H&W1

Hoe Lodge on the map dated 1772 of the estate of William Helwys. He was a member of a prominent Norwich family that had provided the City with mayors in 1683, 1684 and 1713. At a later date the estate passed to the Dean & Chapter of Norwich Cathedral. Perhaps it was a bequest.

Helwys estate
map

The extent of the farming estate is shown overlaid on the map. It totalled just over 324 acres (131 hectares). It includes small narrow strips in the few remaining open fields still unenclosed.

[Courtesy of Norfolk Record Office CHC 11901]

lodge inclosure

Hoe Lodge on the Inclosure map of 1811, when it belonged to the Dean & Chapter of Norwich cathedral. One of the outbuildings is marked as a 'malt office', a term used for a maltings, presumably producing malt for brewing on the farm. 'Moat Meadow', the field outlined in pink, belonged to Sir John Lombe but was exchanged in the Inclosure to the Dean & Chapter, consolidating their estate.

[Courtesy of Norfolk Record Office C/Sca/2/243]

   On the railway plan of 1845 the Lodge
   is called Old Malthouse Farm.

    [Courtesy of Norfolk Record Office C/Scf 1/244]

Mr Waters' house

A sale plan of 1853 shows the house and farm buildings captioned as 'Mr Waters's House', etc. Waters added the land and three pairs of cottages being auctioned to his estate, .

Waters's note

Bidding against Waters were Girling, Harrold and Grounds (of Hoe Hall). The purchase price was £660.0.0.

[Courtesy of Norfolk Record Office BR 379/Hood, Vores & Allwood, 14/03/1980/Box 39]

plan

Hoe Lodge was for sale in July 1890 following the death of Azariah Waters, who had farmed there since the 1850s. The sale plan shows the house, in red, with the farm buildings around it, and the railway close by. The bridge built to serve the fields on the opposite side of the track has recently been demolished for safety reasons following the re-opening on the line as a heritage railway. (North to the right.)

purchase

John Hotblack JP, Mayor of Norwich in 1884, bought the estate for £7250.

[Courtesy of Norfolk Record Office BR 379/Hood, Vores & Allwood, 14/03/1980/Box 39]

Thatching a stack at Hoe Lodge farm. Early 1920s. The man on the ground is Walter Herbert Wicks and the thatcher is his father, Herbert Lance Wicks.

Herbert Lance Wicks photographed in 1903 by Cave of Dereham. The picture was almost certainly intended as a portrait of the horse! Herbert worked at Hoe Lodge and at Quebec Hall farm and the location of this photograph is not known.

The ’thirties were a bad time for agriculture. In July 1937
Hoe Lodge failed to sell.

Threshing at Hoe Lodge, 1946. Second from the left may be Hubert Grout and top right is William Lown, farm steward at Manor Farm, Hoe. The men are probably from all the local farms. Fred Dann provided the threshing tackle.

    Mr and Mrs Young came from Scotland to buy Hoe
    Lodge. Their Ayrshire cattle came by train to
    Dereham station and were walked up Cemetery Road to
    the farm. This report is from 1950.

Mr and Mrs Young brought up five daughters here.

Mr and Mrs Young with their daughter Agnes.

Hoe Lodge 1960s (?)
Agnes Young became a teacher. On the back of this aerial view of the farm she has written:
On the extreme left is the cowshed [1]
Across the yard from the cowshed the calves' boxes, potato house and garage [2].
In the centre is the house [3]. My bedroom is the right-hand upstairs bay window.
Then a few calves' boxes [4].
Cartshed [5] on the left of the road and straight across from that, the stable [6] in which Mummy keeps the chickens.
The rest is just yards and in the middle, the barn [7].
Agnes adds for her friend 'If you look carefully you can see I have numbered the places on the photograph - hold it slantwise.' And, indeed, on the original photograph are little numbers pressed into the paper with a pencil.

Hoe and Worthing Archive: Hoe Lodge