Bridge End Farm - Church Hill

Tasburgh's Manorial Court records for 1832 have an entry describing what is now Church Hill as "the common way leading from Tasborow bridge towards the church of Tasborow". The bridge at the time was probably a footbridge, like the present one adjoining the ford, and must be the origin of the name of this property or group of properties which at the time of the Enclosure Award of 1818 was owned by Susanna Goward. She had been left the properties by her father Matthias Goward, who in turn had inherited them from his father, Thomas, on his death in 1780. Susanna Goward, who was unmarried, died in 1833 and under the terms of her Will left the property to John Utting, a surgeon or doctor in Long Stratton, although he doesn't appear to have been a relative.

At the time of her death Susanna was resident in Tasburgh, so probably at Bridge Farm but the Tithe Apportionment Award in 1840 records that John Utting had let the farm to William Loveday. The map attached to that Award and to the 1818 Enclosure Award both show three separate buildings, each coloured red indicating residential use. One stood end on to the road to the left of the entrance, one straight ahead, and then the current farmhouse to the right, but it would appear from the early census returns that each of them was divided into two dwellings, and that some of them may not have been in good condition because in 1841 one pair was uninhabited, as was one dwelling in 1851 when William Loveday was still the farmer. John Utting died in 1859 and by 1861 the farm was in the occupation of Robert Tann but whether as owner or tenant isn't clear. In the 1871 census he was described as farming six acres, but it seems the farm was always a very small one, although enough to sustain Alfred Rackham as the farmer there for over 30 years. It is possible however that he may have rented further fields, like one of his successors, Mr Knights, who rented land from Tasburgh United Charities. The property would originally have included the field above Bridge End Farm, running up towards the old school, and which is now the site of the two houses, Mead House and Roger's Close, and the bungalow, Backwater. However the name Roger's Close comes not from any owner of the house but was the name of the field itself, as shown by entries in the Manorial Court records from as early as 1810.

Quite when the property acquired the name Bridge End Farm isn't clear. Mr Rackham didn't give it any name when he completed his 1911 census return, but in Kelly's Norfolk Directory for the following year the name was given as Cats Corner Farm. In 1928 the property was offered for sale by auction with vacant possession when it was referred to as a cottage residence at Cats Corner with three sitting rooms, kitchen, scullery and two pantries, plus five bedrooms. The sale also included a four room brick and tile cottage, presumably Peace Cottage, a barn, piggeries and 3.75 acres of land. The small cottage was occupied by a Miss Matthews at an annual rent of £6.50 plus rates, probably Alice Eliza Matthews who had been living there in 1911 with her elderly mother, and was referred to as a dressmaker. However there was no mention of the thatched double cottage to the left of the entrance which must have been separately owned at the time.

The 1939 Registration still gives the address as Cats Corner but William Moore, in his published memories of growing up in Tasburgh during WW2, refers to it as Bridge Farm. However as he was still living in the village at the end of the 1960s and his booklet wasn't written until twenty years after that, it seems more likely that the name Bridge Farm didn't start to be used until after the War. He describes the property as being more of a horticultural smallholding growing blackcurrants and flowers, rather than a farm, and that the farmhouse was still two separate dwellings, one of which was occupied by the farmer, Arthur Knights and his wife Lily, with the other half home to a professional gardener, George Whinney with his wife Selina and family. From Mr Moore's account, it would seem that the building which stood opposite the entrance had partly collapsed around the end of the 19th century and that what is now Peace Cottage had been built on to one end to help shore up the remainder. It is not clear however what peace the name of the cottage is referring to because it was called that in the 1911 census, so may be the Boer War which ended in 1902, in which case the photograph is more likely to date to the turn of the century rather than the 1940s.

It would seem from early maps that the thatched double cottage which stood end on to the road to the left of the entrance had been extended before 1840 by the addition of a brick and tile single storey, returning along the road frontage. In 1941, that end was occupied by a Captain Baker who William Moore, in his memories, describes being arrested as a spy. The thatched cottage with its brick extension was destroyed in a fire in the early 1960s and replaced by a small bungalow, Halloween, which has recently been renovated and extended.

In the 1980s Bridge End Farm was owned by Mr and Mrs Parnell who lived in the main house, with their daughter, Jane occupying Peace Cottage with her two young sons.