The Greyhound	::: << Prev ::: Index ::: Next >> :::

Opposite the junction at the northern end of Church Lane stands The Greyhound, originally a farm, and seen here on 5 February 2005.

Marked on maps through the 1800s as the "Greyhound Inn", it has not been a public house since the late 1940s, after which it was let as a private house. Some villagers say that the licence was maintained by the estate up till the time the house was finally sold in the 1990s.

The name, presumably, came from the kennels that have been sited here. Greyhounds were kept for coursing on Westacre well into the 20th Century. Capt. H. Birkbeck, in "The Birkbecks of Norfolk" records that his grandfather "owned one of the leading kennels of coursing greyhounds in the country, winning many fine gold and silver trophies..... Before the First World War he kept his greyhounds at High House.... Between the First and Second World Wars George Howard kept a kennel for him at the Greyhound public house at East Walton which he later passed on to Tom Ramsden of Middleton Tower."

Page updated: 20 February 2006