The Dullingham History Group is always pleased to receive emails/information, like this email from Peter Stonebridge of Ipswich received on 29th May containing local historic information:
"Found your article about Dullingham Station very interesting. That was my home as a child in 1950's. Spent many hours in the Maltings and was very sad when I heard that it had burnt down. Goods handled at the Station included lots of timber from the estates which were transferred from timber lorries onto large 'Bogie Bolster'wagons and collected by the daily goods train.
Peter Stonebridge.
A Tribute to George Gentleman, Dullingham's oldest resident who died recently
please click here
Dullingham History Group has recently recruited three new members. Hurrah!
They are Samantha Bye from Ipswich whose family roots go back hundreds of years in Dullingham and David and Christine Rippington (nee Webb) who also have long standing local family connections. We welcome them to our small but growing group of people interested in finding and documenting more about Dullingham and the surrounding hamlets.
If anyone can supply further information to Sam, or David and Christine, they would be pleased to hear from you.
1. Email from Samantha Bye (to send an email )
Hi Anthea,
I am a Bye whose family go back in Dullingham for 100’s of years.
My Nana’s maiden name was Mingay and her mothers Webb. My Aunt married a Baldwin
As you can see that I am completely weaved into Dullingham’s history.
My Dad, his brother and sister were brought up in School Lane, as was my Nana Bye Nee Mingay (who was born there) and her parents.
The cottage still stands today next to the new rectory.
I have in my loft somewhere a Dullingham History Guide that was published before my Grans death in 1990. In it she writes about some of her memories, I will try to look it out and scan it for you.
Many of my family lived in Dullingham Ley, and I would like to know more about this hamlet?
I am getting quite possessed about researching my family from this area, and we have been to St Mary’s and photographed all the gravestones to try to patch BMD’s together. And to keep a visual record of the graves for future family history hunters.
If I can help you or you can help me. Please let me know.
For example my aunts Irene and Audrey were sent up to Dullingham form London in the war to stay with our family.
Uncle Wally and my Grandfather Arthur were both born in the old workhouse (when it was a private residence). Wally live there until his death earlier this year.
Anyway enough for now,
Kind Regards, Sam.
Samantha Bye (BSc Civil Eng.)
2. Email from David and Christine Rippington (to send an email )
Anthea
Both my wife and I have lived in the area all our lives.
I was born in Woodditton and my wife in Stetchworth, but we also both have very strong family roots in Dullingham.
We would be very interested in joining your history group.
In answer to one of your family research requests on your site Walter Edward Murkin (b. 1877) was my wife's Great Uncle (by marriage) - his wife being Alice Maud Webb - the eldest sibling of her Grandmother (Rose Block, nee Webb).
Both these families came from Dullingham Ley.
I've been researching our family's past for about a year now and have come across a lot of the local social history ... one point of note on your "The Past" page - you're missing one of the original hamlets that made up Dullingham - that of Widgham (now shown as Widgham Green on modern maps).
This area was as thriving and distinct from Dullingham Ley as was Cross Green.
One aspect that has also become very clear during my research is that Dullingham Ley et al was more closely associated with Burrough Green via the link of Gipsy Hall Lane.
And although being part of Dullingham parish, with the Mission Hut the local community worshipped here on a weekly basis and only trekked to the main church for special occasions (baptisms, weddings & funerals).
As much as we can contribute to some of the local past we'd also be interested in contacting anyone who has photos of either the Webb, Richardson or Baxter (Ley Farm House) families.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards
David & Christine Rippington (nee Webb)
35 Strollers Way
Stetchworth
Newmarket
Suffolk
CB8 9TZ
The Edwards Family of Dullingham
The History Group has received the following request for information. If anyone knows of the Edwards Family who once lived in Dullingham, please make contact.
Dear Anthea,
I have just started my family history trace and find that the Edwards family had a long association with Dullingham, my grandfather and his grandfather being born there. Can you recommended any site of source of information that I could look at please? My source of information currently is the census records on Ancestry.co.uk to which I have subscribed .
To date I know that my great grandfather lived in Dullingham prior to 1881. He lived with his wife Ann and children at 107 Old North House (?), and lived in Dullingham up to 1901. Certainly his children would have gone to the local school and the Methodist church, as my mother worshipped as a Methodist. My great grandfather and grandfather worked as gardeners, and I expect on a local estate.
