Ancestry UK

Lee Cottage Home for Girls, Scole, Norfolk

The Lee Cottage Home for Girls, on Rectory Road, Dickleburgh, was founded in 1883 by £300 from a Miss Mayo who paid for the renovation and subsequent annual rental of the property. The home was supervised by Mrs Louisa Brandreth, the wife of the parish's Rector, who had also overseen Dickleburgh's Rose Cottage home since its opening in 1878.

On January 23rd, 1884, the home was certified by the Local Government Board to receive up to 25 girls placed there by the Boards of Guardians who administered the poor relief and workhouse system.

Girls at the home, aged from 7 to 12 at their date of admission, were expected to go into domestic service. As well as attending the local school, they were given training in skills such as needlework, housework and laundry work. They also contributed to the cleaning of the home and mended their own clothes.

In July 1888, the running of both Lee Cottage and Rose Cottage was taken over by the Waifs and Strays Society.

Lee Cottage Home for Girls, Dickleburgh, c.1887. © Peter Higginbotham

The home closed in 1895 and the residents transferred to the Lowestoft Church Home.

The Lee Cottage home, now renamed The Gables, is now in private residential use.

Former Lee Cottage Home for Girls, Dickleburgh

Records

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