Langham Hall

The Hall was designed by Rev. Stephen Frost Rippingall and built in 1819 for his father, Thomas Rippingall. When Thomas died in 1834 his only surviving son, Stephen, came to live there. He had been a curate at Runton; he married the daughter of the rector and they had twelve children. In 1856 the house was occupied by Charles Rippingall, who then became the Lord of the Manor.

Stephen Frost Rippingall died in 1858, whereupon the Hall and its estate passed to his son William. He farmed there until his death in 1880, when it was bequeathed to his eldest surviving daughter, Horatia. As Lady of the Manor she lived there with her sisters, active benefactresses in the village.

In 1910 she sold the Hall to Carlos E Ryder. In 1916 he bought the Manor House at Binham and his son, Frederick Budd Ryder, took up residence.

In the Second World War the Hall was requisitioned by the RAF as a Casualty Reception Station: some of the less reverent and more active patients amused themselves by shooting at the church clock.

The Orangery

Since then there has been a succession of owners, including Mr M H Armistead, headmaster of a private school in Walsingham: he sold the Hall to Mr R M Peel in 1974 for approximately £55,000. The last-but-one owner was Mr Tony Burlingham, the proprietor of MJB Hotels.

This review seems fairly typical for an MJB hotel. Mr Burlingham himself has also been in the news now and then. The website for ‘MJB Langham Hall Apartments’ is still up and tells us that the ‘3-star Langham Hall Langham lies approximately 2.4 miles away from Blakeney Conservation Duck Pond Animal Park’.

The Hall was recently on the market for £1.95 million and has been purchased by the Cutmore-Scott family to incorporate with their adjoining hotel, The Harper. At present they are refurbishing – or should one say rescuing? – the old girl. There is a great deal to be done to bring her up to standard, but in time she will once again be an asset the village can be proud of.

The North Street entrance

The Langham Hall barns

Beginning in 1722, the proprietor of Langham Hall Farm erected a range of flint-and-brick barns in North Street. The largest of these was called the Great Barn; other structures, including a nineteenth-century cart-shed, were added later. Not much more seems to be known about these: if anyone has any information or anecdotes to share, please leave a comment. As farm buildings they remained in use until the seventies.

By 1979, though, they had become redundant and the site was sold to the newly established Langham Glass.

Paul Miller had learned his trade from leading European glassmakers at King’s Lynn Glass, and aged only 21 became a Master Glassmaker. Subsequently Wedgwood bought King’s Lynn Glass from its founder, Ronnie Stennet-Wilson, and Mr Miller continued working there, creating many of the unusual glass animals and paperweights that are so collectible today.

A Langham Glass badger

He and his wife Sue wanted one day to set up their own glassworks. They proposed not only to make crystal of the highest quality but also to invite members of the public to watch glassmakers at work. Because of its size, the Great Barn made an ideal venue, and its height allowed a steel gallery to be installed. From this visitors could look down on the various processes, including the fascinating techniques of the glassblower.

Langham Glass became a very popular tourist attraction, with many thousands of visitors a year, so popular indeed that by 2005 it had outgrown its premises. It moved first to Tattersett Business Park, and in 2013 to its present home in Fakenham.

Langham Glass at Tattersett – image credit: Stacey Harris; licence

Once the Millers had decided to leave the village the question arose: what was to be done with the Great Barn and its attendant buildings?

In May 2006 planning permission was granted for a £7m project (pdf) to build 25 houses on the site; the Great Barn was to be converted into four individual dwellings. The developer was Avada Langham Ltd, a sister company of Avada Country Homes. Permission was dependent on providing also a boutique (i.e. small and luxurious) hotel on the site, this being insisted on by NNDC as part of its policy to encourage tourism and create employment: the hotel was predicted to generate 40 to 50 jobs in the local economy, 15-20 of them in the hotel itself. Avada Langham Ltd was to contribute £500,000 towards affordable housing in the Langham area and £58,000 to Langham Village School.

It was envisaged at the start that the majority of the houses would become holiday homes; the linked pdf file above also explains the mooted management relationship between the owners and the hotel.

There was much opposition in the village. One person even pursued a judicial review but withdrew just days before the case reached the High Court.

