WHITES
HOMERSFIELD, a pleasant village, on the south bank of the river Waveney, 5 miles S.W. of Bungay, and 3.5 miles E.N.E. of Harleston, has in its parish 291 souls, and 981 acres of land. Wm. Adair, Esq., is lord of the manor, owner of most of the soil, and patron of the rectory, valued in K.B. at £5. 6s. 8d., and in 1835 at £360, with that of Southelmham St.Cross annexed to it. The Rev. Courtenay Boyle Bruce is the incumbent. The tithes of Homersfield have been commuted for £143, and those of St. Cross for £220. 1Os. per annum. The Church (St. Marv) is a small fabric, with a tower and three bells. A market and fair here were granted to the Bishop of Norwich, in the second of Henry III., but they were obsolete several centuries ago. The Poor's Land, 2.5A,was given at an early period by Sir Nicholas Howe, and is let for £2.1Os. per annum. The small manor of Lymborn, in Homersfield, was held by the nuns of Bungay,and was granted by Henry VIII. to the Duke of Norfolk, and by Edward VI.to John and Thomas Wright. Sir B.Gaudy died seized of it in 1569.
Directory:- Samuel Bailey and Geo. Borrett, shoemakers.; Horace Beaumont and Edward B. Marsh, farmers; Eliz. Church, vict. Swan; Joseph King, grocer and draper; and Thomas Smith, parish clerk.
KELLYS
HOMERSFIELD (or St. Mary South Elmham) is a parish and village on the south bank of the Waveney, over which is an iron bridge of a single span of 48 feet, erected by Lord Waveney in 1870; it has a station on the Waveney Valley branch of the London and North Eastern railway to Bungay and Beccles, and is 3.5 miles south-east from Harleston and 5 south-west from Bungay,in the Lowestoft division of the county, Bungay petty sessional division, Wangford hundred and union, Harleston county court district, rural deanery of South Elmham, archdeaconry of Suffolk and diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich. The church of St. Mary is a sma11 building of flint in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 3 bells: it was repaired in 1865 and further restored in 1890, when a new organ was erected: there are about 150 sittings. The register dates from the year 1558. Thee living is a rectory, consolidated with that of South Elmham St. George, joint net yearly value £344, with 39 acres of glebe, in the gift of Sir Robert S. Adair and held since 1927 by the Rev. Peveril Hayes Turnbull B.A. of Queens’ College Cambridge, hon. C.F. who resides at South Elmham St. Cross. The poor’s land of 3 acres,given by Sir Nicholas Howe, is now let for £6 yearly, which sum is annually distributed amongst the poor by the churchwardens. Sir Robert S. Adair bart. J.P. is lord of the manor; the farmers own most of the land. The soil is clay, gravel and loam, with a subsoil of clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, turnips and pasture. The area is 1,005 acres of land and inland water; the population in 1921 was 143 in the civil and 329 in the ecclesiastical parish.
Parish Clerk, Alfred Mills.
Post Office. Letters from Harleston, Norfolk, which is the nearest M.O. & T. office
Homersfield Railway Station (L. & N. E.)
Baird-Douglas Capt. Donald, Mill House
Greswolde-Williams Mrs. Sunnyside, (postal address, Flixton, Bungay)
Yarham Robert, Waveney house
Commercial
Marked thus* farm 150 acres or over.
Black Swan Hotel (Edgar H.T. Howard, propr)
Carter Frank Ockford, farm bailiff to sir Robert S. Adair, Home farm (Letters, Flixton, Bungay)
Debenham Ernest Wilfred, farmer, Downs farm
Elsey Harry, shopkeeper. Post office
Everett Albert E. clerk of works to Flixton estate
Gowing Arthur, market gardener
Newham Ernest,farmer, Valley farm
Smith Robert James, miller (water), Limbourne mills
Tibbenham Walt.L.farmer, Heath farm
Dutts
Homersfield is a small village on the S. bank of the Waveney and the high road between Bungay and Harleston. It has a small church, in which the only things to be noted are a double E.E. piscina and a Norm. font.