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History | Architecture | The Moat | Life Account - 1946
At Michaelmas 1946 Anthony Creasy, his wife and three daughters
Yvonne (15), Ann (12) and Carol (5) left The Firs at Cratfield
in Suffolk, an area where members of the Creasy family had farmed
for generations, and came to live at St. Peter’s Hall,
St. Peter South Elmham (previously farmed by Mr. Catling) where
they stayed until 1967.
Although an historic and impressive house, the Hall offered
little in the way of comfort and convenience. There was no electricity
(lighting was by Tilley lamps and candles which made ghostly
shadows in the oak-panelled bedrooms); no hot water (on wash-days
and bath-days water was pumped from the well into a large copper
in the scullery and a fire lit to heat the water which was then
pumped by hand to the bathroom upstairs); no modern cooker (baking
was done in a Dutch oven in the kitchen wall); no washing machine;
no central heating; and no flush toilets (there was a two-seater
earth closet in the garden, a chemical toilet indoors and chamber
pots under the beds!).
Two more children were born, Tony in 1947 and Sarah in 1949.
By this time a generator had been installed to provide electricity
(but breaking down whenever too many appliances were used at
once!); a solid-fuel Aga in the large farm kitchen provided
not only cooking facilities but warmth for the family as well
as for orphaned or weak piglets, kittens and chicks. When flush
toilets and hot water were installed, domestic life became just
a little easier.
What the house lacked in comfort, however, it made up for in
atmosphere. As children our imaginations were fired by tales
told of a secret passageway leading from the front porch, under
the moat, to St. Peter’s Church. The tunnel had reputedly
been used by the Catholic Tasburgh family so they could continue
to worship during the reign of King Henry VIII. Many hours were
spent digging holes to try and find the tunnel and exploring
the house for secret panels which might slide back to reveal
the entrance. And was it our imagination or were there really
ghostly presences in the bedroom and landing over the Great
Hall and in the little chapel over the front porch? No ghosts
were seen but we all experienced the feeling that something
was there!
The moat provided year-round entertainment for the children
- canoeing and paddling in summer, skating in winter. Tony,
who had two old Austin cars, even practised his skidding techniques
on the moat during the big freeze-up of 1962/63 (see the photograph
in the corridor of the toilet block). During the other bad winter
of 1947 the Hall was cut off for seven days. Yvonne and Ann
remember walking to Bungay for shopping with drifts hedge-high.
Carol remembers the men making a snow plough to which Jack,
the Suffolk Punch, was hitched to cut a way out of the front
drive-way. Sarah remembers fire-engines trying to save an ancient
oak tree (which used to stand near the moat) from burning down
when she emptied hot ash from the tree house stove down its
hollow centre. We all remember the excitement of the local Waveney
Valley Harriers’ point-to-point races being held on the
farm (the course and jumps were built by Mr. Read of Bungay
and his son John) with Mother providing a buffet lunch for organisers
and friends and race-horses being stabled in the farm buildings.
To begin with, the 227 acre farm was mixed, mainly arable, but
with a small herd of Friesian cows (hand-milked), as well as
beef cattle, three heavy horses, pigs, ducks, geese and chickens.
There were several acres of pasture including the land either
side of the main driveway. These, together with a small meadow
in front of the church, were ancient pastures with an abundance
of wild herbs and flowers - bee orchids, lady’s smock,
ox-eye daisies, vetch, self-heal, birdsfoot-trefoil, harebells,
clovers, buttercups, daisies, maidens’ hair grass, to name
a few.
Anthony enjoyed gathering the large field mushrooms which he
used to bake in a little milk - the rest of the family preferred
them fried in butter! The ditches were lined with primroses,
cowslips and wild violets in Spring, wild strawberries in Summer
and mulberries in Autumn. House cows were kept on the Church
Meadow as they then gave extra rich milk. The thick yellow cream
was skimmed off to make butter - churned by hand and patted
into blocks with wooden butter pats - for the house. Honey-bees
were kept in the orchards where many varieties of apples were
grown. There was a large vegetable garden to the side of the
house. Anthony kept a golden Labrador as a gun dog and bagged
pheasants, partridges and wild duck. Sometimes there were shooting
parties of other farmers and friends. Game was hung in the old
dairy (at the moat end of the house) and Eileen had the job
of plucking and preparing the birds for the table. One year
a dog killed or maimed nearly all the geese being reared for
Christmas and left their bodies strewn over the meadow in front
of the house - 44 geese were lost in all and the police were
called in to find the culprit.
In 1946 there were three farm-hands, Mr. Alfonso Howlett and
his son Basil, and Mr. Sid Reynolds who looked after the horses
- two Suffolk Punches Jack and Sprite, one other mare, Smart
and later, Carol’s pony, Patsy. Jack and Smart did most
of the work as Sprite was a bit flighty and had once bolted
with a tumbril in tow! The horses responded to the instructions
cubby (left), wheesh (right), hu-back (backwards) and goo-orn
(forwards). They were shod at the blacksmith’s forge in
the neighbouring village of St. Margaret South Elmham. When
tractors took over the work of the horses, Mr. Reynolds left
and Alfonso and Basil managed the work with extra help hired
in at harvest-time. Alfonso loved the animals and always pointed
out newborn calves, piglets, kittens, chicks, ducklings etc
and made sure the half-wild farm cats had their share at milking
time. He lovingly nursed back to health our little Cairn Terrier,
Tatie Bogle, who was nearly killed when the Waveney Valley Harriers’
hounds mistook him for a hare. Anthony also loved the animals
and used to scratch the pigs’ backs with his walking stick
and tickle the cats under their chins! The farm buildings (now
the brewery) housed horses, pigs and cattle.
The corn was cut by horse-drawn reaper. Then the sheaves were
stooked in the fields before being loaded on to wagons and carted
to the stack-yard or bleach as it was known - presumably where
the linen used to be put to bleach in the sun - opposite the
barn. Another character, Tinny Day, came with his huge steam-engines
to thresh the grain and stack the straw. Tinny Day also used
steam engines to mole-drain the fields and to dredge the moat
when eels were found in the mud. Later, in the late 1950’s,
early 1960’s the farm became almost entirely arable. Pasture-land
was ploughed up and Mr Basey-Fisher was contracted in with his
combine-harvester to harvest the crops. Crops grown were wheat,
barley, oats, sugar-beet, peas, linseed and kale. After the
family left in 1967, the landscape was changed even further
with hedges and trees cut down and ditches filled in to make
way for the huge machines which took over the work of several
men.
Anthony passed away in 1977. Eileen is now 88 years old and
lives in Norwich. Their five children, nine grandchildren and
three great grandchildren are living in different parts of the
country and abroad but enjoy getting together and exchanging
stories of the time as the farm.
Notes by Carol and Sarah, 28 November 1996
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