The 2008 financial crash and subsequent recession did not exactly help things along either, and work did not start until June 2014. Parish Council chairman Dave Curtis said, ‘There has been a range of opinions on the Parish Council about this development over the years but, personally, I have always been supportive of it as it will bring jobs and a new amenity to the village.’

Parish Council vice-chairman John Hope said, ‘I still feel this is a very large development in a very small village. It has been approved, so we now have to accept it. I hope most of the jobs promised are full-time jobs because that is the only benefit Langham will get from this, as far as I’m concerned.’

Given the proximity of the school, Norfolk County Council reduced the speed limit in North Street to 20 mph.

While work was going on there was much noise and disturbance. Again and again dumper trucks carried spoil down to a pit at Seeley’s Barn and left the roadway filthy; a crane rose against the skyline and pile-driving was added to the Langham soundscape. But even antipathetic locals had to admit that the tradesmen employed on the site seemed to know what they were about.

Ian Johnston, the owner of Avada Langham Ltd, is a house-builder and not a hotelier. His heart had never been in the idea of running the hotel, and in 2016, when the building was still under development, he put it up for sale.

In June 2017 it was purchased by the Bijou Collection, owned by the Cutmore-Scott family, whose expertise in the hospitality industry had till then been focused on their wedding venues. Sam Cutmore-Scott, elder son of the founders and already a director of the company, took over the hotel and supervised its completion: an enterprise costing millions of pounds. The hotel was named ‘The Harper’ as a tribute to Stanley Harper Cutmore, Sam’s maternal grandfather, who with his brother Jim ran Cutmore’s Mechanics in Barrack Street, Norwich – and whose work ethic still inspires the family today. As a further nod to him, and to the glassworks, the decor, featuring much iron, copper and slate, is faintly redolent of Britain’s industrial past.

The Harper was due to open on 1 April 2020. Preparations were in full swing when the lockdown was imposed. A very difficult and uncertain time followed, but when Sam was finally able to reopen the bookings were encouraging and the enterprise is now doing well: Delia Smith was one of the first guests through the doors.

As envisaged by NNDC, the hotel is unashamedly upmarket. It attracts wealthy visitors from London and Cambridge and elsewhere. Use of the hotel facilities is restricted to hotel residents only, which has been a source of some ill feeling in the village given the history of the site, but the point has been made by the Cutmore-Scotts that, were it otherwise, non-resident visitors would have to park along North Street.

Recently the Bijou Collection also bought the adjoining Hall, which was on the market for £1.95m. It is being thoroughly refurbished and updated and will be incorporated into The Harper.

The Yard at The Harper

The War Memorial

On the corner of the wall of Langham Hall, facing west, is a tablet memorial to Langham’s men who died in the First World War. Fifteen names are listed.

William Barnes

William Barnes was born in Langham on 17 March 1896 and baptised on 11 October 1897, the son of William and Alice Jane Barnes of 26 The Street. He was the seventh eldest of ten children, and before joining up worked as a farm labourer. By 1911 his father had died, leaving William’s mother a widow.

He enlisted in the Norfolk Regiment and was transferred to the 5th Battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, with the rank of lance-corporal. William was killed in the Battle of Havrincourt on 12 September 1918, aged 22, two months before the end of the war. He is commemorated on a memorial in Pas de Calais, France. There is no known grave.

Frederick Sydney Bird

Frederick Bird was born in Langham in 1895, the son of Earl Bird and Ann Elizabeth Ives of 15 The Street. In the 1901 census he is listed as resident here with his family.

In the 1911 census he is shown as aged 16, a farm labourer, living with his brother-in-law, Richard Greenacre, at Westgate. His father died in the Great Snoring Union Workhouse and was buried at Langham on 30 November 1914.

Frederick moved to London and enlisted as Rifleman 2075 in the 12th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (The Rangers).

He was mortally wounded at Ypres and died on 30 April 1915, aged 20. He is buried in Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery, Nord, France.

Frederick ‘Fred’ Peter Burton

Fred Burton was born in Langham, the son of Peter and Louisa Burton. He enlisted at Stratford, Essex, as a private in the 8th Battalion, Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, and was killed in the assault at Loos on 26 September 1915, aged 26. There is no known grave; he is commemorated on the Loos Memorial at Pas de Calais, France.

