Gables Farm

Image: © Evelyn Simak Taken: 20 Jun 2008

At the junction of Back Lane with Hembsby Road. See also > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/853150. Update: This thatched house, currently (2021) a holiday let, was destroyed by fire on 28 April 2021. It is believed to have been the first house to have been built in the village and had already been badly damaged by a fire once before in 1990. For more photos and a detailed history of the Grade 2 listed building go to http://marthamnorfolk.co.uk/?page_id=4739 Martham has always been a large and busy village with (presently) a post office, a couple of pubs, a supermarket and a variety of other shops, doctors surgery, pharmacy and more than 30 businesses, three schools, a public library, a large playing field with skate park and multi games area and two duck ponds. In 1300 CE the village had a population of about 1,000, and during the Middle Ages Martham provided the monks in Norwich with wheat, barley and peat. C19 directories list a great number of farmers, fishermen, craftsmen and tradesmen such as grocers, butchers, tailors, drapers, shoemakers, basket makers, wheelwrights, joiners, blacksmiths, millers, brick makers, bricklayers, thatchers, glaziers, wherrymen and watchmakers. Most of the bricks seen in older houses were made locally and are of similar appearance, texture and colour. The village green > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/853060 is surrounded by C18 houses, some thatched; a fair and general marked used to be held here on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of July. http://www.martham.gov.uk/

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