Tasburgh People Thourgh The Ages
The first Tasburgh people that we know of by name are recorded in the Domesday Book. Before the Normans came in AD1066 the Anglo-Saxons Torolf and Aelmer each held thirty acres of ploughland and four acres of meadow as tenants of the infamous Archbishop Stigand. They also held shares in the village watermill. Much more affluent was Ailwyn who had sixty acres of arable land, and seven acres of meadow at Rainthorpe not to mention two mills and a share of a third. Was he a local tycoon in the making? If so his plans came to nothing for, after the Conquest we find Rainthorpe held by William, a tenant of the Norman Roger of Raismes.
John atte Grene was a distinguished medieval mason and almost certainly the man of the same name recorded at Tasburgh. He owned land on the east side of the Ipswich Road next to a field called Magetescroft together with strips of land in the open field stretching towards Helmenhale as Hempnall was then called. Some time around 1322 John became a Freeman of the City of Norwich. He worked at the cathedral as a master builder supervising the building of the cloisters between 1335 and 1337. Later he worked at Ely, probably in charge of the building of the Lady Chapel. He then became the King's Master of Masonry responsible for all stonework of all royal buildings south of the River Trent. John atte Grene probably died of the plague during the terrible Black Death of 1348 for in 1350 a new Master of Masonry was appointed.
The Lincoln family appear in Tasburgh records for over 400 years. In 1413 Thomas Lyncolne farmed a few strips of land in the open fields of Rygate and Netheranhaugh. In 1475 his descendant, a husbandman or poor farmer, left in his will a strip in the somewhat unattractive sounding Foulesloth Pytil to be sold for 'prayers to be said for the souls of me and my friends'. All his land, buildings and animals, including the two bullocks which pulled the plough, were left to his wife Margery and his two young sons John and Thomas.
Fifty years later the family fortunes had improved somewhat for a John Lyncolne paid tax of four pounds two shillings. The richest man in Tasburgh paid seven pounds six shillings and the poorest labourers each paid one pound and four pence.
In 1558 John Lincolne, a carpenter, had to pay the Exchequer eleven pounds to regain a house beside Nethergategrene together with twelve acres of land that would have been his inheritance but had been taken by the Crown for the treason of one of his relatives. There are records of the Lincolns buying and-selling land in Tasburgh and Flordon throughout the 16th century and in 1666 a John Lincoln rented land in Le Furrsclose, now the site of Valley Road, Willow Close and Curson Road. The family appear in the parish registers until the 19th century.
A sad story from the 16th century is that of Amy Robsart who died in tragic circumstances at the age of twenty-eight and whose ghost is said still to haunt Rainthorpe Hall. Her father was Sir John Robsart and her mother was Elizabeth Appleyard whose family had owned the hall for many years. Elizabeth had a daughter, Anne, by a previous marriage and we have good reason to surmise that Amy and her half-sister spent a happy childhood at the hall.
Amy's life changed abruptly when at the age of eighteen she was married to a great noble, the highly ambitious Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. The Earl rose rapidly in Court circles, was made Master of the Horse and became Queen Elizabeth's favourite. Poor Amy was now an embarrassment, she was kept away from Court on the pretence that she was suffering from an incurable disease but a the relationship between the Earl and the Queen grew closer Amy became eve more of an obstacle to Leicester's ambitions. In September 1560 she was discovered dead at the foot of a staircase with a broken neck. The Earl's enemies alleged that she had been murdered to clear the way for him to marry the Queen He was briefly banned from the Court and although the matter was allowed to blow over, no royal marriage took place.
Amy's spirit is said to haunt Rainthorpe Hall, not as a sad young lady who suffered a grisly death but as a happy child running along the corridors. The previous owner heard these pattering feet as probably did some former owner who has carved in old French on a door in the hall the words, 'The shade of the great Robsarts still cherishes Raynsthorp'.
In 1598 Robert Meek, a yeoman, died in Norwich. He made his will on his death-bed, as was the custom, when he was'sick in body but of good and perfect remembrance'. He commended his soul to God and wished his body to be buried inside Tasburgh church, leaving five pounds to meet the cost of this. Any poor person who came to his funeral was to be given five pence - no doubt the church was full!
