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Somerleyton
Somerleyton photos
Displaying the first of 16 old photos of Somerleyton. View all Somerleyton photos
Somerleyton maps
Historic maps of Somerleyton and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Somerleyton maps
Somerleyton area books
Displaying 1 of 13 books about Somerleyton and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Somerleyton
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Somerleyton.
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The Wherry Dyke
The 'Wherry Dyke', Somerleyton, was the home of 'Ripplecraft Co' which built and hired out the Broads Cruisers that the picture shows. It had been owned by Sir Francis Cockeral, inventer of the Hovercraft, who tested his original model on this water. The 'Dyke' was dug out to allow the wherry sailing craft to collect bricks from the local brickworks for transporting around Britain. Where the Wherry Dyke enters the River Waveney, on the left-hand side, Somerleyton had its very own swimming pool. It was a fenced area with a walkway on the riverside and a sandy bottom sloping upto the river bank. By the 1960s it had fallen into disrepair.
Jacksons And Popes
My husband's mother came from Somerleyton, and he and I visited the village and church two or three times between 1978 and 2004. We though it a very beautiful area. The churchyard has the last resting places of quite a few of my husband's ancestors, and I believe some of them worked at Somerleyton Hall. In, I think, in the gardening area. His mother's maiden name was Florence Jackson, and her mother's maiden name was Pope.Tomorrow, I am visiting the village and Hall with the Essex Theatre and Leisure Club, and I just know that it will be a memorable day. I hope to find the village as beautiful as it is in my memory!
Somerleyton Primary School
My first memories of school were of Miss Barwood the First Year teacher. She lived in Oulton, driving to school in a china blue Morris Minor. The school was heated by coke fires in each class which a monitor would stoke up during the winter. We would often throw coke at each other after classes. Unfortunately one day the Morris was chipped and dented by a lump of coke... Howard G. did not turn up for school of several days.
As the school years passed we move through the three classrooms until we reached Mr Brundel's, for our final years. He was the Headmaster, living in the house attached to the school. On his retirement he was to move into 'The Chimneys', in the Brickfields, which was modernised from two cottages. When not taking class he always had his pipe on the go, often standing on the entrance steps to the school watching his 'flock' at play. Another 'throwing accident' happened in the winter during a playground snowball fight. Mr... Read more
Holidays With my Grandparents in Somerleyton
My grandparents lived at 5 The Green until my grandad retired from working on the Estate farms. They then moved to 5 Widows Cottages. My grandma lived there after grandad died in 1951 until her death in 1959.
I have very happy memories of school holidays spent with them. My cousin and I used to walk everywhere, round the candlestick etc., with no worries. I remember the Co-op, which always smelled of cheese and bacon, the little off-licence and butcher's shop next to the Post Office. There was a garage run by Nee Woodcock, who was always on hand when our not so reliable car broke down.
My auntie and uncle lived at The Nook, on The Street, and he was Butler at the Hall.
My grandparents moved from Fritton to The Green in about 1925 and my father left home as a teenager to join Birmingham Police. He was a keen photographer and fortunately I have his albums which contain... Read more
Suffolk memories
Rogerson Hall Holiday Camp, Corton, Suffolk
I was just putting in "Rogerson Hall" on search and came across this site. Wonderful. I went to Rogerson Hall with my Mum and Dad in 1956 and 1957. In 1956, when I was 6, Dad booked the holiday and within one day of being there I developed chicken pox and we had to come home to London. I was heartbroken but to help console me, my wonderful Mum took my tin bucket on to the beach and brought me a bucket of sand to take home to London on the train; can you imagine that? I played with it for days and days. The following year, my Dad made up for the disappointment and we went back there for 2 weeks. I remember so many things as if it was yesterday. Two things I remember more than anything are: the chalets didn't have hot water so we had to go to the standpipes in the middle of the pathways each morning to get hot water and the sandmartins who... Read more
Rogerson Hall
I have very happy memories of Rogerson Hall, I started work in the buffet evenings in the summer season, from 1960-1975 approx when it closed. Working for 4 managers Wit, Carvell, Tamlyn and Auntie Mac. I would love to share my memories with others. My name is Peggy Knight.
Happy Childhood Holidays
I have very happy memories of staying at Rogerson Hall Holiday Camp. We stayed here every year for two weeks in August from about 1962 to 1968. Every year my brother and I took part in the children's fancy dress competition. I can remember the fun of staying in the chalets and how neat and tidy the grounds were kept. I learnt to dance the 'Gay Gordon' with my dad and how to do the twist! My brother learnt how to fly a kite and won a tomahawk in one of the children's competitions.
I remember the sound of the skylarks who nested in the fields surrounding the camp and found it fascinating that Birds Eye grew peas in the field next door which were often harvested when we were staying there.
Oh happy days when I was a child and life was carefree!
