John Carrier of Martham (1748-1826)
John CARRIER was born 3rd May 1748 as the first child of John CARRIER & Mary, nee MALTON of Syderstone, Norfolk.
When he was 27, he married Elizabeth POLLARD by license on 8th May 1775 at St Mary the Virgin, Martham by which time he was already a farmer. John & Elizabeth had the following children:
- William CARRIER who was born in 1776 in Martham. He married Mary Porter at St Nicholas Church, Great Yarmouth on 16th October 1827. They lived at Rollesby where he died 1st October 1834.
- Elizabeth CARRIER who was born on 10th March 1780 in Martham. She married Robert PORTER on 16th October 1820 at St Mary the Virgin, Martham. It would be tempting to think that Mary and Robert Porter were related but I have not been able to prove or disprove it. Elizabeth died at Burgh St Margaret but was buried at St Mary the Virgin, Martham on 11th October 1853.
John had established himself as a farmer and land owner and in 1798 he was listed in the Martham Land Tax Redemption records as the owner of two parcels of land in Martham occupied by Charles Carrier (who was probably his brother). The payment for one was £8 and the other £3 10s 0d.
At the time of the 1807 Martham Inclosure Act John claimed ownership of a total of 22 acres, 1 rood & 2 perches of land being plot numbers 104a, 137, 157, 164, 168, 324, 325, & 327a as shown in the two maps below that were prepared by the General Commissions during the early part of the Inclosure process. This included land where he lived near the east side of Back Land (Bracey’s) pond called Carriers Farm (plot No164); ownership of two houses with shops, outhouses and gardens occupied by tenants in Black Street (plot Nos 324, 325 & 327a), Also, 17 acres, 2 roods & 5 perches of arable and pasture land that he held copyhold of the Manor of Martham (plots 104a,137, 157 & 168); plus another 2 acres, 3 roods & 2 perches of land and a double cottage that he owned freehold. All told it would be fair to describe him as a yeoman.
When the actual Inclosure Award was completed John was allotted two plots of land under 1812 Martham Inclosure Award as follows:-
“FIRST, one piece of land marked No24 containing by measure three acres and twenty-eight perches bounded by the public road secondly described towards the north; by land hereby allotted to William Wells towards the east; the private road sixthly described towards the south and by land belonging to the said Thomas Grove towards the west.”
“SECOND and one other piece of land marked No49 containing by measure three acres, one rood and twenty-eight perches bounded by and belonging to John Ensor towards the north; by an ancient lane towards the north-east; by land hereby allotted to John Pollard towards the south and land belonging to John Pollard and Thomas Lusher respectively towards the west.”
The two plots are shown on the map below. These two plots amounted to 6 acres, 2 roods and 16 perches so between 1807 and 1812 it seems John must have either sold some of the copyhold land he had claimed in 1807 or was able to buy it so that it became freehold. The freehold land he owned was not included in the 1812 Award.”
In a unique record John is listed in the title deeds of Loxwood Villa, Repps Road as a Yeoman owner of a meadow called Clamps Close that was just over one acre and is shown in the map below.
His tenure of Clamps Close was freehold and the deeds of Loxwood Villa include an Abstract of Title dated 1822 that confirms this situation. On 29th/30th November 1822 John sold Clamps Close to Mark Pratt, a glove maker, from Martham for £150. The land was later split and sold in a number of plots one of which had Loxwood Villa built on it. Later in life John & Elizabeth moved to Rollesby where she died in 1820 and he died in 1826. They were buried at St George’s Church at Rollesby.