Welcome to our new look village website.
We have decided that it was about time that we tried to update our website to make it more appealing to our visitors. It is still under construction so, we hope that you will bear with us in the meantime.
We are currently establishing a data base (all in accordance with GDPR) of village residents and supporters from outside, so that we can keep everyone in touch with what is going on in the village. If you would like to be included, please just send our Parish Clerk (Jane Challis) an email, so that she can add your details. Her contact details are:
finninghamparishclerk@gmail.com
Enquiries can be added below, we will respond – eventually!
Contributions can be sent to ianbacton@aol.com.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Ian Armstrong (website manager)
Hello, I am looking for information on my great x2 grandfather Robert Henry Hearn who ran his coal, cake ,corn, seed and manure merchants from Finningham station in the years around 1860. I wondered if any photos existed with any shop signage.
Thank you
Kim,
Our Local History Group have some photos of the, now defunct, Finningham railway station (a victim of Dr Beeching!). I’ll have a look through them and see if your GGGf’s business is visible. Please bear with me for a shot while.
The newsletters for recent months have not been added to the website. Is there a problem?
Clive,
Sorry for the delay in replying. There was a problem but you should be able to access the Newsletters now; right up to the current issue.
HI WHAT WONDERFUL VILAGE SPENT MOST OF OUR SUMMER AT MY GRANS ROSE COTTAGE DOWN CHURCH LANE WE TOPPED ARE SPENDING MONEY POTTATO PICKING AND HELPING FRED ON HIS ALOTMENT LOOKING FOR GRASS SNAKES IN THE CHURCH YARD WATCHING THE COWS BEEING MILK DUSE ANEY REMBER MY GRAN LORA LINSTED & MY MUM BLANCH. HAPPY DAYS
Hi
I have two deeds dated 1768 and 1774 relating to The Manor of Finingham Hall, which even spelt with a single n I believe is the same place as yourselves. I am a dealer and they are for sale if anyone locally would be interested.
Regards
Rob
Rob,
I may be able to find someone who would be interested in the documents. Could you send me some more details (preferably a photo) and your price.
Webmaster.
I am currently (November 2019) compiling a history of sport in Finningham and would welcome any anecdotes, information, copies of photos etc for inclusion. Please leave your details with Tony and I’ll get back to you
Pete Everall
Hi Pete,
Don’t know whether you are still compiling your history of sport in Finningham? Just wanted to point out that quoits was a very popular pastime in Finningham and surrounding area for many, many years – most pubs had their own quoits pitch. The Railway Tavern (opp. old Finningham Station) still had a side playing in a local league in the early 1970s when I was a teenager – often used to walk down to watch of an evening. You can still see the location of the pitch today – a small strip of grass to the right hand side of the front garden.
Though called quoits, for those not familiar with it, the game consisted of throwing horse shoes at a metal post several yards down the pitch – very skilful. Can’t remember how many men (only!) made up a side (4?) but village pubs played against one another. The Four Horseshoes at Thornham also had a very lively skittles alley at this time ( my misspent youth!!) It was located in what was the skittles bar which is now a dining room at the far right hand end of the building. Women and men both played and the more the drink flowed the more competitive the night became!
Finningham also had a tennis club in the 1930s.
The two courts which it used were located in the grounds of Yew Tree House and Amberfield (then one house) in Church Lane. This would, I think, have been during the time that Lady Jean Rose owned the property (hence the tudor roses on the front gates). Rumour had it that the club stopped playing because the members became tired of retrieving tennis balls from the river running along the boundary of the grounds – though I’m sure they must have had a few ball boys to do the job!
I am the son of Lady Jean Rose mentioned above. We did not move to Finningham until 1948. Yew Tree Cottage was owned by an old cousin of my father Miss Alice Rose. I put a note about it on the historical section. I would also like to upload some photos of our time if they would be of interest – let me know. Hugh Rose
I have found a old document relating to the Manor of finningham Hall. I cannot read it to make out what it is? Is there a way I can send you a photo?
Sharon, Thanks for your offer. We would love to see the document to which you refer. Could you please send it to finninghmaparishclerk@gmail.com?
I am sorry that it has taken so long to respond to your e-mail, I’m afraid that it got caught up with all the spam that this site attracts!
Sharon,
I’m sorry that it has taken so long to respond to your e-mail, it must have slipped through the net – my apologies!
We would love to see the document you have relating to Finningham hall. Could you send a scan or photograph to our Parish Clerk, her address is finninghamparishclerk@gmail.com
Many thanks.
G’day,
I look forward to reading the newsletter. When will the March/April 2021 issue be published?
Clive Hodges
Brisbane Australia
Clive,
Thanks for your enquiry regarding the Village Newsletter. Due to the lockdown and Covid restrictions, the Editors decided to halt production of the Newsletter for the time being. We are hopeful that publication will soon be resumed and you will be able to read it on the website. Best regards.
I have been interested to read your website. I am researching my family history and my great aunt married Leonard Frere who I believe may have been the vicar of St Bartholomew’s Finningham from 1905. His first wife was Mary Janet Rose so possibly related to Lady Jean Rose who is mentioned in one of your posts. The 1911 census shows Leonard and Mary Janet Frere living at Yew Tree House.
If you have any information to confirm or deny this information I would be interested to hear from you.
I am considering re-locating to Finningham and are unsure , can anyone advise me of the village and its amenities, doctors , dentists, shops etc. Is it a nice village to move to.
Jane,
Thank your for your enquiry. Unfortunately, the village itself has little in the way of amenities (just a pub, which doesn’t serve food). However, there are two doctors’ practices in nearby villages and a dentist. There is a CoOp in Botesdale and Diss has a Tesco, Morrisons and Aldi. Bury St Edmunds is about 20 mins away and has virtually everything that you might need.
I hope this is of interest to you but should you require any further information, please ask.
My sons have asked me (at the age of 86) to write a lifetime memoir for the family. One of my earlier memories dates to 1939 when I moved with my mother from our then home in Coventry to lodge at a house in Finningham. My father had been recalled early to the RAF and was stationed nearby. My mother, with me in tow, chose to become a “camp follower” and took rooms at a village house owned by a Mrs Lindley. As a small boy at the time my main memory is of streamlined trains rushing past the back garden ! War service eventually took my father to postings elsewhere, subsequently to the Middle East. His Suffolk posting must have been a mere bike-ride from Finningham. Can anybody help me identify it ?
Hello Maurice, sorry about the deIay. Thanks to a lot of help from others in the neighbourhood I can say with some confidence that the house you stayed in was Dove Cottage. It is still there, sandwiched between road and rail – and can be viewed on Google Earth. The RAF base your father biked to was probably RAF Great Ashfield, I believe it was called RAF Elmswell before the USAAF took it over in 1942. It is about 7 miles from Dove Cottage.
Your enquiry has generated a good deal of interest.