The Beeches, Church Hill (formerly Grove Cottage)

At the time of the Enclosure Award in 1818 the house and the field between it and the hill fort was owned by Elizabeth Broadbank, perhaps a daughter or possibly sister of Thomas Broadbank who in about 1805 had sold Tasburgh Lodge, now Tasburgh Hall. Under that award she was granted ownership of the land which now forms the front garden of the house but which then was open common land. The Tithe Apportionment Award of 1840 confirms Jane Cooper as both the owner and occupier of the house. It shows that in addition to the field above the house, she also owned the field or meadow to the right of the ford, both of which she had let to a butcher, William Smith, presumably on which to fatten up his livestock. The census return of the following year gives further information about the occupants of the house which in addition to Jane, aged 65 and described as having independent means, included five other adults. Jane had inherited the property on the death of her husband Daniel in 1837, who shortly before his death was recorded as having bought the field or meadow from Philip Stannard of Old Hall Farm. He in turn had bought the field in 1822 following the death of John Ives of Tasburgh Hall to whom the meadow had been granted under the 1818 Enclosure Award.

Jane Cooper died in the summer of 1851 but a year or so earlier she had either sold off or leased the site of the Primitive Methodist Chapel which dates from 1850. Under the terms of her Will she left the property and meadow to her daughter, Maria Smith, the wife of James Smith of Eaton, Norwich but previously of Queens Terrace St. John's Wood, London, as an investment to let. The census, taken later that year, records that a local farmer William Smith, no relation, was the tenant and was being looked after by a housekeeper, and he was still there in 1861 with his 44 year-old wife, Harriett and George Smith, a 12 year old-son. As the 1851 census had recorded William Smith as unmarried it seems that when he married Harriett, she must have been a widow with a young son. In 1861 William Smith purchased the property and meadow from James and Maria for £150, and the property changed hands again in 1868 at the same price when it was bought by a farmer, Thomas Riseborough, from Flordon and the 1871 census reveals that in addition to the two fields owned with the house, he was also renting a further 30 acres. With him was his wife Hannah, and they employed a 16 year-old domestic servant Abigail Bullen and a 15 year old boy called James Duffield from Tharston to work on the farm, both of whom were also living in the house. Maps show that at some point between 1840 and 1882 the house was enlarged by the addition of the front half but whether that was by one of the above owners or the next owner isn't known.

In 1871 the property was bought for £195 by Edwin Henry Lammas, a tea dealer and travelling draper from Norwich. He arrived with his wife Hannah and five children, and the 1911 census records that he was still living there, aged 69, with his wife and one unmarried daughter. Mr Lammas died on 24th December 1916, just 10 days after his wife, and the property was then sold to Frederick John Punchard from Peasenhall in Suffolk, presumably for his own use and occupation. The next known owners, in 1939, were three retired farming brothers, William, Arthur and George Coe who all had been born at Woodbastick and farmed together at Great Plumstead. Also living with them was their sister, Alice Coe, who continued living there until her death in the mid-1970s. The house was then sold in 1976 to Bruce and Linda Bloomfield and was then bought by William (Bill) Rose and his wife before he sold it in 1997 to the current owners, Mr and Mrs Mills. Under their ownership the Primitive Methodist Chapel was extended and converted to residential use.