Uttley Wheatacre Connections

Uttleys in Wheatacre,
Norfolk, England

Give Birds Feathers And They Will Fly -- Said Here First

Welcome to Uttleys in Wheatacre Homepage. The information included here is strictly for your enjoyment.

The pictures come from a short trip in late May of 1998 to the area of Beccles and across the Waveney River to Wheatacre and Burgh St. Peter. Clicking on any of the thumbnail images will display a larger version of the image (about 20K each).

183K file	Wheatacre, Burgh St Peter, Aldeby and surrounding area today. This map fragment is found in the Ordnance Survey of 1996 printed at 2.5" to the mile (1:25,000 scale). The detail and labelling is wonderful. Surrounded on three sides by the Marshes, Wheatacre is in the centre with Burgh St Peter just to the east and Aldeby to the west. Places of interest include: - Marsh Lane (Track) NW of Wheatacre where the family of William lived in 1851 - the Common where Ann lived in 1871 with her stepson William as a lodger - a small piece of Beccles (bottom left) where A.E. Mount had a photography studio - the Waterloo Sand and Gravel operation between Gillingham and Aldeby. Could this place name have directed the path of the boys in Canada?
145K file	Map of Aldeby, Wheatacre and Burgh St Peter in 1837-80. This map is substantially the Ordnance Survey of 1837 with railway insertions from the 1860s and 1870s. In 1837 the site of Burgh St Peter was at the extreme east of this penninsula surrounded by marshes. This is where "St Mary's" church is to be found. There's not much else there today except for a caravan site and a public house catering to boats on the Waveney River.
	"Shepherd in Norfolk" -- painting at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. I can't find my notes on the painter, but it was painted in the 1830's. The 1851 British census tells us that William Uttley was an Agricultural Labourer. Samuel Uttley's obituary says that he worked as a shepherd on an estate. This painting is to me the essence of William and will be his only image.
	Ruins of "All Saints" church at Gillingham. There is no known Uttley connection with Gillingham. It is surely a place that any Wheatacre resident in the first half of the 19th century would have been familiar with.
	"St. Mary's Church" (Anglican), Diocese of Norwich, Gillingham. "St. Mary's" is right beside the ruins of "All Saints". The main road once went by the church but a modern bypass has left the churches on a quiet side road.
	"St. Mary the Virgin" church in Aldeby, Norfolk. St Mary's Church has a Norman west door and a Norman tower. There is a carving on one of the arches stating THIS STEPEL WAS BELT 1633. This would be the church where some children of William and his first wife Mary Cornwall/Cornwell were baptized: William on Feb. 8th, 1818, Emily on Feb. 27th, 1820 and Eliza on Jan. 27th, 1822.
	Windmill ruin and house on Mill Road, Burgh St. Peter, Norfolk. The purpose of these windmills was to mill grain into flour. The land is much too flat for water power so wind makes a good alternative. This windmill is located where the map places Burgh St. Peter today near Wheatacre, not near its location on the map of 1850.
	Sign at "St. Mary's Church", Burgh St. Peter, Norfolk. The roof of the church is thatch. It was surely an act of providence that the church was only substantially damaged and not destroyed totally.
	Tower of "St. Mary's" church, Burgh St. Peter, Norfolk. You can see that the nave is under reconstruction from the fire. "The brick tower is remarkable, built in five stages, almost like a Maya pyramid", I read. I would hesitate to describe the effect as pleasing to the eye. The church was closed to visitors. The building of the church is an old story: A poor man was sitting worrying about about life and money, when a stranger appeared and offered him a loan, repayable in a few years. The bargain was struck and recorded on parchment. The man spent some of this newly-found money on building a church for the village. After a few years, the day for repayment arrived, and so did the Devil (who else?), with the parchment. The man, however, had just died a few hours before and buried in the consecrated grounds of the new churchyard. On the anniversary of his death, a spectral skeleton still haunts the churchyard, trying in vain to claim the soul of of the debtor.
