LOCAL HISTORY
Memories of Shimpling Local historian, Dennis Cross from Diss, shares with us his fascinating collection of old postcards, focusing on a different village in every issue. This time, we take a walk down memory lane in Shimpling. A house on Hall Lane, formerly owned by Mrs Lockwood, being repainted — around 1950.
This 1963 postcard was taken on the Eagle Field and shows Dan Dye, last of the small local farmers, with a load of straw bales being sorted by a 13-year-old Dennis Cross - who helped on the farm.
A 1915 view of the Hall Lane crossroads looking toward Dickleburgh. The vintage car on the right is in front of the old village dog pound and the road to the church and Hall Farm. The 19th century double cottage on the left was pulled down in the 1970s, and the hornbeam tree there marks the corner of the former Hall Green.
Taken outside the blacksmith’s shop in 1910, this picture shows Robert Ling attending to a horse shoe for a local farmer. His son Herbert took over the family business, retiring in 1964. No trace of the building remains; only the ash tree on the left marks the spot. 47
