Crowe Family

On the How Hill Road almost on the border with Catfield is a house with this plaque high up on the wall. It reads "S J Crowe Ludham 1810". Some local residents refer to this area just south of Sharp Street as "Johnny Crowe's".

At the Ludham Archive, we had no information about Johnny Crowe so we did a bit of research about the Crowe Family. Here are our research notes. We hope you find them useful:

The Crowes appear to be a well to do family based in Catfield and Ludham. There are other Crowes in Hickling and Martham who are probably related.

William Crowe  was the landlord of the Spread Eagle pub in Ludham between 1863-1865.

Mary Crowe, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Crowe married Robert Harrison on 10th Feb 1820 in Ludham. The Harrison Family ran a boatyard in Ludham.

John Crowe of Catfield (1737 - 1804) married Elizabeth Anne Brooks on 19th October 1761 in Catfield. One of their children was Samuel John Crowe and he appears to have owned the house with the plaque. It is likely that these Crowes gave rise to the local name of "Johnnie Crowe's" for this part of Ludham.
Samuel's mother Elizabeth appears to have been a wealthy woman. Here is an extract from her will:



These were actually quite large amounts of money. £50 then is worth about £3500 today.

Here is the grant of probate for Samuel: