JOSEPH KIDDLE

(also with references to his daughter Elizabeth and her husband John Richards)

Mr Joseph Kiddle purchased Canal House in 1778 for £2,400. He was born c. 1719 probably in Norfolk and had farmed at Markshall, Caistor St Edmund for 42 years before purchasing Canal House and moving from Markshall to Ashwellthorpe on 13 August 1778, along with his wife Elizabeth and grandson Joseph Kiddle Richards (then aged 12).

Markshall (sometimes Merkeshall/Marketshall) was a deserted village with a ruined church dedicated to St Edmund. A visit documented by Thomas Martin on 27 May 1737, whilst Joseph Kiddle occupied the farm, is given on the Norfolk Heritage Explorer website:

Markshall Farm Barn built 1716 'from A Short History of Markshall by Judy Booker and Susan Harman April 2026 on www.caistorromanproject.org

It is believed the farmhouse was built c. 1716 and that Joseph Kiddle would have been a tenant farmer of the family of the Pettus Baronetcy.

Joseph Kiddle (Kiddall) married his first cousin Elizabeth Rudd, who had been baptised to Robert and Jane Rudd in East Carleton on 27 August 1721, and their marriage, by Licence with consent of parents, took place on 26 November 1740 at St Stephen's Church Norwich. Living in Markshall where the church had long been ruined, their daughter Elizabeth was baptised on 20 September 1742 at Caistor St Edmund church and another daughter Martha was baptised to them on 12 February 1743 but sadly buried on 9 October 1744 in the same church.

To add some delightful illustration to the Kiddle story, daughter Elizabeth kept a diary from 1760 until her death in 1816 which was carried on by her eldest son John Richards – the Norfolk Record Office has this diary in their possession. In the diary, her father Joseph Kiddle was described as "a large tall man who weighed 20 stones"; her mother Elizabeth nee Rudd was "a little woman". The life of daughter Elizabeth is inextricably linked to that of her parents for most of the Kiddle occupancy of Canal House, as she, her husband John Richards and their children also lived at the house on several occasions and one of her sons – Joseph Kiddle Richards -became the owner, inheriting from his grandfather. There will be other extracts from Elizabeth's diary later on.

Joseph Kiddle was one of the largest landowners and highest ratepayers in Ashwellthorpe and as such, he was soon elected to be an Overseer for the Poor at the Easter Town Meeting held in the vestry of All Saints Church in 1779, along with Barnard Huggin the clockmaker. It was usual to elect two Overseers of the Poor each year at this meeting (as well as two Churchwardens) and decide the rate to be charged and collected from the owners of property in order to carry out the duties of giving relief to the poor of the parish. The Overseers kept very detailed accounts of the money raised and spent.

For example, in Joseph Kiddle's accounts for the six months Easter to Michaelmas 1779, the amount raised by the poor rate was £43. 1s. 0d. (£43.05) with weekly amounts being paid out totalling £41. 9s. 5½d (£41.47p), not only in cash for those in need, but also specific items such as blanket, sheets, shoes, clothes, a spinning wheel, shirt and the payment of a doctor's bill. There was some smallpox in the village at this time. Joseph Kiddle was elected Overseer of the Poor again in 1784 and 1785.

The Wreningham Inclosure was completed in 1779 and Joseph Kiddle, although of Ashwellthorpe, was part of this process with land in the area of Spong Marsh, immediately adjacent to Wreningham. Inclosure was a nationwide legal process with the intent of changing the open-field system (strip farming by all inhabitants) and common lands (usable by everyone for grazing) by "inclosing" them to facilitate larger fields with more productive results. With initiatives to "inclose" coming either from landowners hoping to maximise rental from their estates, or from tenant farmers anxious to improve their farms – they were the ones to benefit. Communal open fields and commons were now hedged and fenced off with old boundaries removed and in the ownership of the larger landowners and their tenant farmers. The ordinary small farmer/inhabitant suffered from lack of available land. [A very full account of the Wrenngham Inclosure can be seen on the Wrenngham Heritage website entitled "The Old Commons"].

Extracts from "The Mores", poem by John Clare written later, in 1820, seem pertinent:

"Inclosure came and trampled on the grave
Of labour's rights and left the poor a slave

The sheep and cows were free to range as then
Where change might prompt nor felt the bonds of men
Cows went and came, with evening morn and night,
To the wild pasture as their common right
And sheep, unfolded with the rising sun
Heard the swains shout and felt their freedom won

Fence now meets fence in owners' little bounds
Of field and meadow large as garden grounds
In little parcels little minds to please
With men and flocks imprisoned ill at ease."