John Henry Burton

John Burton was born in Langham on 11 June 1893 to Isaac and Jessie Burton of East Street, as Holt Road was once known. He was a bachelor and a labourer by trade. His family emigrated to Canada and at Oakville he joined Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (Eastern Ontario Regiment), being attested and passed fit on 29 January 1916. His attestation paper records him as being 5’6” tall, with a medium complexion, brown eyes and hair, his religion being given as ‘Church of England’.

Suffering from tonsillitis, he was admitted to hospital at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 30 January 1917 and discharged on 13 February, presumably after a tonsillectomy.

On 14 March he signed his will, leaving everything to his mother, and boarded the R M S Carpathia at Halifax on 10 April 1917. The ship sailed the next day and arrived in England on the 22nd.

On 5 July 1918, serving in France, he was recorded as ‘wounded and dangerously ill’, from a groin wound and a fractured femur. He died the following day, aged 26.

John is buried in the St Hilaire Cemetery Extension, Frevent, Pas de Calais. His military papers may be viewed here.

Robert Albert Burton

Robert Burton was born in Langham to Elizabeth Burton and the late Francis Ives Burton. He enlisted at Norwich as a private in 1st Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, of whom 16,000 were killed in action and many more wounded.

He was killed aged 23 on 29 March, 1918, during the German offensive known as Operation Michael (Unternehmen Michael), in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, France. There is no known grave; he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France.

William Albert Alfred Burton

William Burton was born in Langham to the late Robert and Agnes Burton, his birth being registered in the fourth quarter of 1895 in the Walsingham Registration District. In the 1911 census he is given as aged 15, a farm labourer resident at The Green, Wighton.

He enlisted at Norwich in the 2nd Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, with the rank of private, and was killed in action, aged 20, on 22 April 1916 during the siege of Kut al Mara in Iraq, then called Mesopotamia.

There is no known grave; he is commemorated on the Basra Memorial in Iraq.

James Robert Crane

James Crane was born in Langham in 1883 to Henry Crane and Martha Smith. The family moved from the village before war broke out; in the 1911 Census he is listed as resident at 19 Kay Street, Chorlton upon Medlock, Manchester, and working as a baker.

He enlisted as a private in the 17th Battalion, Manchester Regiment.

Then the rain came.

The badly cratered battlefield and shell holes began to fill with water and the position became increasingly difficult as men clung to the sides of shell-holes and hastily constructed trenches in an attempt not to drown. The assault quickly ran out of momentum.

The 17th Battalion were finally relieved on the morning of the 1st August [1917] and proceeded to Zillebeke where the roll was called. The Battalion’s casualties in the action were: 2 officers killed and 8 wounded or missing and 19 other ranks killed and 146 wounded or missing. The Battalion marched to Château Segard to reorganise.

After a series of moves during the month of August, the Battalion relieved the 14th Australian Battalion, south of Messines, on the 28th. This tour lasted until the 3rd September when the Battalion marched to Kia-Ora camp at Kemmel and provided working parties for the Royal Engineers.

On the 12th September, the Battalion relieved the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers as support battalion at Torreken Farm and on the 22nd moved into the line, relieving the 2nd Bedfords in the Hollebeke area.

James was killed in action on 26 September 1917, aged 33. He is buried in Pond Farm Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Page Ernest Crane

James Crane’s younger brother was born in Langham in March 1886. The 1901 census shows him as a farm boy. He married Ethel Jane Vincent on 21 November, 1910, at Sutton Bridge. The census of 1911 says he was a farm labourer living at Walpole St Andrew, Wisbech.

He attested on 6 December 1915 and was mobilised on 31 May 1916, joining the 7th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers on 1 June. He was transferred to the 6th Battalion on 13 September 1916 and discharged sick on 18 May 1917 as ‘aggravated by military service’, but received no pension.

Aged 31, Page died of chlorosis and heart failure on the 2nd of September following, leaving his wife and two small children. His brother James was killed in Belgium 24 days later.

There is no known grave, though he has a headstone in the churchyard, with no burial reference in the register. He is commemorated on the Addendum Panel on the Brookwood Memorial in Surrey.

Florance Edwards Elwood

Florance Elwood was born in Langham in 1885 to William and Hannah Ellwood. The 1911 census lists him as a bachelor, a farm labourer resident in Langham; Florance is a frequently used name in the Rippingall family (later Allen) who employed Elwoods. He enlisted at Letheringsett in the Norfolk Regiment, but was transferred to 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment.

