historical places

On 7th August: 1842 born to Sir Henry and Lady Farrington, a son Anthony Charles. The event was in Devon, but destiny decreed that Anthony would find his way to Diss and play a remarkable part in the life of Shelfanger. Records of 1811 established that he was a Doctor in Diss and wrote to the 'Diss Express' reassuring residents that the smallpox epidemic was only 'mild'. In 1878 he saw an advertisement in the 'Express' that Hill House, Shelfanger, was to let.

It was about seventy years ago when doors in a Shelfanger farmhouse started opening and slamming on their own, when a towel roller in the kitchen began spinning violently as if powered by an unseen hand, when ornaments in the parlour crashed to the floor as if hurled with a terrific force - and when some saw the ghostly figure of a woman appear, a woman who some years before had cut her throat and then drowned herself in a nearby pond.

Owing to the fact that the log books of Shelfanger School, now closed, are in the County Library and cannot be studied for 50 years, the more recent happenings in the school have to be gathered from those who personally remember them. We can, however, gain knowledge of its early days from records in the County Library.

Rectory Researched 

A little bit of research has been done into Shelfanger Rectory to try to find out something about your house. At the turn of the century Rev. W.R. Harrison lived in the Rectory and he was an extremely scholarly gent. He wrote a very detailed history of Shelfanger, which is very interesting but unfortunately he says very little about the house in which he lived. I have found a few snippets though: -