He was possibly a bachelor as he left his lands and tenements in Tasburgh Tharston, Stratton, Harleston and Redenhall to his nephews together with money which was to be handed over in the porch of Tasburgh church. More importantly to past and present villagers he willed that his heirs should pay two pounds yearly of 'good English money' for the use of the poor people of Tasburgh for ever. This is the source of the Meeks Charity which today forms part of Tasburgh United Charities and which still benefits people in need in the village. It is probable that Robert Meek was a self-made man, starting his life in poverty because instead of writing his name on his will he left his mark on each page - this was unusual for a yeoman of that time.
Almost the only past records of the poorest people were to be found in parish registers because they had too little of value to leave wills, they had no land or house sales to record nor did they appear on tax returns. One such family in Tasburgh appear as the Libbicks but the names change many times over the years, doubtless because they could not read or write and the parish clerk had to rely on their pronunciation, they are last shown as the Livocks. Their first entry in the parish register is of Thomas Libbick, a son born to Gilber and Susan who died when he was two. It seems that his parents were not over zealous in registering his death for it is shown as taking place 'on the other side of this year'. Gilber we have already met as the man who was fined sixpence for stubbing up gorse on Tharston Common, he died in 1678.
Between 1741 and 1755 Robert and Elizabeth Libbuck had ten children, three of whom died in infancy. At the end of the century times were hard and many in the village needed assistance including John and Robert Livock who received money from Meek's Charity. About this time others of the family were baptised or buried as paupers. We may feel that one of the family had improved himself when we learn that Henry Livock was landlord of the Cherry Tree inn in 1818 but we must also recall from the previous chapter that the inn was at that time reputed to be a den of poachers!
It was probably the same Henry Livock who created a sensation in the local newspapers of 1839. It appears that in 1825 or 1826 Henry and his wife, Jernima, were sent back to Tasburgh as paupers to be supported by their home parish. Henry was made to work for local farmers, his wages supplemented by the parish. He soon fell out with the parish overseer about his allowance and promptly ceased work claiming that rheumatism had disabled him. Henry and Jernima were placed in the Town House to be supported by the Tasburgh Poor Rate.
Soon after Pulham Workhouse was built in 1836 the Livocks were sent there. Under the strict workhouse regime Henry and Jemima were separated, he to work as a gardener and ostler and she as a tailoress. Jemima was something of a handful for in 1838 she was locked in the 'refractory ward' as punishment for damaging workhouse property and for using 'abusive and disgusting language'. In the spring of 1838 the Livocks left the workhouse to visit relatives at Downham Market. They made the journey of 100 miles mostly on foot, at the time Henry was sixty-seven years old and Jemima fifty!
On return to their 'home' at the workhouse they were separated and locked up separately for the night in the men's and women's receiving rooms. The next morning Jemima was found dead.
Henry spread a story, which the newspapers were quick to take up, that the workhouse governor had locked up Jemima knowing that she was liable to fits. Henry painted a lurid story of her appearance when found, her face mutilated, her body contorted, there was indeed a suggestion of murder. The fuss eventually subsided with evidence that the workhouse authorities knew nothing of any liability to fits and that Jemima's only visible injury was a cut on the nose. Jemima Livock was buried at Tasburgh on Friday 21 st July 1839.
The Reverend Henry Preston MA was rector of Tasburgh for fifty-seven years from 1837, the year of Queen Victoria's accession, to 1896, the year before her Diamond Jubilee. During this time he also became Rural Dean. His remarkable achievements in repairing the Town House, building a handsome new rectory and providing Tasburgh with its first school have already been described. His school still stands as Old School House on Church Hill as does his rectory adjacent to a later rectory. Henry Preston's memorial can be seen in the church. He is remembered both in the name of the present school and the road upon which it stands.
