White’s 1874 Directory
Much of the wording is similar or identical to the 1855 edition, but the church in particular has had a great transformation, and there is now a new National School. The population is about the same.
ELMSWELL is a neat village, pleasantly situated, l½ miles N. of Woolpit, six miles N.W. of Stowmarket, and nine miles E. of Bury St. Edmunds. It is in Stow Union and Stowmarket County Court district, and has in its parish 764 persons, and 2066 acres of land. It has a station on the Bury Branch of the Great Eastern. Railway. The manor was given by King Edward to Bury Abbey, and was one of the country seats of the abbot. It was granted in the 8th of James I. to Robert Gardiner, and afterwards passed to the Chapmans and Giffords. The late Miss Gifford was lady of the manor, of which Acton Tindal, Esq., of Aylesbury, is now lord. Elmswell Hall estate, consisting of 340 acres, was purchased in 1873 by Ireland William Hewes Graham, Esq., of Lord William Seymour, for £14,500. The other chief owners of the parish are Lord Thurlow, John and George Lawton, Esqrs., Rev. H. C. Long, Gregory Sparke, Esq., Mr. William Lord, Mr. Charles Robinson, and a few others.
THE CHURCH (St. John), consisting of nave, aisles, chancel, and a fine tower containing five bells, stands on a commanding eminence. It was thoroughly restored, and a new north aisle waa built in 1872, at an expense of about £1500, raised by subscriptions and by local efforts. The south aisle was rebuilt in 1862, at a cost of about £500, defrayed by rate and subscription. The chancel was beautified in 1864, solely at the expense of the Rev. W. H. C. Luke, the present rector. The tower was repaired by Mrs. Blakely, in memory of her first husband, Captain Long. The east window, which is of stained glass, was inserted by Mrs. Connell, an aunt of the rector’s, to the memory of several deceased members of her family. In the church is a good organ, presented by the rector in 1864, and in the south aisle a carved oak screen in a tolerable state of preservation. There is a matrix of a fine floriated brass cross to a former rector in the south chantry. It contains an elegant mural monument in memory of Sir Robert Gardiner, Kt., who was Chief Justice of Ireland 18 years, and died in 1619, aged 80. The figure of Sir Robert, nearly as large as life, and well executed, is in a recumbent posture, and his son is represented as kneeling at his feet. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £11. 7s. Id., has now a yearly rent-charge of about £600, awarded in lieu of tithes, in 1848. W. Luke, Esq., is patron, and the Rev. W. H. C. Luke, M.A., is the rector, and has about 48 acres of glebe land, and a good residence, built in 1864.
THE NATIONAL SCHOOL for boys and, girls was erected in 1866, by Mr. Alfred Andrews, of Bury St. Edmunds, at an outlay of about £500. Here is a WESLEYAN CHAPEL, built in 1818, in connection with which is a Sunday school.
The account of the almshouses is unchanged from 1855, other than the yield from the Coombs property has gone up to £26.
POST Office at Mr. Arthur Edwards’. Letters arrive at 6 a.m. from, and are despatched at 6.45 p.m. to Bury St. Edmund’s, but Woolpit is the nearest Money Order and Telegraph Office.
CARRIER—R. Adams, to Bury, Wed.
| Adams, Robert | beerhouse & carrier | Hood, John | boot and shoe maker | |
| Adison, John | farmer | Lawton, Mr John | ||
| Atkins, Robert | boot and shoe maker | Lord, William | farmer; and Ashfield | |
| Baker, Mrs Eleanor | farmer and victualler Railway Tavern | Luke, Rev. William Henry Colbeck, M.A. rector | Rectory | |
| Baker, Leonard | pork butcher | Lusher, John | farmer | |
| Barker, Frederick | farmer Eastwood | Manning, William | wheelwright | |
| Barrell, James | farmer | Mathews, Cornelius Flower | grocer and draper | |
| Birkett, John Bescoby | station master | Moy, Thomas | coal and iron merchant h Colchester | |
| Borley, George | farmer | Mulley, Benjamin | bricklayer | |
| Bull, David | tailor | Mulley, George | baker | |
| Catchpole, Mrs Elizabeth | Newson, John Henry | maltster (Cocks & N.); h Woolpit | ||
| Cocks, John Henry | (C. & Newson); h Woolpit | Redit, Walter | blacksmith | |
| Cooks & Newson | corn, seed, coal and manure merchants and maltsters | Rednall, Ephraim | wheelwright and carpenter | |
| Corner, Mrs Jemima | horse letter and victualler Fox | Region, John | farm bailiff | |
| Corner, Alfd. Chas. | Corn & coal mert | Robinson, Charles | farmer | |
| Cullum, Samuel | maltster | Robinson, George | pork butcher | |
| Durrant, Robt. | manure mkr. & beerhs | Roe, Mrs Maria | ||
| Durrant, Robert | jun. saddler | Salmon, Mr James | ||
| Edwards, Arthur | grocer, provision dealer and postmaster | Smith, Samuel | victualler Red Lion, Commercial Hotel | |
| Ellison, Thomas | pork butcher | Spencer, Mrs Harriet | Wechselheim | |
| Fenton, Zachariah | market gardener | Syer, Isaac | manager | |
| Fonfar, Miss Emma | Natl. schlmstrs | Warren, Nathan | blacksmith | |
| Frost, James | harness mkr. & saddler | Woods, Walter | builder | |
| Goddard, John | farmer ; and Norton | Wretham, John | farmer | |
| Goldsmith, John | farmer | Wright, David | flour dealer | |
| Graham, Mr Ireland | Wright, George and John | brickmakers and farmers | ||
| Graham, Ireland William Hewes | farmer Elmswell hall | Wright, Mrs Hannah | agent Rose cottage | |
| Hewitt, W. E. | timber merchant; and Bury and Stowmarket | Wright, Mrs Sabina | bdg. & day schl |