With kind regards, Corban Bailey
23 London Road, where the Grant family used to live
Two charming views of the delightful thatched cottage which once stood at the entrance to The Lordship Estate. 23 London Road (also known as The Toll Cottage) was home to Victor and Rose (nee Budd) Grant. Victor is the grandfather of Dullingham resident, Hilda Hardy. Mr Grant lived in the cottage until it was sadly demolished in the 1960's. Victor with his Jack Russell terrier is pictured sitting on the doorstep just after the half round cottage had been re-thatched.
The Murkin Family of Dullingham
Maggie Sanderson from Lancashire has contacted the Dullingham History Group. She is researching her maternal grandfather's family who were raised in Dullingham Ley. Her grandfather was James Abraham Murkin, born 1891, one of ten siblings. Their parents were John Murkin and Emily Ship. This photograph, shows a thatched cottage in Dullingham when Maggie's grandfather was aged about ten. The family are all in their Sunday best - perhaps for a christening? One of Maggie's grandfather's brothers is seen on the right, standing with a young foal.
Maggie's grandfather and three of his brothers moved to Derbyshire as young men to work. Dullingham History Group would like to know if anyone knows anything about the Murkin family, the cottage and what the occasion might have been.
If you can help with any information please or phone 01638 507203
Did Dullingham ever have any Watercress Beds?
The Dullingham History Group received the following email enquiring if Watercress beds existed in the past in Dullingham. Our Group Honoury President and local historian, Joe Moore, says he is unaware of the stream sustaining watercress beds, but if anyone knows different, please .
From Barrie M Hawkins, MA, Department of History, University of East Anglia
Dear Anthea, I am carrying out PhD research at the UEA into the History ad Archaeology of Watercress Farming in England and I think that watercress beds were established in the Dullingham village at sometime in the past. Can you perhaps enlighten me on this-or possibly put me in touch with someone who might know- like a village historian? Thank you.
The Oakman Brothers of Dullingham, 2nd Batallion of the Suffolk Regiment
The Dullingham History Group received the following information by email
Dear Anthea,
I believe you are a point of contact for Dullingham's history group. I amtherefore passing this peice of information on to you.
I am not sure whether anyone in Dullingham is aware that the first pair of brothers to die on the same day during the First World War came from Dullingham.
26 August 1914
David, 19, and Ernest Oakman, 17, died whilst serving with the 2nd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment during the Battle of Le Cateau. Sons of Henry and Mary Jane Oakman of Dullingham, Cambridgeshire. The brothers have no known graves and are commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre.
Dullingham Army Cadets, 1945
D Company, 2nd Battalion, Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely
Army Cadets, The Cambridgeshire Regiment, 1945
(photo courtesy Joe Moore Archive)
Top Row G. Lamkin, T. Price, M.
Scrivener, ----------, F. Smith, D. Wallis, ---------
-----------, S. Jaggard, H. Jaggard, P. Byford, G. Scrivener, -----------
G. Beauchamp, ---------, L. Savin, J. Rose.
Middle G. Wilkinson, R. Baldwin, N. Mayes, L. Seal, J. Knights,
C. Fern, G. Rolfe, L. Jaggard, ----------, G. Rolfe, E. Wright,
J. Woollard, N. Stubbs, O. Claydon, -----------
Bottom A. Dunn, S. Dean, R. Diffy, -.Howe, Lt G. Rolfe,
Capt G. Stephenson, J. Turner, K. Vigor, F. Hedger,
G. Green, T. Varney, J.H. Moore
Dullingham Village Home Guard c. 1943
(courtesy Joe Moore Archive)
This photograph was taken at a rifle range near Thetford.
Dullingham Ley Home Guard, c. 1943
(courtesy Joe Moore Archive)
Four of the men in this photograph have Great War medal ribbons.
Back row, left to right: F. Hardy, S. Turner,
G. Starvis, J. Meekins, B. Starvis, W. Marken
Front row: R. Fuller, T. Oake, Mrs R. Block, R. Way, C. Hardy,
Joseph Henry Moore of Clare Farm
J H Moore with his beloved
thoroughbred mares. c 1930.
(photo courtesy Joe Moore Archive)
Joe Moore's grandfather's one aim in life was to breed a Derby winner. This he never achieved but he di have some success on the turf from racehorses that he had bred at Clare Farm. He had a lifelong interest in flat racing and horses. In his early years he was a jockey in Ireland for a short time. This photograph ws taken in the paddock in front of Clare Farm (now the Sports Field and looking over towards Church Lane). Harry Payne is holding the mare (left) and Joseph Henry Moore (right).
The Miller’s Tale, The Tailor’s Tale and the Widow’s Tale – The life and times of three Dullingham Families during the 18th Century.
