Green Dragon Farm

The main farmhouse of Green Dragon Farm was built sometime in the 16th Century, between the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, basically sometime around the time that William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born. The exact date the farmhouse was built is a mystery as is the original name of the farm. When first built the farmhouse was, and still is, a timber framed construction (timbers still visible inside) and with a thatched roof. It was a domestic living premises for the first 300 or so years. Later changes to the property included, building the north and south wings, installing a brick façade and replacing the thatch roof with tiles. It is interesting to note that during the time the farmhouse was built, oak was in great demand for traditional wooden warships and merchant ships; indeed the Tudor navy grew from 7 warships at the beginning of Henry VIII reign to over 50 by the end of Elizabeth I reign. It has been suggested by architects and pervious owners that significant part of the wood-framed structure of the farmhouse is made from elm, a common replacement timber in Tudor times. It is also obvious looking at some of the existing wooden beams that they were reused from other structures and incorporated into the construction of the farmhouse.

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The Norfolk Public House registers indicates that the farmhouse was converted into a Beer House (it didn’t have a full licence) and records the first licensee as a Mrs Mary Moore in 1836. She remained as the recorded licensee until 1854. The original name of the registered Beer House is unknown but may have been The Fighting Bulldog because in 1857 the two brick and stone built flanking wings of the farmhouse were built and the brick façade added to main building. The leaning nature of the brick façade indicates that it probably follows the original warped shape of the timber structure with daub and wattle infill. The two pinnacles on either end of the wings both show the head of a bulldog and on the southern elevation the letters FB and number 18 and on the northern elevation the letters FB and number 57. Put together they indicate that they were erected in 1857 on the Fighting Bulldog, a registered Beer House. By this time the licensee was Edward Cooper who is also recorded as being a blacksmith. He held the licence from 1858 until 1864.

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Just as a side note ... and who doesn't like a side note ... A beerhouse was a type of public house created in the United Kingdom by the Beerhouse Act 1830, legally defined as a place "where beer is sold to be consumed on the premises", the sale of wines and spirits in a beerhouse was not permitted. They were also known as "small" or "Tom and Jerry" shops apparently a 'low drinking establishment'. Existing Public Houses were issued with licences by local magistrates under the terms of the Retail Brewers Act 1828, and were subject to police inspections at any time of the day or night. Proprietors of the new beerhouses, on the other hand, simply had to buy a licence from the government costing two guineas per annum, equivalent to about £400 as of 2024. This continued until the Wine and Beerhouse Act 1869 which gave local magistrates the authority to renew beerhouse licences, the two classes of establishment were then in direct competition.

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At some stage between 1858 and 1894 the Wymondham Brewery took over ownership of the Fighting Bulldog beer house and changed the name to the Green Dragon. The Cann and Clarke company (later renamed as William Cann & Co) who owned Wymondham Breweries was sold to Morgan’s Brewery Co Ltd in 1894 for the grand sum of £129,000 which included 100 pubs, one of which was listed as the Green Dragon, Heywood Road.

 

Various different licensees are recorded between 1867 and 1947 with the surnames Rout (George, William and Leonard Septimus) and variations of James Brown, James Barber and James Barker (all suspected to actually be the same person!). In addition, various licensees are recorded as having additional occupations: “Dealer, butcher and 2 acres”, “Horse trainer” and “Pork butcher and pig dealer”. The last recorded Licensee was listed as Leonard Septimus Rout in 1947 and the Beer House is not shown in the Licence Register in 1958 or after. However, various locals recall visiting the “Green Dragon pub” as children with their dad up until the early 1960’s, which indicates that the Green Dragon may have still been trading and probably doing so without an official licence.

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The Norfolk Public House Register provides evidence that the current master bedroom of the Green Dragon Cottage and attached double garage were originally a blacksmiths workshop and forge. The other parts of Green Dragon Cottage were presumable originally stables and used to store fuel for the forge. Grandnieces, who stayed in Green Dragon Cottage in Autumn 2024, of the last recorded licencee, Leonard Septimus Rout (the seventh child in the family), indicated that part of the current cottage building was used as a dairy. They also said that the Rout family in addition produced a high quality cider locally. The cider company was ultimately bought out by a much larger cider company still operating today!

 

Apparently during the war the Green Dragon was a known source of contraband. This is purely anecdotal evidence as provided by a previous owner and the aforementioned grandnieces showed no surprise and indicated that Leonard was known to be a bit of a 'wheeler dealer'.

 

At some stage in the 1960’s the property reverted back to being a farm and changed its name to Green Farm. The Rout family remained the owners. The new owners, Chris and Jill Marshall, bought the property in 1998, reinstated the name of the property as Green Dragon Farm and undertook a wholesale refurbishment of the whole property; removed and rebuilt the brick façade, demolished and rebuilt the two wings, added the rear extension, added underfloor heating, reorganised the internal layout, undertook significant landscaping, planted numerous trees, built the 'old stable block' initially which incorporated an attached potting shed and toilet/shower room and subsequently built the 'posh stable block'. The Green Dragon Cottage was also significantly refurbished to create a one bedroom annex.

 

Chris and Jill also dug the pond, installed the “Boat house” and “The Folly”, which was designed and hand made by a ceramicist in SW England. Check out the ‘relief’ and ‘indented’ wall carvings/sculptures as well as the myriad as pots that make up much of the other walls. They also undertook a significant amount of landscaping and planted all the trees in the copse and a lot of the hedges and hedgerow trees. 

 

In 2012 the property was sold to John and Dot Kemplan who converted the current Green Dragon Cottage master bedroom into an art studio and workshop. They also installed wood burning stoves in both the farmhouse and cottage. Dot was and is a bit of a dog rescuer and saved dogs from both within the UK and parts of Europe. John secretly informed the current owner that he had drawn the line at six dogs! Friends of John and Dot have subsequently indicated that John's line in the sand has moved and they now have at least eight dogs!

 

In 2018, the current owner (Tony), bought Green Dragon Farm and in addition to updating some of the internal parts of both the farmhouse and cottage he also extended the cottage to create a two bedroom annex linking the art studio into the main cottage. Tony is also testing out the local demand for glamping with a pop-up eco-glamping offering which is located in the orchard in which additional fruit trees have been planted. Numerous other hedges have been planted or restocked and numerous trees have been planted in the meadow to create what will hopefully one day become a beautiful and ecologically valuable wood-pasture habitat.The meadow is already host to a array of wild flowers and plants, including three species of protected wild native orchids (the Bee orchid, Pyramidal orchid and the Common Spotted orchid).