Joseph and Elizabeth Kiddle had to financially help their daughter and her husband, Elizabeth and John Richards, on several occasions whilst living at Canal House. Elizabeth had married John Richards from a yeoman farmer family in Hempnall on 30 August 1762 at Caistor St Edmund and they hired Hall Farm, Arminghall leaving in 1779 having incurred debts.

Hall Farm Arminghall - with permission of Joseph Mason www.joemasonspage@gmail.com

Whilst in Arminghall, John and Elizabeth Richards had children: John (usually called Jack) probably baptised 26 June 1763; Elizabeth baptised 16 July 1764, buried 15 March 1771 ; Joseph Kiddle baptised 3 February 1766; Charlotte baptised 3 May 1767; James baptised 12 July 1769; Henry Richard baptised 13 July 1772; Elizabeth baptised 15 March 1773; Anna Maria baptised 10 December 1775; and Harriett baptised 1779.

In June 1778, John Richards had to sell his stud of "exceeding good horses consisting of coach, cart and plough geldings" and then on 15 October 1779 Elizabeth and John Richards left Arminghall to stay with Joseph and Elizabeth Kiddle in Ashwellthorpe before hiring a small farm of Mr Burton's at Weston (Longville?); it is possible that Parson Woodforde mentioned Elizabeth in his diary as "a good-natured and sensible woman". Elizabeth wrote in her diary at the end of 1779 that "this year has been a year of sorrow and trouble". Their son John Junr. later wrote about the move to Weston in his section of the diary that there "was little left of the almost ample abundance, which my father once had".

Then in January 1780, John Richards hired a large farm at Cley but was "obliged to relinquish it because he could not borrow a sufficient sum of money to stock it". In September 1780, John Richards and father-in-law Joseph Kiddle went to bid for a farm at Oulton but did not succeed "which made us very unhappy". Finally on 10 October 1780, Elizabeth and John Richards and five of their children went to live with Joseph and Elizabeth Kiddle in Canal House, Ashwellthorpe. They brought all their stock and furniture with them. Elizabeth Richards said in her diary "we had contracted several large debts which we were not able to pay. My father mortgaged his estate for £500 and lent it to my husband which has, Thank God, enabled us to pay everybody their due and support our son Jack in London".

Whilst at Canal House with her parents, Elizabeth Richards wrote in her diary:

"8 August 1782 Took a walk to Mr Thurstons to see his mother, a fine and venerable old lady of 107

4 June 1783 Son (John (Jack) Richards Junr.) went to Court for the first time on the King's Birthday

21 October 1783 Mr Robert Richards gave a Ball at Saxlngham. Jack, Joseph and Charlotte were at it. Jack hurt his leg by the chaise breaking owing to furious driving of Mr Robert Richards

8 June 1784 Admission of Jack as Attorney and Solicitor on Kings Bench, fee of £30 paid for admission by father (Joseph Kiddle)

19 – 23 July 1785 Staid at Mr Garritts in Norwich. Saw Major Money ascend from Mr Quaintrell's Gardens in an Air Balloon. The wind carried him out to sea.

13 October 1785 My son Jack gave a Ball at our house at which we were present. It was a very genteel dance, there were two violins and a Pipe and Tabor. An elegant cold collation for supper.

from: www.pipeandtaborcompendium.co.uk - permission sought November 2024

On 1 April 1788, Joseph Kiddle died at Canal House in his 70th year, which was reported in The Ipswich Journal, and he was buried in the churchyard of All Saints, Ashwellthorpe on 6 April.ter your text here...

Ashwellthorpe Burial Register on www.findmypast.com

His daughter Elizabeth said in her diary "a handsome stone is put up in his memory by his widow". [His gravestone is on the east side of the church path, very close to the porch]

Gravestones to Joseph Kiddle and his wife Elizabeth Kiddle east of church path, close to porch - All Saints, Ashwellthorpe

Unfortunately, the west-facing incised inscription is now very weathered and illegible, but a survey I made in the early 1980s revealed: "To the Memory of/M JOSEPH KIDDLE/who departed this life/April 1st 1788/in the 70th Year of his age/". The verse was indecipherable.The gravestone is of limestone, peon-shaped with scotia shoulders, decorated with two cherubs.

