Catherine Irving Edit Hi Pete,
Don’t know whether you are still compiling your history of sport in Finningham? Just wanted to point out that quoits was a very popular pastime in Finningham and surrounding area for many, many years – most pubs had their own quoits pitch. The Railway Tavern (opp. old Finningham Station) still had a side playing in a local league in the early 1970s when I was a teenager – often used to walk down to watch of an evening. You can still see the location of the pitch today – a small strip of grass to the right hand side of the front garden.
Though called quoits, for those not familiar with it, the game consisted of throwing horse shoes at a metal post several yards down the pitch – very skilful. Can’t remember how many men (only!) made up a side (4?) but village pubs played against one another. The Four Horseshoes at Thornham also had a very lively skittles alley at this time ( my misspent youth!!) It was located in what was the skittles bar which is now a dining room at the far right hand end of the building. Women and men both played and the more the drink flowed the more competitive the night became!
Finningham also had a tennis club in the 1930s.
The two courts which it used were located in the grounds of Yew Tree House and Amberfield (then one house) in Church Lane. This would, I think, have been during the time that Lady Jean Rose owned the property (hence the tudor roses on the front gates). Rumour had it that the club stopped playing because the members became tired of retrieving tennis balls from the river running along the boundary of the grounds – though I’m sure they must have had a few ball boys to do the job! Reply
I am the son of Lady Jean Rose mentioned above. We did not move to Finningham until 1948. Yew Tree Cottage was owned by an old cousin of my father Miss Alice Rose. I put a note about it on the historical section. I would also like to upload some photos of our time if they would be of interest – let me know. Hugh Rose
I have been interested to read your website. I am researching my family history and my great aunt married Leonard Frere who I believe may have been the vicar of St Bartholomew’s Finningham from 1905. His first wife was Mary Janet Rose so possibly related to Lady Jean Rose who is mentioned in one of your posts. The 1911 census shows Leonard and Mary Janet Frere living at Yew Tree House.
If you have any information to confirm or deny this information I would be interested to hear from you.
I am considering re-locating to Finningham and are unsure , can anyone advise me of the village and its amenities, doctors , dentists, shops etc. Is it a nice village to move to.
Tony Edit Jane,
Thank your for your enquiry. Unfortunately, the village itself has little in the way of amenities (just a pub, which doesn’t serve food). However, there are two doctors’ practices in nearby villages and a dentist. There is a CoOp in Botesdale and Diss has a Tesco, Morrisons and Aldi. Bury St Edmunds is about 20 mins away and has virtually everything that you might need.
I hope this is of interest to you but should you require any further information, please ask. Reply
My sons have asked me (at the age of 86) to write a lifetime memoir for the family. One of my earlier memories dates to 1939 when I moved with my mother from our then home in Coventry to lodge at a house in Finningham. My father had been recalled early to the RAF and was stationed nearby. My mother, with me in tow, chose to become a “camp follower” and took rooms at a village house owned by a Mrs Lindley. As a small boy at the time my main memory is of streamlined trains rushing past the back garden ! War service eventually took my father to postings elsewhere, subsequently to the Middle East. His Suffolk posting must have been a mere bike-ride from Finningham. Can anybody help me identify it ?
Hello Maurice, sorry about the deIay. Thanks to a lot of help from others in the neighbourhood I can say with some confidence that the house you stayed in was Dove Cottage. It is still there, sandwiched between road and rail – and can be viewed on Google Earth. The RAF base your father biked to was probably RAF Great Ashfield, I believe it was called RAF Elmswell before the USAAF took it over in 1942. It is about 7 miles from Dove Cottage.
Your enquiry has generated a good deal of interest.