The censuses give information about farmers and farming in Three Holes over the years. It is easy to find on databases now but when I started I had to get the microfilm and check it all by hand, which was hard work, but a bit more exciting than just looking it up on line. I put together the following from those.

Agricultural labourers

In 1851, most of the houses were occupied by agricultural labourers, including:

Mumberries Road:

  • William Dawson and Elizabeth and 3 children
  • Henry Dawson and Maria with children Robert and Eliza
  • Next door to John and Ellen Dawson and 2 children
  • John and Elizabeth Kemps from West Dereham
  • the Barnes family from Whittlesea
  • George and Susannah Thacker
  • John and Ann Basingham
  • John and Hannah Bell and their son James.

I couldn’t find Rallingham Hall or Rollingham Hall or Rolingham Hall was not listed as such in the census.

Three Holes village:

  • the Backett/Becketts, all born in Upwell. John and May had six sons, John, James, George, William, Matthew and Thomas
  • Robert Todd from Covehith in Suffolk with wife and family, who were all born in Upwell
  • William Parishes and his wife Ann came from Coln in Huntingdon. They had a young family, William aged seven, Mary L aged five and James aged three
  • Harriet Symons, aged 42 came from Thelnatham in Suffolk and had a lodger John Sharpon, aged 41 from Shouldham
  • William and Mary Oaks from Thorp in Norfolk
  • Matthew Mudd and his wife Margaret (who was born in Galway in Ireland). They had three daughters, Letticia, Susan and Margaret and a young son, John, aged 2
  • William Kemps from Dereham and his wife and family of 3 daughters
  • William Barnes from Whittlesea and his wife Susan from Longham, Norfolk and children Elizabeth, Cornelius and Daniel
  • Henry Brooks lived there with family and son James
  • Wiliam Dawson and Sarah, live with 4 children, and Elizabeth Allen the grandmother

Middle Drove:

Great Britain: Distribution of the Occupations of the People – Census of 1851. Scanned by The British Library.

  • John Bevar from Harpley and Rebecca from Harston in Cambs were with their lodger David Goodman.

And in Goosberry lane:

  • William and Sarah Bell with three daughters and George their baby son.
  • James Warby with wife Mary, with their two daughters and 6 sons.
  • They were next door to Murrell and Mary Warby, with 2 sons and a daughter
  • James and Mary Allen, and 3 daughters and 5 sons.
  • Henry and Anne Julian with their 16 year old daughter Ann.

 

Three Holes farmers in 1851

  • Abraham and Rebecca Means had a 14-acre farm, along Mumberries Drove, with their sons were Alfred, Nailor, Fredric and Abraham.
  • Women were just as capable then as now. Susanna Mudd was the head of her household. She was 72 and was a farmer of 45 acres, and was helped by her sons Josiah and John, daughter Emler Mudd and two labourers. They had two girls visiting from Upwell the night of the census, Elizabeth Harris aged 15, and Carriline Wright aged 25. Their servant was John Hills, aged 13. They were listed as Middle Drove, but this is now known as Mudd’s Drove after them.
  • Abraham Their near neighbours were John and Mary Means, who had 45 acres and employed one man. These were all born in Upwell.
  • William Rogers was a farmer of 73 acres with two labourers. He lived with wife Mary A, four daughters, and a young son Alfred.
  • William R Green aged 34 was born in Sutton, Cambridgeshire, and was a farmer of 102 acres with three labourers. They were Timothy Steward from Watsalborrough in Norfolk, Mary Balls, their dairymaid from Dasingham, and Mary Simmons the nursemaid who had been born in Upwell. Presumably, they were all needed for their seven children. (They are listed in the census between the Malt and Shovel and the Bridge Inn).

Living along Esquires Drove were:

  • Henry Green, farmed with 60 acres
  • John and Ann Green with 115 acres
  • Aaron and Elizabeth Pain with 80 acres
  • William Goulding, who lived with sons Marshal, Thomas and john, and their housekeeper Mary Miller, and farmed 55 acres.

Other farmers lived along Halfpenny Toll Road:

  • Thomas Uppindale who lived with his wife Ann and farmed 100 acres, and employed 3 labourere, and John Harris, listed as the son, who farmed 45 acres and had 2 labourers
  • John Watford and his wife Sarah who farmed 115 acres, and had 9 labourers and lived with 2 sons and 2 daughters
  • John Scot who farmed 11 acres with his wife Sarah, and 5 children