St+Margarets+Directories

WHITES

SOUTH ELMHAM ST. MARGARET, 5 miles S.S.W. of Bungay, is a village and parish, containing 181 souls, and 589 acres of land, now rated at the annual value of £1008. 5s. Part of it belongs to several small proprietors, and the remainder to Wm. Adair, Esq., the lord of the manor, and patron of the Church, which was repaired and repewed in 1838, and is a small structure, with a tower and five bells. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in K.B. at £6. 2s. lld., and consolidated with that of Southelmham St. Peter, in the incumbency of the Rev. Adolphus Hohnes, M.A. The tithes of this parish have been commuted for £136, and those of St. Peter's, for £145 per annum, exclusive of the yearly payment of £2. 2s. to the Dean and Chapter of Norwich, £l. 8s. to Wm. Adair, Esq., and 1Os. 6d, to Lord Berners. The Town Estate comprises a house and about 50A. of land, let for £65 a year. It is partly freehold and partly copyhold, and has been vested in feoffees from an early period, in trust to apply the rents in discharging the fifteenths, tenths, taxes, and such other common charges of the parishioners, as the feoffees should think necessary. The income is mostly applied in the service of the church, and the remainder is added to the poor rates. A cottage, called the Town House, and a small piece of land adjoining, were appropriated at an early period for the reparation of the highways. They are let for 30s. a year, which is added to the rent of the Town Estate.

Chaston Mrs Mary, Villa Danby John, shoemaker Holmes Rev Adolphus, M.A. and F I.S. Rectory Howe James, joiner & parish clerk Lushey George, shoemaker Woods Mr Stephen

FARMERS (* are Owners) Aldrich Elijah Moore Robert Gibborn Francis Larter Moore John Last Howlett K.
 * Durrant Goerge
 * Freeston George Anty.
 * Moore Thos.
 * Danby John

KELLYS

SOUTH ELMHAM ST. MARGARET is a village 5 miles south-west from Bungay and 2.5 south-east from Homersfield railway station. The church of St. Margaret is a building of flint, with stone dressings, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and a western tower containing 5 bells: it was thoroughly repaired in 1838, and in 1875 was reseated with open oak benches, affording 100 sittings, all of which are free. There is a tablet in the church in memory of the men of the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18. The register dates from the year 1679.

The living is a rectory, with that of South Elmham St. Peter annexed, joint net yearly value £350, with residence, in the gift of Sir Robert S. Adair bart. D.L., J.P. and held since 1929 by the Rev. Robert Bertie Illsley Sharpe B.A. of London University, who is also vicar of and resides at Flixton (near Bungay). The town estate, which consisted of a house and 53 acres of land, was sold and the proceeds invested, producing about £30 per annum, half of which goes to the upkeep of the church and the remainder to necessitous parishioners. The Hall, 1 mile west of the village, and formerly the palace of the Bishop, of Norwich, is now used as a farm house; the moat is still perfect, and there are extensive ruins of the much larger mansion which once existed here. Sir Robert S. Adair bart. D.L.., S.P. is lord of the manor, and the land is mostly owned by the farmers. The soil is loam; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley and beans. The area is 595 acres; the population in 1921 was 86 in the civil and 153 in the ecclesiastical parish.

Parish Clerk, Thomas Lord. Post Office, St. Margaret. Letters through Harleston (Norfolk). The nearest M. 0. office is at Metfield & T. office at Flixton

SOUTH ELMHAM ST. MARGARET Abbott Brig.- Gen Leonard Henry C.M.G. Old Rectory Aldrich Arthur, The White House

COMMERCIAL Marked thus * farm 150 acres or over. Aldrich Ralph farmer, Rectory farm Betts John farmer, Town farm Crockford John William, farmer, Howes Benjamin George, farmer Kittle Samuel Arthur, farmer, Greenside farm Lord Edward Herbert Robert, farmer, The Red House Lord Eleanor (Miss), shopkeeper, Post office Lord Osborn, carpenter
 * Hadingham Edward, farmer, Valley farm
 * Sanderson John, farmer, South Elmham Hall
 * Self George, farmer, Elm Tree farm
 * Walpole Jack, farmer, Rookery farm

DUTT

South Elmham St Margaret church (2.5 m. S.E. of Homersfield) has a Norm. S. doorway, and a small Norm. window; the rest is chiefly Perp. Note (1) a small marched recess in the N. wall of the chancel; (2) the iron frame for an hour-glass remaining in the S. wall of the nave; (3) the rood-loft staircase, which is complete; and (4) a small portion of the rood-screen preserved in the vestry. A mile W. of the village, partly in the parish of St Cross, stands South Elmham Hall, now a farmhouse. Near it, enclosed by a broad and deep moat, are some ruins of an old residence of the bishops of Norwich. The Old Minster (see S. Elmham St Cross) is about .25 m. from the Hall.