History of Thorpe 1906 by Jane Blanchflower

Members of the Heritage Group have been recording and transcribing interviews with long-standing residents of Thorpeness and Aldringham since the Group's inception. Some of the interviewees have since died, emphasising the importance of obtaining oral history. An important aspect of verbatim recordings is the way in which they convey the character of the interviewee, presenting an unvarnished, if sometimes embellished, picture of everyday life which would not be captured in a purely factual account.

It was in this tradition that Percy Westrup wrote 'A History of Thorpe from 1906', providing us with a detailed record of his life in Thorpe and its hinterland. Percy devotes much of his account to his adventures as a fisherman, but the first part describes the village as it was over 100 years ago as conveyed in the following extracts. The illustrations were kindly supplied by Russell Middleditch.

'I was born at Sizewell on August 29th, 1888, and came to Thorpe, as it was then called, in 1906; at that time there were about 30 cottages in the village and five coastguard houses; near the houses was a chapel known as the School to which my father went when he was a boy at a charge of 6d per week. At the time, he lived in some cottages where the houses now known as 'The Dunes' stand, the present houses are built in the gardens of the older cottages. There were three or more cottages, known as 'Beach Cottages' and these were the only cottages until one came to 'The Dolphin' which was then named 'The Crown Inn'. There were six cottages known as 'West Terrace' adjoining The Crown but these were pulled down when The Crown Inn was extended to become the bedrooms of The Dolphin.

‘There was one large field which extended from Beach Cottages to The Crown, joining the road where the houses now known as the 'Haven Houses' now stand; there was no water tower, nor tennis courts or swimming pool; it was all one large field, the best one on the Thorpe Farm; I have known cattle beet to have grown there as large as a football - we used to cut holes for eyes and mouth, like a man, put a lighted candle in and carry it round on Guy Fawkes Night.

There were only three bungalows between the coastguard houses and the 'Haven House' [the large white house as you enter Thorpeness from Aldeburgh], which was given its name because that is where the River Hundred went into the sea, which in wintertime used to get blocked up when there was a rough north-west gale, the River Hundred would overflow and fill up the flats where the boats are now moored; the water has been known to come up the road that runs from the Estate Office [where The Thorpeness Kitchen now stands] to Aldeburgh; that's why they had to put a footbridge over the river near Haven House, then later on they put a very large bridge, which was built on piles about 16 inches square. I remember one Jubilee (or Coronation) year, we had sports on the mud when it was hard and we had tea on the mud where the boats are now moored.

‘When I first had a garden it was where the tennis courts are now, and the swimming pool is [now gone]. Then when Thorpeness wanted to make the tennis courts, I had my next garden where the first fairway is of the golf links, but I only grew potatoes and carrots there, as there were so many rabbits about. My next garden was to the north of Beach Farm Cottages, I bought 70 yards of wire netting as there were so many rabbits, I planted fifteen score of cabbage plants and after a few weeks I thought I would go and cut a few to cook. When I went there was only the stalks left as some good friend had cut four holes so the rabbits could get in and there was not a leaf left, so after I had taken up what few potatoes there were, that finished my gardening..... Where the houses now known as 'The Headlands' are, used to be the stack-yard for Thorpe Farm and also, where the church now is [converted into apartments] I have seen eight or ten large corn stacks. Where the house known as 'Drake House' is, is where the Coastguard Watch House used to be and the shed for the rocket cart; when they were going to practise the rocket, they would pull a large flag up on a pole, and there would be a rush to get your name down. I remember my number was seven once and it was to stand by the rocket cart to see that no one stole anything whilst the other numbers were working with the rocket lines which were fixed to a pole with steps attached for one man to climb to the top, then they would haul him down in the breeches buoy, then the supposed shipwrecked man would be laid on a rug and all the rocket crew would gather round and the chief officer would red out the instructions for the half-drowned man, then everything had to be put back in the large rocket cart, ready for if it was wanted during the day or night, then the cart would be pulled back into the shed by two large horses that was used on the farm; which if they were ploughing a field when the red flag up and the gun fired at the Coastguard station, then they had to leave the plough and fetch the large rocket cart which weighed bout a ton, the wheels were about nine inches wide with steel tyres to keep it from sinking in the sand or shingle, the whole operation took about three hours. I think the coastguards have a small cart which can be pulled by hand now, there is none at Thorpe now, there is one at Aldeburgh and Sizewell.'

These short extracts present an intimate picture of the practicalities of life in Thorpe in the early 20th century, seen through the eyes of a local man before the fishing hamlet was transformed into the holiday resort of Thorpeness.