In his Will made three years earlier, Joseph Kiddle left his property to grandson Joseph Kiddle Richards "subject to payment of principal and interest which may happen to be due on mortgages of said premises". His wife Elizabeth was to receive £50 per year and after she had died, £40 to be paid per year to daughter Elizabeth Richards "to be paid into the proper hands of her my said daughter to and for her own sake and separate use and benefit and shall not be to any wise subject to the control debts or engagements of her said husband". He also left £200 to each of his other seven grandchildren. [John, Charlotte, James, Henry, Elizabeth, Anna Maria and Harriet]

After Joseph Kiddle's death, his widow Elizabeth moved out of Canal House on 5 November 1788, with her daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth and John Richards and three of their children, to live in Aslacton but in October 1791, they all returned to live at Canal House with Joseph Kiddle Richards. Not long after the Richards' family return to Canal House, John Richards fell ill and his wife Elizabeth wrote in her diary:

"My husband taken ill with dropsy (oedema) – treated first by Mr Talbot, Apothecary, then by Mr Dade of Carlton then by Mr Coleman of Norwich, who tapped him and took two gallons of water from him – and again with the same result a month later, with Dr. Macquin"

In February 1792, John Richards died and his wife wrote "in the 50th year of his age and was buried on February 7th in Thorp Churchyard and very near my Father"

Ashwellthorpe Burial Register on www.findmypast.com

John Richards' gravestone is beside those of his mother- and father-in-law in the graveyard but is completely indecipherable.

Gravestone of Mr John Richards at All Saints' Church graveyard, Ashwellthorpe

Elizabeth Kiddle died aged 72 at Canal House in September 1793 and was buried at All Saints Church, Ashwellthorpe, on 12 September. Her daughter Elizabeth Richards wrote in her diary "my dear much honoured and indulgent Mother departed this life aged 72 and was buried near my dear Father's grave in Thorp churchyard". The incised inscription on her gravestone reads: "To the Memory of/ELIZ. KIDDLE/who departed this life/Sept. 7t 1793/Aged 72 years" and it is of limestone, ogee-shaped with scotia shoulders and decorated with two cherubs. The verse is indecipherble.

Ashwellthorpe Burial Register on www.findmypast.com

the gravestones of Joseph Kiddle, Elizabeth Kiddle and John Richards at All Saints Church Graveyard, Ashwellthorpe

An Auctioneer, Mr Parsons, arranged an auction to be held in Ashwellthorpe on 4 October 1793 of part of the Canal House household furniture which had belonged to Mrs Kiddle: small bedstead with cheney (chintz) hangings, feather-bed and bolsters; eight-day clock, writing desk, large mahogany dining table and a "quite new" kitchen range with screw cheeks and brass jack.

Elizabeth Richards was not buried in All Saints churchyard, Ashwellthorpe - she had moved to Woodton with her daughters Charlotte and Harriett in 1797 before moving to Hempnall in 1803 where she occupied the farmhouse recently vacated by her son James and his family who had gone to East Carleton to farm land belonging to relation Mr Steward. Elizabeth died aged 73 in Hempnall and was buried at St Margaret's Church on 12 July 1816.

To add some insight into Elizabeth and John Richards nee Kiddle - the daughter and son-in-law of owner Joseph Kiddle - their eldest son John (Jack) wrote, in the diary which he continued after his mother's death in 1816, of his father John Richards, comparing him with his uncle James Richards. "My Uncle James, his brother, was many years the oldest, was brought up to be a Linen Weaver and was wholly unlike my father both in person and disposition. Of ordinary but not vulgar face and figure with penurious habits, whereas my father had singularly handsome features, was well made above the middle size and heedless of money". He added that his parents' marriage was "a match entirely of affection" and that the Hall Farm estate at Arminghall comprised between 200 and 300 acres of land "which my Father farmed and from his general habits, connections, style and expence of living, was considered a sort of Gentleman Farmer". He also regretted that "as was too common in those days, my father's fondness for wine and his fits of irritability made him at time alarming to his children". 

=======================================================================================

Sources at the Norfolk Record Office: Original Parish Registers of Arminghall, Ashwellthorpe, Caistor St Edmund, East Carleton; Bishops' Transcripts Ashwellthorpe; Poor Law Records Ashwellthorpe; Extracts from the Diaries of Mrs John Richards and her son 1769 - 1818 on MS 178 T 136B; Will of Joseph Kiddle