The Day Family
Here lies the Daye that darkness could not blind…” is the beginning of a memorial inscription to John Daye, the famous printer (he printed Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and was one of the first English music printers). He was born in Dunwich in 1522 and died on his way to Little Bradley in 1584. His […]
The Rowlinson Family
John Rowlinson, grandfather of Jack Rowlinson who lives with his wife Doris at “Driftside”, took over the “Cock Inn” in 1912. The “Cock” then remained with a succession of Rowlinsons until 1971. John was succeeded by his brother (Jack’s Uncle Orris), then by Jack’s father John in 1922 whose eldest son Sydney followed him from […]
The Smith and Eley Families
The Smith Family One of the families known to have been in Little Thurlow for almost 200 years is the Smiths, and although the Smith name itself can no longer be found direct descendants still live in the village. Joseph Smith and his wife Elizabeth were both born in 1802 and were married in 1826. […]
Dame Elisabeth and the Frinks
Not many English villages can boast association with a world-renowned artist; Little Thurlow can, in Dame Elisabeth Frink. The Frinks, of Dutch extraction with American and Canadian associations, were long-established and well-respected in the village, with army officers and artistic talent on both sides of the family. Captain Frederick Frink, a former Cambridge rugby blue […]
The Thurlow Hunt
There are few details of the early roots of hunting around Thurlow. The area was probably part of the King’s Forest and subject to the Forest Laws first introduced by Canute and greatly extended by the Norman kings from William I onwards. One of the earliest references to hunting was in the reign of Edward […]
Head Keeper on the Thurlow Estate
The shooting season for game always ends on 1 February and that is in a sense the start of the gamekeeper’s new year. He has until the next autumn to manage the rearing of the new generation of pheasants and partridges and replenish the stocks for the next season. The first half of February is […]
Head Forester for Thurlow Woodlands
I came to Thurlow as Head Forester in February 1980, succeeding Mr Archer who had been in the post for 25 years and still lives in Great Thurlow. Work is carried out by a team of five full-time employees who deal with timber extraction, hedge cutting, planting, general maintenance and sawmilling. We also employ subcontractors […]
Land Use and Conservation
The twentieth century has seen huge changes in farming practices and therefore in land management. In the 1920s, when farming was in the doldrums and farmers had to scrape and save every penny they could, many hedges were left untrimmed, fields became dirty with weeds and brambles, cropping was largely with spring-sown crops and stubble […]
Weather
These notes draw on the Suffolk Records Office data for earlier times and my own observations for the later years. Just over 100 years ago, in fact on February 10th 1895, a gardener at Little Thurlow Hall noted the lowest temperature ever recorded in Suffolk: it was -1 °F (-18.3 °C), and there were 46 […]
Natural History
Thurlow enjoys a very diverse and interesting wildlife, mainly because of the varied habitats the two villages offer. I deal here with both Thurlows together, since from the point of view of the wildlife (as opposed to the parishioners) the human boundaries are quite arbitrary and, indeed, invisible. The dominant natural feature is, of course, […]