George Robert and Mary Banham are captured living in a two roomed dwelling in Swamp Lane. It is more than possible that Brighton’s cottage was divided into more than two tenements and that another family occupied another part. However without specific evidence, this is little more than a guess.
Death of Lender, Alice Broughton
William Brighton’s lender, Alice Broughton died in 1914.
Either before or just after Alice Broughton’s death, William Brighton repaid the mortgage debt.
By an Indenture dated the 25th July, 1914, Eugenia Cripps of Norwich, the executrix of Alice Broughton, re-conveyed the land and property to William Brighton.
Brighton sells to Wilkins
Extract from the Conveyance dated 3rd November 1921 (1) William Brighton (2) Thomas William Wilkins
Courtesy Shirley Caston
On the 3rd November, 1921, William Brighton, a retired farmer then living in Wymondham, sold his freehold cottage at Swamp Lane to his tenant, Thomas William Wilkins for £150.
The conveyance deed to Thomas Wilkins describes the property as:
All that freehold double cottage with well of water stables shed piggeries chaff house garden orchard and enclosure of arable land containing 2a 1r 13p in Great Ellingham bounded by hereditaments formerly of Jeffrey Towler and now of ____________ on or towards the north by the beck or rivulet on or towards the east by hereditaments formerly of ____________ Hardyment and now of the Trustees of Roger Turvey deceased on or towards the south and by a road there known as Swamp Lane on the west as the same are now in the occupation of the purchaser
The size of the land is exactly the same as it was just over a century earlier when the allotment was conveyed to Henry and Hannah Balls. The description also suggests that the piece of land bordering the southern boundary of the property was, or once, owned by Roger Turvey.
We continue with the story of this cottage along Swamp Lane in Part IV.
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
Private Deeds Collection. McDouall Family
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 Chronicle 27 September 1862.
Downham Market Gazette 9th February 1907.
Newspapers viewed via The British Newspaper Archive
1861 census RG9/1237/95,96
1901 census RG13/1867/82
1911 census RG14/11473/145-154