THE CHURCHYARD

Here, you can download a map of the memorials and a transcript of all the inscriptions here. Use the 'FIND' facility to search for a particular name or date of death.

SOME NOTABLE GRAVES

GREEN FAMILY:

Near the entrance to Flordon Church, to the right of the path up to the porch, is a prestigious tomb for the GREEN family. The inscription on the top-stone is still legible:

To the Memory of / ROBERT GREEN late of Bracon-Ash / Who departed this life Oct. 30th 1798 / Aged 65 years / Also AMY his wife who died / In this Parish Oct. 14th 1764 aged 28 years
Also OAKLEY GREEN their / son who died May 25th 1804. Aged 49.
Also ROBERT GREEN who died / April 14th 1834 aged 53 years / Also of SARAH the wife of ROBERT GREEN / who died December 24th 1859 / Aged 81 years /
Also of ROBERT GREEN / Who died January 10th 1846 / Aged 37 years

The first ROBERT GREEN, whi died in 1798, was born in Lyng in 1733, son of MATTHEW & SUSANNA GREEN, who subsequently moved to Flordon. He married AMY OAKLEY (born Elsing, 1732) in Flordon on 14th November 1758. Witness to the wedding was John Kemp, husband of Amy's half-sister Honour nee Oakley who lived in Tasburgh. At that time, Rev Mr Thomas Kemp, was Rector of Gissing & Flordon. He was the son of Sir Robert Kemp, Bart. and married to his second wife, Priscilla nee Holden. After Rev Kemp died in 1760, Priscilla married again, to Anthony Merry.

Robert Green was a tenant of the Kemp family's Mergate estate, living at Mergate Farm, Bracon Ash - hence 'late of Bracon Ash'. Documents show that he became the tenant of Mrs Merry of Mergate Hall, widow of Rev Thomas Kemp and widow again of Anthony Merry. In her Will, Mrs Merry mentions land then occupied by Oakley Green, son of Robert Green, who by then had probably moved back to Flordon, where Amy died in 1764. 'Robert Greene of Flordon, Farmer' is named as an Executor in the Will of John Oakley of Tasburgh who died in 1761. This Will lists various Oakley nieces and nephews.

Quite where Robert lived must be a matter of conjecture, but did he move to that other Kemp holding, Flordon Hall? Possibly his parents were living there…. From their Wills we know his parents had moved to Flordon and are buried here – Matthew in 1752 and Susanna in 1761, but their grave is no longer marked. There is also a Flordon register entry for the marriage of JEMIMA GREEN to THOMAS SMITH on 12th October 1755 by Thomas Kemp, Rector, with Robert Green as witness – surely his sister! This was 3 years before Robert married, suggesting his parents were already living here.

Robert and Amy's son, OAKLEY GREEN (from his mother's maiden name) is also buried here. He married MARY LEE, daughter of Joseph Lee of Hapton, who was relatively wealthy and left property in his Will to the Green family as well as "twenty shillings worth of bread for the poor of Hapton".

(With thanks to direct descendant, Paula Bennett, for research and information)

BARRON BRIGHTWELL:

South of the church is a sloping granite stone for the Brightwell family, standing within an area enclosed by a low metal fence that must surely once have contained a much more prestigious 'table tomb' for Flordon's miller and farmer, the son of a man who once owned large swathes of the village. The existing stone is inscribed:

 In loving memory of / BARRON BRIGHTWELL / the affectionate husband of / MARIA ANNE BRIGHTWELL / late of this parish / who departed this life / on the 22nd day of August / 1886 / aged 72 years / (quote from Psalm 23) / and of / MARIA ANNE BRIGHTWELL / widow of the above / who died 25th May 1898 / aged 69 years

Barron Brightwell (1814 - 1886) was the son of Thomas Brightwell, a Norwich solicitor and one-time Mayor, who acquired a considerable amount of land in Flordon - as described under Farming. His son, Barron was apprenticed to a miller. By 1851 he was living at Flordon Mill (no doubt with his father's help) and farming over 90 acres of land. In 1855 he married Maria Anne Riches of Mendham, Suffolk. He seems to have concentrated on farming, and he kept his land in Flordon even after moving to a much larger farm in Intwood by 1871, thus remaining an elector of the village. When he retired from farming he and Maria returned to live in the Mill House, Flordon. His sister, Cecelia, was an accomplished artist and produced several etchings of Flordon. 

BENJAMIN BRANFORD:

Close to the south wall of Flordon Church lies another former tenant of Flordon Hall, Benjamin Branford.

The inscription on the south side of this chest tomb simply states:
Sacred to the memory of / BENJAMIN BRANFORD / who died 26th March 1857 aged 62 yrs. / ELIZABETH – Relict of above / Who died December 2nd 1881 aged 85 years. 
On one of the shorter panels is inscribed:
In memory of EMMA REBECCA / the beloved daughter of / BENJAMIN and ELIZABETH BRANFORD / who died 12th December 1843 / aged 22 years. / "Blessed are those who died in the Lord" 

Benjamin was born in Ormsby on 10th March 1795 and in 1819 he married Elizabeth PALMER in Yarmouth. By 1841 they were living at Flordon Hall, but the death of their daughter in 1843 suggests that life there was not always happy. By 1851 Benjamin and Elizabeth had moved to Thorpe Road, where he is listed as a farmer and maltster. His Will dated 1857 describes him as 'of Flordon and Thorpe' and he and his wife chose to be buried in Flordon with their daughter, Emma.

OTHER GRAVES are mentioned, some with photos, in connection with Flordon residents:

Annie Maud Whaites, whose husband was Rector at the time of her death in 1953.