Manor Farm Cottage

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Until about 150 years ago Manor Farm had belonged to the Lord of the Manor of Tasburgh but Manor Farm Cottage didn't. A plan prepared in 1772 clearly showed that what is now Manor Farm Cottage was part of the Rainthorpe estate, as it was at the time of the Enclosure Award in 1818 and the Tithe Apportionment Award of 1840 when it was a single house, let to a farmer, David Alexander. The 1851 census return records that Mr Alexander was farming 16 acres, and from the 1852 Auction particulars for the Rainthorpe estate it is clear that with the house, he was also renting the adjoining buildings, now Thornley Barn, the land behind down to the river and a further twelve acres fronting onto the eastern side of the Flordon Road either side of the river, now the site of The Willows and the Tas Lakes fishery. Those auction particulars also reveal that part of the house was being used as a general shop, perhaps being run by Mr Alexander's wife, Elizabeth, and that his rent was £15 a year.

Manor Farm Cottage along with two adjoining cottages formed Lot 2 which was purchased by a Mr Murton for £100, but was subsequently repurchased by the next owner of Rainthorpe, the Hon. Horace Walpole, possibly as early as 1861 because the census return that year shows that the property had been split into two cottages and that one half was occupied by William Clarke, a gentleman's servant who probably therefore was working for Horace Walpole at Rainthorpe Hall. The other half was home to Henry Allen, a widower, who was farming 26 acres, presumably in succession to Mr Alexander, and was employing one man and a boy. Ten years later, the left hand half had been let to George Rix, a bricklayer and possibly a son of John Rix, the tenant of Manor Farm, whilst the right hand half was occupied by an agricultural worker, William Risby and his family. Taken together these facts suggest that the two cottages probably formed part of the letting of Manor Farm and therefore the origin of the name of the property. William Risby, who had arrived in Tasburgh from Stowmarket more than ten years earlier, had married Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Richard Quantrill who lived in part of Orchard Cottage. Neither William nor Elizabeth could write as in 1865 they had "signed" the marriage register by putting a cross against their names, and although she was described as a spinster or unmarried, she already had a young son, John. However it seems that William wasn't the father because in the 1871 census John, aged 7, was recorded as "John Quantrill, wife's son", whereas their two other children were Risbys.

Following Horace Walpole's death in 1876, the Rainthorpe estate, including this double cottage, was again put up for sale by auction and was bought by Sir Charles Harvey but the change in ownership didn't result in a change of tenants, and William and Elizabeth had three more children there before she died in 1883. He continued living in the cottage along with three of his children, one of whom acted as housekeeper, until his death in 1907 aged 70, although there had by then been new occupants next door. The 1891 census names them as Thomas Watling, a 34 year old agricultural worker and his wife Ellen, a dressmaker but it seems they never had any children. Even if Mr Watling had originally been employed at Manor Farm, by 1921 he was working for John Harrison at Cottage Farm and he and his wife were still living in their half when the 1939 Registration was taken on the outbreak of WW2. Indeed they remained there for the rest of their lives, Thomas dying in 1944 and Ellen two years later.

Long before then Sir Charles Harvey had died and although the cottages had been listed as part of  Manor Farm in the subsequent sale of the Rainthorpe estate, they didn't find a buyer at the auction, and were later bought by the Hastings family along with the Hall and White Horse Farm. The right hand cottage was let to Park Hubbard Matthews, a carpenter and son of Albert Matthews who ran a builders business at Taas Ford, but since the death of Mr Risby in 1907 there had been at least two other families living in the property. The 1911 census records the occupants as being Charles Cushion with his wife Ann and two adult children, and in 1921 William Goose was living there with his wife Mary and their three children. Park Matthews and his wife Elsie were still in the cottage in 1939, and although he had served in WW1 as a Royal Army Service Corps driver, as had his brother Sydney whose name appears on the village War Memorial, he was too old to be called up for service in WW2.

In the 1970s Shirley Elding and her partner Andrew Tweeddale succeeded Mr and Mrs Green as tenants of the left hand cottage, then known as Manor Farm Cottage, and were married in 1978. The other half, then called Yew Tree Cottage was occupied by a Mr Sparks. When in 1986 Bridget Ramm from Orchard Cottage heard that Mr and Mrs Tweeddale were planning to move she asked George Hastings, who had by then inherited the Rainthorpe Estate on the death of his mother, whether she could take on the tenancy of Manor Farm Cottage. 

At the time, Yew Tree Cottage had been standing empty for some time because the Rainthorpe Estate had no money to pay for repairs or improvements, so Mr Hastings offered to let both cottages to Bridget at a concessionary rent on condition that the two cottages were made into a single habitable dwelling. The other condition he imposed was that the tenancy had to be in her sole name rather than jointly with her intended husband, Ian Hendrey. After plans had been drawn up and approved, the work was carried out in 1987 but not long afterwards the marriage came to an end and in 1990 Bridget then married David Greensitt. He worked at Duffields Mill in Newton Flotman and was instrumental in organising  cricket matches between Upper and Lower Tasburgh for several years, something that was briefly revived by Bridget following his death, aged just 60, in 2010 but by then the aging population of Lower Tasburgh was struggleing to raise a team.  Bridget and her family remained in the property and she worked at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital as a receptionist in the Accident and Emergency department, but in 2025 her father Dick Ramm's memory began to fail so he returned to Tasburgh to live with her.

Manor Farm Cottage was the last of the Rainthorpe properties to be sold and in 2015 it was included in a London auction of let properties.  At the time there was a rumour that the eventual  purchaser had sent an agent to view and report back, but not knowing the area the agent had confused  Manor Farm Cottage with Manor Farm. Whatever the truth the new owner took little interest in the property and failed to carry out repairs for which he was responsible until the local authority stepped in and ordered him to do so.