(Extract from Dullingham Yesterdays by Peter Jeffery)
James Benstead was 15 years old when he cut his name into the stonework of St Mary’s Church, Dullingham. Up in the tower he wrote ‘JAMES BENSTEAD HIS NAME 1769’. Of all the grafitti inside and outside the church James’ effort is the neatest and most precise.
James was the son of the village miller, Richard Benstead, who came to Dullingham about 1750. James became a miller like his father and when he was 23 he married Eleanor Isaacson. She was one of nine children and three of her younger brothers and sisters died in infancy before she was five. The Marriage of James and Eleanor lasted less than five years because in the winter of 1781-82 he went to Cavenham where he was killed in a wagon accident.
Six months after James’ death, his sister, Mary Benstead, married another member of the Isaacson family, William, brother of Eleanor. Mary’s marriage was short also. Her third son died only a few days old and two weeks later Mary herself was buried in Dullingham churchyard. For a few more years the miller’s business remained with the Banstead family until it was put up for auction in 1795 when William Isaacson became miller.
Dullingham mill dates from about 1280 or earlier and belonged to the manor. It was sited about 200 yards south of the churchyard in a field appropriately called Millfield. About 100 years ago three millers were employed but the mill closed early in this century and was later demolished.
(Sadly there is nothing to indicate that an ancient windmill and the adjacent historic site known locally as ‘The Moat’ had ever existed on the site. A new house built in the 1990s (Hope Hall) now sits on top of the hill.)
Thomas Arch came to Dullingham in the 1760s and set up business as tailor and married Isabell Nelson of Great Bradley. Soon they had two children; a girl Ann and a boy, William. The period 1770-1780 bought several tragedies to the life of the family as each of the next five children died before reaching their first birthday.
In 1771 a daughter, Isabell, died about two months old; another daughter again called Isabell was born in 1771 and died early the next spring; in the spring of 1774 another daughter was born, also baptised Isabell, but she died in the autumn. The next year, 1775, a son was born in the autumn but died before the year was out. In 1777 a fifth daughter was born and baptised Rebecah but she died the following summer. Isabell Arch, mother of these unfortunate infants died in April 1780 leaving Thomas a widower after only 15 years of marriage with only two children surviving out of seven.
Thomas remarried in 1788 and taught his son, William, the business of being village tailor. In the summer of 1802 Thomas died and four years later his, William, bachelor tailor of Dullingham, was also buried in the churchyard.
Thomas and William Arch witnessed many marriages in St Mary’s Church, Dullingham. They would have known the Bensteads and Isaacsons who ran the mill. They certainly knew the Smee family who farmed in the parish. Thomas was a witness at the marriage of John Smee in 1773. Then, John, already a widower, wed twice-widowed Ann Smith. John, like James Banstead, has left his mark on Dullingham Church. He carved his name into the first pier on the south side where the pulpit used to be. However, it was another of John’s actions that resulted in one of the more intriguing entries in St Mary’s Church registers. Whether it was circumstance, necessity or a simple wish for adventure, we do not know, but John turned his back on village and family to become a soldier. When in 1786 his wife died the following entry was made: ‘Ann, wife or widow of John, now or late a soldier in the service of the Hon. The East India Co’.
While the stories of John Banstead and Thomas Arch illustrate how misfortune can change the course of events and the high level of infant mortality, the story of Ann Smee illustrates another aspect of social and family life of that age. And this was the often, short duration of marriage, a phenomenon accepted, perhaps even expected, among the poorer classes. Ann Smee (nee Lake) married three times in St Mary’s Church and each time her husband was a widower. She was 30 when she married for the first time, to Samuel Brown, a widower of Burrough Green. This marriage lasted only three years and in 1753 she married Walter Smith, whose wife had died the year before. Walter and Ann had three children before Walter, a labourer, died in 1773. A few months later she married John Smee. Some years later members of the Lake family were to become grooms and coachmen at Dullingham House. In 1844 one of them, James Lake, was to marry another Ann Smee who was a servant at Dullingham House.
Grange Farmhouse 1908
(photo courtesy Joe Moore Archive)
Photo 104 shows the Dullingham Ley Dairy milk float standing outside Grange Farmhouse, Dullingham Ley. Written on the reverse is 1908, John Bullen, Dullingham Ley, Cambs. It is believed that John Bullen is in the milk float and Mr Cecil Holland is standing behind his horse. Mr Holland farmed at Grange Farm and the Bullens were an old Dullingham Ley family.
Grange Farmhouse 1998
(photo courtesy Joe Moore Archive)
Photo 105 shows how little Grange Farmhouse has changed. Only the windows and porch have been altered. Very few original farm buildings survive today. Grange Farm is now a modern stud farm.
