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Cretingham

Cretingham maps

Historic maps of Cretingham and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.   View all Cretingham maps

Cretingham photos

We have no photos of Cretingham, although we do have photos of these nearby places:

Easton| Saxtead| Debenham| Framlingham| Parham Hall| Parham| Wickham Market| Bredfield| Pettistree| Ufford| Melton

Cretingham area books

Displaying 1 of 13 books about Cretingham and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Cretingham

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Suffolk memories

My Ancestors

All my ancestors originate in Otley, and I have traced them back to 1718. The only recollection I have of Otley is that when I was six to seven years old the family used to visit my father's aunt, my great-aunt Emma who was in her 90s and bedridden, she lived in a small cottage on the road to Helmingham. Further along the road lived one of his cousins who was married to a Walter Goodwin who used to drive a steamroller for Dawsons. It was a quaint little cottage standing endways to the road and looked rather like an oversized dolls house. Walter's son Willy lived there all his life and worked on the farm for Mr Ling. After he retired he spent his time making model steam engines with matchsticks and fairground carousels mounted on gramophone turntables. Willy died about three years ago. The cottage was then demolished. S G Forsdlke

The Black And White Cottages

My great grandparents, my nanna (and all of her siblings)and my mother all lived in this house. I'm not sure of the timeframe but it was for a number of years. My mom had many fond memories and stories of the crinkly wall across the street, as well as the 5 Bridges. My family name is Harvey. My grandfather and his family also grew up in Easton. His family name is Last. I visit Easton everytime I go back to England. It is one of my favourite places in the whole world. I tend to take pictures each time I go as well. Time seems to have stood still in Easton. What a wonderful place.

Hillman Imp Outside The Red Lion

Market Green c1965
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We moved to Debenham in 1964, when I was seven years old. Having come from Oxfordshire, where the houses were built of stone, I remember being amazed that many of Debenham's old houses were painted pink. 'Suffolk Pink' is the traditional colour of the limewash used on the timber-framed houses in this county. The Red Lion, the pub on the right of this photo, was one example.

The Hillman Imp parked outside the pub in this picture, belonged to my parents. They had just stopped to pop into the Post Office, which is next to the Lion. If you look very closely, you can just see the silhouettes of my brother and me, sitting in the back seat!

The Hillman Imp was new when this photo was taken. It was sky-blue, and we were excited to have such a modern car, with its folding back seat and rear window that opened. It was quite a departure from our previous car, a Morris 8.

Debenham High Street... Read more

Moat Tea Room

Castle Street c1955
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My parents Angela and Leslie Jecks-Wright bought the house in the picture on the right and made a successful business called the Moat Tea Room of it!  Our house was at 64 Fore Street. We used to get coaches visiting the castle, and we were kept very busy when that happened. We used to let the college boys use the upstairs room as a sort of "clubhouse".  A lot of GIs used to visit and eat there. I currently live in California. Whilst in a line in the bank we all started talking to each other.  One man on hearing my accent told me he remembered the Tea Room and my Mother's wonderful cakes. He said to me, "If you can cook like your Mother, will you marry me?"  What a compliment from a stranger so many miles from Fram!!
Dad had a small vegetable patch in the back garden. I remember each year he would dig up something of historical interest. Once it was an arrow barb and point,... Read more

Earl Soham

Castle Street c1955
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Does anyone know if there is an abundance of Hall family members in Earl Soham?
My grandmother had 17 sons and two daughters so I'd expect there to be a few!

What Happened to The Kotarski's ?

Fond memories of Parham makes me write this, remembering the peacefulness.
Surfing the Web, here I  am posting a question all the way from he USA.
It was early summer 1954 and I was a Dutch farm exchange student staying with the family Kotarski on the so called "White House farm" just outside Parham village. The farmer was of Polish decent, Genec, who had limited use of one arm, the result of a war injury. His wife Pamela and I milked the cows. They had three sons whose names I forgot. Nice people who enjoyed having me helping out with the chores and fieldwork. They also had a cleaning lady who lived in the village. She used to help out at the village store. Can't remember her name. She was very kind to me loaning me her bicycle so I could go and watch the Polo Pony Chuckas on Sunday afternoons somewhere in the area. I loved dressage and this was the closest to it. People were so nice to... Read more

Parham Church & Hall

Earlier this year, my wife and I visited St Kitts, which has a small museum; here we discovered that Thomas Warner, son of William Warner 'gentleman farmer from near Framlingham', had landed on St Kitts as the first European settler on 16th January 1628, colonising same for the English, and later the same of Antigua. With him was Thomas Jefferson whose grandson(?) became one of the earliest Presidents. Well my name is Warner and we have certainly lived in the Ipswich and Woodbridge areas 7 generations straight back to 1777. So we visited Parham Church this week, and saw the inscriptions on the tombs relating to many Warners, to John Gosnold (Mayflower settler), and to Parham Hall were of huge interest as we are trying to trace the relationship back to the said Thomas Warner (knighted by Eliz 1st). Details of photos or drawings of Parham Hall or connections, or information would be gratefully received. We have many Williams & Henrys in the direct line. Thanks! Michael... Read more

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