The 2nd Battalion was raised in December 1916 and also served in India from February 1917 until disbanded in January 1920. Florance is reported as ‘died at sea, 5 May 1917’ aged 32 and was probably buried at sea, as there is no known grave. He is commemorated on the Hollybrook Memorial at Southampton.

Some 1,540 officers and men lost their lives serving in the 2nd Battalion, and approximately 6,500 were wounded in combat.

Herbert Walter Elwood

Florance Elwood’s older brother was born in Langham on 15 April 1878. The 1911 census records him as a machine minder and living at West End, Briston. His wife’s name was Clara.

He joined the Royal Navy, serving as a Stoker 1st Class on H M Tug Desire, and was killed or died as a direct result of enemy action on 24 January 1918, aged 39.

There is no known grave; he is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial.

Cornelius Evelyn Jarvis

Cornelius Jarvis was born in Langham in 1894 to Herbert Jarvis and Martha Elizabeth Jarvis. In the 1911 census he is listed as a farm labourer resident in Binham Road. He enlisted as a private in the 1st Battalion, Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment) and was killed in action on 4 June 1915, aged 21.

Cornelius is buried in Desplanque Farm Cemetery, La Chapelle-D’Armentières, Nord, France.

Willie Reginald Jarvis

Cornelius’s younger brother Willie was born in Langham in 1898. In the 1911 census he also is shown as a farm labourer living in Binham Road.

He joined ‘A’ Company, 1st/4th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment and died on 19 June 1918, aged 22.

There is no known grave. Willie is commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial in Israel/Palestine.

Frederick Lewis

Frederick Lewis was born in 1884, the son of James and Elizabeth Lewis. He served as a regular soldier in the 4th Battalion, Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex regiment); according to his medal card he entered France on 12 September 1914. He was killed in action on 16 April 1915, aged 31.

He is buried in Godezonne Farm Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Frederick ‘Fred’ Wilfred Hugh Massingham

Fred Massingham was born in Langham in 1898 to William and Eva Massingham, and lived here at least until the census of 1911, working as a farm labourer. He joined, at Norwich, the 1/4th Battalion (Territorial), Northumberland Fusiliers and died of his wounds on 23 January, 1917, aged 19.

Fred is buried in Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France.

George Henry Turner Musk

George Musk was born in Langham in 1888 to Martha Annie Musk and James William Musk, a wheelwright and carpenter of 2 Bell Yard, The Street.

By 1911 George had probably joined the Army as a regular. He served as a private in the 1st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, and was killed in action on 4 September 1916, aged 28.

He is buried at Delville Wood Cemetery, Longueval, Somme, France.

According to the National Inventory of War Memorials, ‘This memorial was erected by the chief farmer who lived in Langham Hall. He was no friend of the vicar and thought the village war memorial should not be in the church. He erected this memorial at his own expense on a piece of his own land.’

The farmer in question was Frederick Budd Ryder, who took up residence at Langham Hall in 1916 and ran its farm until 1969. The vicar was the Reverend John Henry Toy, who was apparently well liked in the village; there is a memorial plaque in the church which lists the same fifteen names.

The Great War, as it was called before 1939, was supposed to be the war to end all wars, but the terms of the Treaty of Versailles ensured that it would not be.

According to the Official History of the Great War, there were 2,977,801 British Army casualties, including 704,803 deaths. The average age of Langham’s dead was 26.

That war began to unravel Britain’s position as a world power and made inevitable the dissolution of its empire. It saw wholesale mechanisation applied to killing other human beings, finally putting paid to any notions of chivalry, although of course thousands of horses and mules also died in the slaughter.

Its immediate legacy was grief, widespread grief: of mothers, widows, and of legions of young women who would never marry or have children. Mixed with that grief was deep and abiding anger, of which we are given a hint by Mr Ryder’s decision to put up his own memorial.

The First World War is perhaps more affecting than all the other conflicts we remember officially each November, either because it marked the end of an era or the beginning of a new and even more horrific one.

The position of Mr Ryder’s tablet at the very heart of the village ought to remind us daily of the realities of war, for it is always the common people who are sacrificed on its altar.