The Lammas family is probably the oldest surviving family in the village. Bob Lammas and his wife live in Church Road. His mother was born in the old White Horse public house which stood in Saxlingham Lane. From the age of one year Bob lived in a cottage at Shearings Yard near the Flordon Road. His father was a draper and packman selling clothes from a horse and cart. Bob's grandfather was a tea merchant with a fine shop on Gentleman's Walk in Norwich. He went to school at four to join his elder brother and sister and recalls the teacher, Miss Abbs, who only recently died at the age of 101. He was one of almost a hundred children attending school at the time.
After school his first job was an haul boy at Rainthorpe Hall, working from 7am fetching the milk and eggs from Manor Farm and the papers from Flordon Station. The hall owner, Sir Charles Harvey, used to spend the winter in Brighton so Bob was only employed from March to September and the following March another boy fresh from school would be taken on. Bob found new work at th poultry sheds of Mr Berney Ficklin of Tasburgh Hall. The sheds were locate near the ford and Bob used towash the birds in the river. In 1931 he left to work as barman and cellarman in Norwich cycling to work as he could not afford the train fare of one shilling and eleven pence.
He joined the army in 1940; while serving in Grimsby he met his future wife and they were married in 1946. They lived in a cottage next to the old Cherry Tree inn, with no water or electricity. Bob usually got the water from a well next door but in dry spells he had to go down to the river. They moved to their present home in 1953.
Bob recalls a touching story of a boy named Oliver Sayer whose mother died in childbirth while his father was fighting in France in the First World War. Bob's aunt took care of Oliver and his sister Nellie but their father was unable to bring them up and Oliver was sent to a Dr Barnardo's home. Bob remembers going to Flordon Station with Oliver on his journey to the home. At fourteen Oliver was given the choice of working in a coal mine or going to Canada. He choose Canada where he married and built up a business but he longed to trace his roots and eventually visited Tasburgh knowing that his mother was buried there.
It was Mothering Sunday and, unable to trace her grave, he left flowers at the church. Bob saw Oliver and somehow recognised him as the little boy he had escorted to the station sixty-two years before. Bob was able to show Oliver his ' mother's grave and the emotion of the moment can be imagined. Bob now keep in touch with Oliver and sends him a photograph of the flowers placed on mother's grave every Mothering Sunday.
Between the wars Mr John Lammas kept the village stores and was churchwarden, his son Phillip also kept the stores and was church organist for many years. Bernard Lammas was a bell ringer at Tasburgh for seventy years. After his death in April 1993 a peal of doubles was rung in his memory comprising 5040 changes and lasting over two and a half hours.
Another old Tasburgh family was the Riches. Arthur Riches was the sexton in the early years of this century. Although crippled he walked from Low Road to the church every day and kept the churchyard in beautiful condition. He and his wife Blanche had nine children including Jack who met Phyllis Dyball while she was in service at the rectory. They married in 1928, living in an old thatched cottage on Church Hill. When Arthur died Jack took over as sexton taking great pride in his work for over forty years. He moved to Tharston and cycled to Tasburgh church every winter Saturday night to light the fire to warm the church for Sunday morning services. Later the Riches moved into one of the council houses on Church Road which was specially extended to accommodate their large family. Both Jack and Phyllis were kindly people who were able to raise a family in difficult times. Phyllis turned her hands to most things and was an excellent cook, seamstress and knitter.
Many Tasburgh roads have been named after Tasburgh people who have made a contribution to village life. Henry Preston Road credits the Victorian rector who provided the first school in the village. Lammas Road and Riches Close remember two of the oldest families in the village. Matthews Close recalls Albert Matthews, wheelwright, carpenter, undertaker and parish council clerk in the early part of this century while Prior Close is named after an Upper Tasburgh farmer who worked hard for the village. Everson Road and Close commemorate John Everson of Old Hall Farm and his sons Russell and George who so generously gave to the village the land for the playing field and village hall. A previous occupant of Old Hall Farm was Mr Curson, remembered in Curson Road. His services to the village included operating a horse drawn snow-plough to clear snowdrifts. Harvey Close in Lower Tasburgh recalls Colonel Sir Charles Harvey of Rainthorpe Hall, a great benefactor of St Mary's Church and Hastings Close remembers the family which followed Sir Charles at Rainthorpe and who supported innumerable village activities often by making the hall or its grounds availble for fetes and other entertainments.
