Flowers

House. Late C18, raised into 3 storeys mid C20.
EXTERIOR: 3-window range. Timber doorcase
left of centre with bobbin decoration to jambs and frieze.
INTERIOR: opened into single retail area.

In 1845 this whole plot, from The King’s Arms and including the old Post Office was owned and occupied by John Jacob Clarke.

The way in which this property was organised is difficult to decide upon but the following seems to be mostly correct.

John Hook, who lived here from before 1861 to around 1891 had seemingly a rags to riches life.

His family had a bakery on Castleacre Street but left for London around 1841, leaving him behind to run the Swaffham shop as a boy of 15.

By 1851 he was earning enough to employ a servant and a journeyman baker.

He moved to Lynn Street during the 1850s, continuing as a baker until 1871 when he styled himself retired merchant.

The clue to this may be that in 1866 he married Ann Johnson, widow of William Johnson, merchant.

By 1881 he was living in Montpelier House on the Marketplace. When he died in 1900 he was worth almost £6000.

It would appear that in the same house lived two surgeons for a short time.

One was Charles Ferraby who moved to London Street and died there in 1856. The name of the second surgeon is indecipherable.

Susannah Lindsey lived here after the death of her husband Samuel Lindsey in 1877. She was no longer in Swaffham by 1901.

He was once a tea dealer and later moved to Swaffham to farm at Carol House.

In the 1980s the business here was Photohobby.

House, now 2 shops and office. Late C18,
converted late C20. Grade II listed

Nathaniel Carman, a blacksmith, was here or hereabouts in 1840 and appears to have been a tenant blacksmith in 1814, whether here or elsewhere in the town isn’t known.

He is in the 1830 and 1839 directories as being a blacksmith on Lynn Street and is in the 1841 census here.

He died in 1850 but his widow and sons continued the business until the 1860s.

By 1871 she lived at the house, no longer carried out the business and had a lodger instead. Mary died 1878.

Records of the Clarke shoemaking family began 1841 when William Clarke (1) and his son Johnson were shoemakers in the churchyard and son William (2) on London Street.

All three were in church Walk in 1851, the year that William (1) died.

Thomas Clarke (1791-1878) was another son of William (1). In 1841 he set up as a shoemaker here on Lynn Street and remained here until 1871.

He married Frances, daughter of his neighbour Nathaniel Carman in 1814.

They had a son William (3) in 1826 who had his own baking business next door or attached to his father’s.

Although he admits to being a farmer in 1851 by 1861 he appears to be working as a professional cook in Lancashire.

The shoemaking business continued past 1871 with Thomas’ brother (Thomas) Johnson continuing until 1891. He died in 1895.

Henry Medlock was a baker on Ash Close in 1881 before moving to Lynn Street before 1891. He retired in 1896 to Ash Close and died in 1916.

The 1901 census gives Charles Benn, 55, shoemaker, and his family as living here on Post Office Terrace but no information on him can be found.

In the 1980s the business here was Hobbys cards and toys.