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Great Finborough
Great Finborough maps
Historic maps of Great Finborough and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Great Finborough maps
Great Finborough photos
We have no photos of Great Finborough, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Stowmarket| Stowupland| Hitcham| Woolpit| Old Newton| Elmswell| Barking Tye| Nedging| Needham Market| Gipping| Bildeston| Nedging Tye| Beyton| Chelsworth| Brent Eleigh
Great Finborough area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Great Finborough and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Great Finborough
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Suffolk memories
Combs Fords Tragedy
In World War II I attended school in Stowmarket. My home was in the neighboring village of Needham down by the railway station, so I would catch the local bus at the Swan Public House and ride it to the Market Square in Stow. As the bus traveled north there were three other young children who joined the same bus, and on arrival we would walk to school together. (I was about eight years old at the time. One of the girls was about one year older as I remember)
After school we would stand in the Market Square to catch the bus back.
One day we stood waiting for our bus back home and it didn't come. No one seemed to know why. Eventually on our own initiative we decided to walk home to Needham. When we arrived at the edge of Combs Fords the road home was completely blocked. There had been a terrible... Read more
Elm Tree Cottage, Hitcham
I used to go every summer school holiday to my great aunt & uncle's cottage [ Elm Tree Cottage]. I visited last month and it is still there in excellent condition. I remember harvest time, shire horses, haystacks, threshers and combine harvesters, cold tea in the hedge in a quart beer bottle for a refreshing drink. Chopping sticks for kindling in the shed. The milkman coming round with a small churn and a 1/2 pint and pint ladle, poured into jugs on the back windowsill. Outside 'dunny', potties under the bed, fetching water from the pump down the road. Molese's and Squirrell's coaches. Rabbitting with uncle, twelve bores behind the back door. Corona Coaches and the conductor who always looked after me, 'Percy'. Such happy days, now I wan't to move to Suffolk for my last years, such a beautiful place. Looks like my daughter is moving to Suffolk too, that will be an extra bonus.
My First Home After Marriage
I was so excited to see Friday Lane Cottage in the picture of Hitcham. We rented that cottage in 1961 & loved living there. I have fond memories of walking through the churchyard to the village shop & sometimes, on a Friday evening, going to the local pub whicch had a great atmosphere. I can't recall the name of the pub now but I do remember that there was a polyphon (I think that was what it was called) near to the entrance. I remember a reaper & binder working in a nearby field that year. It was old fashioned even then. This a real nostalgia trip after all these years.
Elmers Mill - Family History
Hi there. Harry Elmer (who I understand was my GGrandad's brother) owned and ran this Mill into the 1940s. The Muggeridge Collection has some wonderful images of him replendent in the very gentlemanly working clothes of a miller of his ilk, and still working in his 80's. Anecdotally Elmers Mill in Woolpit and Drinkstone Mill close by were dead ringers for each other, except they ran (i.e. their sails rotated) in the opposite direction to each other. This has recently been questioned on the Suffolk Mills site which has some memories posted about the structure of Elmers Woolpit Mill after it was tail-winded in 1963 and collapsed, saying it was built of "inferior materials" and therefore of much more recent (perhaps 19th century) construction than the recognised ancient (and still-standing) Drinkstone Mill. It's recognisably old design however would seem to counter this argument, and it's more likely I believe that the "inferior materials" found after it collpased may have been due to the need for successive and ongoing repairs, required... Read more
Harry Elmer
I'm sure I remember a Harry Elmer......did he have a shop in Elmswell or did he rent out motor cars or even caravans from Woolpit?
I was born in Elmswell in 1947 and the name certainly rings a very loud bell and was constantly mentioned in our household at the time.
Cycling to The Mill
We used to cycle to this old mill in the late 1960s and early 1970s when I lived in Woolpit. My brother found a large ammonite fossil in the clay near this site. There were the gravel pits nearby and we always used to joke about falling into the quicksand if you went too far in the puddles of water. We used to catch tadpoles too - fond memories. I live in Australia now but the site of this old windmill still sticks in my mind as an icon of my childhood. Does anyone have a similar memory?
The Cottage Next to The Post Office
My late father-in-law's father used to live in the cottage next to the Post Office, until he died. My father-in-law inherited the cottage, and my husband and I spent glorious holidays there, and lots of long weekends with our children, from around 1965 until my father-in-law passed away in the 1980s. We remember the pub so well as my husband used to play his guitar and we had a lovely sing song in there. I remember that there used to be a well in the garden of the Post Office. We got very friendly with most people living there at the time, especially Steve Sadler, and also Myrtle who lived a few minutes away and used to look after the cottage for my father-in-law.
