White Cottage, Saxlingham Lane

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With its two front doors, it is clear that this was originally a double cottage which, according to the English Heritage listed buildings index, dates from the early 1700s. It was first shown on a map of the Rainthorpe Estate prepared in 1772 which is held in the Norfolk Record Office, although it can't be known for sure whether that means it was then part of the estate because the map shows all the houses in Saxlingham Lane, some of which definitely were not owned by Rainthorpe. What is known for sure is that by the time of the Enclosure Award in 1818 it was owned by John Gay of Rainthorpe Hall, who was succeeded by his daughter, Mary Girdlestone, on his death in 1824. The Tithe Apportionment Award of 1840 confirms her as being the owner, and that it was let as part of White Horse Farm. The 1841 census records the first known occupants as John Potter, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Mary living in one half and Henry Allen, a bricklayer, in the other with his wife Lydia. By the time of the next census in 1851, William Quantrill, another agricultural labourer, and his wife Ann had replaced John Potter, and Henry Allen was described as a master bricklayer employing one man.

The following year, Mary Girdlestone put the Rainthorpe Estate up for auction, with White Cottage being included as part of Lot 2, along with Manor Farm Cottage and an adjoining cottage since demolished, which was sold for £100 to a Mr Murton for all three. The auction particulars show the rent paid by Mr Quantrill and Mr Allen as being £5 a year each. By 1861 William Quantrill had been succeeded by his son John, and Henry Allen was still living in the other half. It is not known exactly when the property was repurchased for Rainthorpe by The Hon. Frederick Walpole MP but after his death, it was included in the auction sale of the Rainthorpe estate by his executors in 1878, when it was bought by Sir Charles Harvey, although the transfer was taken in the names of the trustees of a settlement connected to the Will of his grandfather, Major General Sir Robert Harvey, in which he had a life interest. It was only after the Settled Land Act 1925 came into effect that the trustees transferred White Cottage and the other properties they had acquired in 1878 into the name of Sir Charles Harvey, as tenant for life, by a Vesting Deed dated 20th March 1926.

Information from the census returns shows that one half of White Cottage comprised 3 rooms and the other 4 rooms. There would have been no inside lavatory and water would have come from the well which would have also served the cottages on either side. One occupant from before 1881 until after 1901 was James Harrowin, another farm worker, and his family. The 1881 census mentions a daughter, Elizabeth aged 2, but ten years later she wasn't listed as part of the family and as there is no local record of her death, perhaps she had entered service somewhere aged just 12. Following the death of Sir Charles Harvey in 1928, his son Oliver Charles Harvey inherited the Rainthorpe Estate, and the following year it was offered for sale by auction, with White Cottage being Lot 8 which was bought, together with other Lots, by Fred Fisher, a farmer and builder from Monks Farm, Newton Flotman. The auction particulars named Henry John Stimpson and Charles Harris as the tenants. In 1932 however Mr Fisher was declared bankrupt and the two cottages were purchased for £80 by Mr Stimpson, a retired railway worker, who continued living there and letting the other half until his death in 1949. His executor sold the two cottages in 1950 for £250 to the tenant of the other half, Herbert Thomas Riches, who remained in the left hand end of the house until his death in 1973, with the right hand end let to Charlie King. The property then passed to his widow Emily May Riches, who was known in the village as Queenie. After Charlie King left, Queenie's sister, Eve, and husband moved into the right hand end with their daughter, Joan Marjorie Griffiths, who inherited the house when her aunt died in 1980.

For a while, Joan Griffiths shared the house with her partner Russell Harvey, a builder, who made the two cottages into one and added an extension onto the back of the property for Joan Griffiths' mother but when he left her, he insisted that he should be paid for all the work he had carried out! After her mother died, Joan Griffiths sold White Cottage in 2001 to Julie Lawrence and Hugh O'Neil, who as part of their work on the house had the roof strengthened and rethatched, and also built the garage and workshop. Twenty years later the property was bought by Paul and Tara Banks, who had moved from from Hertfordshire.