GRIGGS FARM HOUSE - BULMER STREET

Approaching Bulmer Street from the Gestingthorpe end, one of the first buildings you see on your left is the 17th Century Griggs Farmhouse, the lands were then farmed as part of Auberies estate. By the latter half of the 18th Century two farms, one north, the other south of The Street, were combined as Griggs and Swains owned by William Jennens of Suffolk. When he died in 1798, aged 98, he was reputed to have been the richest commoner in the country. His holdings close to two million pounds in value, were also Butlers, Black House, Jenkins, Kitchens and Tye Corner farms. Dickens’ novel “Bleak House” was said to have been based on the Jennens Case.
In the 19th Century William Bird farmed Griggs, then Charles Bird who farmed 280 acres with 12 men and 3 boys in 1871 and finally John Burlingham, a great supporter of the chapel. At the turn of century came W. S. Courtnell who farmed it together with Kitchens. Tom Rowe recalls that in 1910, before tractors were generally in use, the chassis of an old motor vehicle was adapted for pulling a self-binder. The barn (now Suffolk Hall), dating from the same period as the house, has been converted into a dwelling.

Opposite Griggs are five houses erected on what was once a meadow known as Stackyard pasture, part of Swains Farm. Swains Cottage, built about 1902, replaced three earlier cottages on the site. From 1937-51 the Walkers lived there, a show-business family; Mr. Walker was a musician and acrobat and Mrs. Walker a singer. The two daughters were acrobats and performed with a third person as “The Three Garcias”. They appeared at the Palladium and other leading theatres. At various times they appeared with many well-known acts and personalities such as The Crazy Gang and Gracie Fields. In 1947 they appeared in a Royal Command Performance. Recently a house (Fylok) and a bungalow in the Roman style (Oatlands) have been built in the grounds of Swains Cottage. St Andrew's Rise, the latest of Bulmer’s new housing developments, rises from here.
(The above is by courtesy of the publishers of "Bulmer Then & Now", which can be purchased by placing an order via 'Your Comments' on the left.)