The internet reaches people that word of mouth never can. In May 2010 people from 23 different countries visited this website.

This is the section for memories to be recorded for posterity. We would love to hear from anybody with memories of Scarning village life to contact us with a view to putting them on this site. If you have any memories, anecdotes or photos please let us know and we may be able to use them to include them here There is an email link at the bottom of this page.

The village has been associated with many famous people including Horatio Nelson’s father who attended the school in Scarning. Click on this link to see who lived in Scarning in 1901 Perhaps you know of or remember someone listed in this census. Perhaps you wondered who lived in your house all those years ago, or maybe you are researching your family tree. If so the following documents may be of interest, just click on the images to find out more.

1813 to 1880 Baptisms Scarning St Peter & St Paul

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tinstaafl/Church_Pages/scarning.htm

Gravestones

A record is kept in the church and anyone wishing to consult the register should contact Alf Webdale on 01362 687558 or Alan Glister on 01362 696674 who will ensure that the enquirer has access to the register.

Who lived in the village in 1921 and 1954?

Click on the first image below to see the electoral roll for 1921 and the second for 1954

Who died defending the country?

Click on the image below

Terry Woods has sent this picture of his grandfather David Johnson holding his mother Olive Florence May Woods (nee Johnson) and was taken, he believes, about the middle to late 1915. L/Cpl Johnson who is remembered on the war memorial in the village churchyard died of injuries to his left leg in May 1916. The Commonwealth War Grave headstone photo was taken in Worthing churchyard.
Click on the image below to see a list of the cottagers, the number of their children and their addresses in 1931. The valuation list dating from 1904 prepared by the Overseers of the Poor which details the owners and occupiers of property in Scarning can be viewed by clicking on the right hand image below:

If there is sufficient interest it would be possible to have sections for families as well as individual people. If you have photographs I can scan them in a form suitable for inclusion with any text you might like to submit. Please e-mail Richard Allan at mail@scarning.info by clicking the logo below.

Terry Woods has been found

David Knight of Worthing wanted to talk to him regarding the family history of his grandfather David George Johnson, who is buried in Worthing church yard.

Adcock family

Charmian Woods is interested in the Adcock family, in particular Abel Adcock who died on the 13th of November 1914 age 75, at Podmore Scarning, Mary Ann Adcock, his wife who died in 1926, and also Albert his son, and Lily P Adcock his sons wife, she noticed by looking at the links on this site, that they were on the 1921 electoral roll. And she knows that Albert and Lily are buried St Peter and St Paul.  She hopes to find out where Mary Ann and Abel are buried, and to get in contact with anyone that is related to them,She has done some research back on the Adcocks so far to around 1760, and has a few BMD certs as well, that she would love to share with fellow relations. Her e-mail address is charmainewoods@live.co.uk, She hopes to come visit Scarning at some point, once she has done some more research.

Search for a relative

In January 1945, a British Mosquito, which had taken off from Swanton Morley, crash landed in Scarning near Broadway Farm. The plane was loaded with bombs and ammunition. The pilot and co pilot were trapped in the burning wreckage and would have died had it not been for the prompt action of Walter Ward, James Andrews and Herbert Farrow, who risked their own lives to pull them out moments before the plane exploded. The men were each awarded the British Empire Medal for their gallantry.

A relative of one of the men is trying to find out more about him. In 1945, James Andrews was living at 2 Council Houses, Scarning. Before that he lived at Fen Road. If you have any information about James Andrews, or the events of January 1945, please contact Antoinette Thorpe at antoinette.thorpe@icloud.com

Antoinette Thorpe writes:
I was clearing out my Godmothers home and came across a British Empire Medal awarded to a James Andrews who lived at 2 Council Houses Scarning, with the boxed medal were several letters written between 10th Jan 1945! and the 7th May 1945. One from a Wing Commander from RAF Station Swanton Morley, one from a Will Spens Regional Commissioner Cambridge and one from the Permanent Under Secretary of State at that time.

All the letters were showing their appreciation and admiration for James Andrews. He had apparently ran to a burning plane and rescued two officers, in the words of one of the officers, James put his own safety last as there was a great danger of exploding petrol tanks and ammunition. For this he was awarded the medal. He clearly had saved these two men's lives.

Along with the package were some photo's of who we assume to be James Andrews and a silver tankard with an inscription from the rescued officers. One was FLt Harold White D.F.C and the other FLt Michael Allen D.F.C. Of the Royal Air Force.

We do not know who this young man was but would love to trace any of his living relatives to pass over his medal.

UPDATE 12/2/14
I thought I would let you know, I have had contact from the Grandson of one of the other young men who were involved in the rescue. There were three of them all receiving B E Medals. Unfortunately he is unable to help with tracing James descendants, however his Grandmother has lived in Scarning all her life and is now 92 she may remember the Andrews family, he is going to ask.
However we are having a really nice dialogue, thank you.
Kind regards Antoinette.

Can you help?

Ruth Eglen from Mutzig in France would love to hear from anyone who has an interest or who can help tracing her family. She says:

"We have managed to trace our family back to Richard Eglon and Elizabeth Cooke/Cocke, married in Scarning 12 October 1698. Richard was born in 1680, but after that the trail has gone cold! I don't know if Elizabeth was from Scarning, or further afield - haven't been able to find anything more about her.

My branch of the family has now become Eglen, and mostly still live in the Norfolk area - although I now live in France. I was wondering if anybody has any futher information you could add - maybe there are Eglons/Egglins/Eglens etc (or any other variations of the name!) in the cemetry? Or perhaps Eglens (etc) still in the village."

Sheila Parker [nee Walpole]

Hello, I just wish to say what an interesting web site that has brought such joy to me through your information and old photo's. Many of my ancestors resided in and around Scarning, my father being born there in 1907. Sadly both his parents died 1911& 1916 when he was a small boy and are buried in the Parish Churchyard so the old lovely pictures give me a real insight to what the village was like in their time. The 1918 School picture is a special delight as there is a chance he could be on it! 
On the 1921 voters list I found both my Great  Grandmothers! Hester Draper and some of her family including Great Uncle Sam who I remember visiting us when I was a little girl. Hester Walpole and two of her sons along with Rachel who I have yet to find if she is a daughter or daughter in law. Also there may be a new connection, when time permits I shall do more research as my father's stepfather was a William Mayes and Arthur and Florence on the list may have been Williams parents? 
    Being a bookworm myself I think the old copies of books and records are wonderful and how fortunate they have been kept for future generations.
    The more I look at the school photo 1918 I am convinced the boy (front row right-hand side of the left-hand window) is my father as he would be aged 11 in October of that year and always had a lovely mop of curly hair.
    Dabbling with a little poetry I had written of the joy with earlier Census of finding, via the Internet, both the Grandparents I never knew and now, fortunate enough to being able to view the 1911 Census it has been magical to be able to have record of my father and his parents together for that one and only time with his father dying in July that same year and his mother in 1916.
   How good to see both the old and now renewed twenty-first century Village Hall still in use, a great asset to your village social life. 

Scarning School in 1918

Can you help?

Dale Wiseman is interested in finding out about some of his ancestors who lived and worked in Scarning for about 100 years.The family in question is that of George Cross,his first wife Mary and his second wife Martha Rogers,who lived for a long time at the Carpenters Arms.They lived in Scarning between 1800 and 1900.If anyone has any information or are related please could they contact him at: dale.wiseman@ntlworld.com

Brian Stanley (mother's maiden name Cuthbert) has been researching his maternal grandparents line and has discovered that they originate from Scarning in the late 1780s. The name is originally recorded as Cudbird in 1841 but it transforms in later years to Cuthbird, Cathbert and finally Cuthbert. The earliest record is of Susannah Cudbird born in 1786 a widow living at Daffy Green with her son Samuel born in 1819 and daughter Hannah born in 1826.

David and Mary Cuthbert were his Great grandparents and he in turn was the grandson of the Susannah born in 1786. David lived in Scarning until the late 1870's when he moved to London and became a policeman. Sometime between 1901 and 1911 he retired to Bressingham. Brian has discovered that Susanna was married to a David Cuthbird and they had twins David and Sarah both baptised on 31 Oct 1819. In the Parish Register the name is spelled Cuthbird. He suspects the variation in spellings is a result of the local accent at that time.

He wondered if any local residents had any information on the origin of the name or the family. bdstanley@virginmedia.com

Robert Stockwell [robert@stockwellr.plus.com] writes:
Whilst working on my family tree I found a relative living in Scarning and then I found your website, which contains lots of very interesting historic information about the village. I was therefore wondering whether you or anyone else has come across Charles Frederick Browne and his family or anything about Chestnut Farm in any local documents or photos? Chestnut Farm and the Browne family are shown as residents in the 1911 Census. Frederick 43 widower, Archie 16 son, Stanley 14,son. Also lizzie Leonard 47 and Louise Clark 14 niece. I've also attached the census details for New Inn, which is shown on your site. Those listed might well be some of the people shown on the image. Whether you have any information or not... may I thank you in advance for your time.

Dear Residents of Scarning,
Greetings to you from a long-lost descendent of Scarning. My name is James Hart, and I am a resident of Cary, North Carolina, USA. In researching my family tree, I have discovered that I am descended from one of the earliest Englishmen to come to the New World, from your village. The information I have tells me that I am descended from Henry Hart, born in Scarning in 1595. He married Elizabeth Hammond, also of Scarning, who was born in 1601. They were married in Scarning before immigrating to Virginia in 1634. Henry Hart was the first Englishman of that surname to arrive in America. I would think that this fact would make his ancestry of interest to many people here in the USA, yet very little is known about his early life or the family he may have left behind in Scarning. I noticed several citizens with the last name Hammond in Scarning’s 1901 census, but none by the name of Hart. This led me to wonder about his family and become even more curious about his early life. I was wondering if anything is known about Henry and Elizabeth there in Scarning, and if there are any records of Harts living in the area in the early 1600s. I would appreciate any information that might be available. I am curious about the history of Scarning, particularly what was happening there in the 1620s that would lead my ancestor to take ship with his wife and travel to a new and unknown land. If you have any information that you think my be of interest to me, please forward it to jkhart@nc.rr.com. Thank you for entertaining the curiosity of a far-away relation. I hope to travel to Scarning soon and see your village myself.
Sincerely, James Hart