	Sign post for "All Saints" church in Wheatacre. The icon at the top of the sign looks like the top of the church tower.
	Churchyard at "All Saints" church in Wheatacre, Norfolk. There are many old markers in the churchyard, but none that are of particular interest to us. There has been speculation that Wesleyan churches is where we should be looking. If true this would be a strong link back to Heptonstall in Yorkshire.
	Picture of "All Saints" church, Wheatacre, Norfolk from the last century. This picture was hanging in the north chapel of the church, a part of the church that had once been used as a school room. The people in the picture were identified on the back. No date was given but an date could be deduced from the headstones shown.
	Interior of "All Saints" church, Wheatacre, Norfolk. The north chapel is through the door at the left.
	"Wheatacre Hall" is in the distance, Wheatacre, Norfolk. Sandra wrote to the Norfolk-L Genealogy Mailing List: Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 12:00:21 -0700 Having found my 3xgrgrandparents in the census' for 1841 to 1881 in the Burgh St. Peter/ Wheatacre/ Aldeby area of Norfolk, can anyone give me an idea as to where to look for "large estates" in this area. My 3xgrgrandfather William UTTLEY was "a shepherd on a large estate" to quote his son. I would like to get a feel of where he lived and worked. I suspect he worked for this same estate for a number of years because he seems to have married and raised his family there, before dying pre: 1881. Any help would be most welcome. Sandra Dube' ... There were several large farms in the area in 1837, including Mouser's Farm, Wright's Farm, Wheatacre Low Farm and Wheatacre Hall. William and Ann lived on Marsh Lane in 1851 which is nearby any of them. William may have been employed as an agricultural labourer or shepherd at one of these estates. The quote about Birds and Feathers came from a foreman at the estate where William worked. It is a reference to education for children and the premise that an uneducated child will never stray far from home and will not cause problems for an employer. The quote was written down in the obituary of Samuel Uttley.
	*Beccles sign dated Dec 24, 1873 -- Beccles & District Museum, Leman House, Ballygate, Beccles, Suffolk.* Evidence that all was not well in the area in the 1870's. At the same time a depression in Canada was driving farm workers off the land into the towns.
	*Poverty exhibit at Beccles & District Museum, Leman House, Ballygate, Beccles, Suffolk.* The clothing and circumstances of this lady remind me of Ann Girling Uttley when she entered the Heckingham Workhouse on 16 November 1886.
	*Photographic studio of Arthur E. Mount, 31 Station Road, Beccles, Suffolk.* The row house was built in 1864 and was the first photographic studio of Arthur E. Mount. A.E. Mount was the photographer whose name appears on the back of the Carte de Visites (CDV) postcard photo of Ann Uttley at age 64 and a younger lady in about 1870.
	Girling There are many entries for Girling in today's Norfolk and northern Suffolk phone directory. The name Linder has almost as many entries, and that's another problem to be answered. Alas, the surname Uttley has vanished completely in the area.
	"All Saints" church and churchyard, Mendham, Suffolk. This building dates mainly from the 14th century.
	"All Saints" church and churchyard, Mendham, Suffolk. Ann Girling was certainly christened here. Christening for Anne (Ann) GIRLING; October 19, 1806 in Mendham, Suffolk. Father: William Girling, Mother: Mary Cottermole. Elise has a copy of the original birth certificate that she hopes to scan. More confirmation of Mendham is found in the census of 1861 and 1871.
	The parish church of "St. John The Baptist", Metfield, Suffolk.
	The parish church of "St. John The Baptist", Metfield, Suffolk. William GIRLING married Mary CATTERMOLE on 14 Oct 1805 in Metfield, Suffolk. This information is from the IGI -1994 edition- version 3.06.

Bruce Uttley
beu@uwaterloo.ca

Uttley Wheatacre Connections

Uttleys in Wheatacre,Norfolk, England

Give Birds Feathers And They Will Fly -- Said Here First

Uttleys in Wheatacre,
Norfolk, England