Hoe and Worthing Archive: The Chestnuts 

 

The Chestnuts may have formerly been a pub, the Chequer. This map of 1773 shows a chequered sign and the pub was offered for sale in 1794, part of the holdings of St Martins brewery, Norwich. On the map, plot 31 is called 'Checker Garden', part of the Hoe estate of Thomas Grounds. [Courtesy of Norfolk Record Office MS 4532] The Chestnuts hidden behind spring foliage. A scarecrow is guarding the vegetable garden. 1950s? Norman and Eve Abbott lived at the Chestnuts (known as 'The Nuts' by the family) for over fifty years. Norman was a commercial traveller selling feed for farm stock. He was also a very enthusiastic amateur actor.     Norman's dog got him into trouble in 1946.     October 1973.     In 1978 Norman had a role in Graham Baker's film     Leaving Lily, a WWI drama filmed partly in Hoe, a copy     of which is kept in the Archive. Hoe Hall was let to two families in the 1950s, the Standleys and the Gowings. Norman and Eve's daughter Anne was friends with the tenants. David Standley and Anne Abbott with Jane Gowing (in front). Michael Sebastian Tyler Whittle, author and school master, arriving to tutor Anne for her English School Certificate. Anne in the Chestnuts garden, late 1950s.    Anne's brother Richard was awarded     the MBE in 1977. Eve Abbott standing in the doorway of The Chestnuts. The East Anglian Film Archive has a short Anglia Television programme about the East Anglian Regiment in Berlin in 1961 which features Lieutenant Richard Abbott. His parents also appear in the film, Eve at home and Norman on Dereham livestock market. Alice Gow of Manor Farm has a 'walk-on' part. The film can be viewed at: https://eafa.org.uk/work/?id=1083533