Blackthorn Cottage, Somerton Road, Martham
Blackthorn Cottage can be found with its frontage directly on Somerton Road facing southeast over open fields. It is believed to date from the very early 19th century. It existed in 1812 and can be seen on the Martham Inclosure Award map.
The Cottage was not named in the 1842 Tithe Award but can been identified from the Award map as plot No8 which was owned by Thomas Sutfield Rising (1774-1855). The property on the plot is believed to be the same one as now but at that time was a semi-detached pair of cottages.
It is believed that Tom Nichols lived in one of the cottages in the 1930’s and he farmed land opposite the house. He came from a farming family and his father had also farmed at Moregrove when Tom was a baby.
In 1939 one of the pair of cottages was occupied by Ellen Elizabeth Howes who was a retired single lady.
Up until the late 1960’s the property still had many of its original features but at around that time suffered in a large fire after being hit by lightning resulting in the loss of the whole roof leading to extensive damage. It may have been after this that it was converted into one home but sadly most of the original features were lost and today it is quite modern inside with styles that hint of the past.
The major fire with tender EVF744C attending in the late 1960’s.
Photo courtesy of IMS Vintage Photos.
