Many of the houses lining Wickham Market’s High Street have fascinating histories, but few can rival the rich history of Crafers, now known as 46 High Street. For more than three centuries, the house has been home to surgeons, clergy, solicitors and local personalities whose lives were closely interwoven with the village’s history.

The oldest part of the building dates from the seventeenth century, when a modest house stood side-on to the road. Around 1708, a much grander residence, described in later records as the “Mansion House”, was added. A cartouche in the roof at the junction of the two sections still records this date. The initials “H.R.S.” may refer to Robert Sheppard, a member of the influential Sheppard family of Campsea Ashe, who is thought to have commissioned the new building.

One of the most notable occupants was Dr Samuel Salmon (1721–1796), a surgeon whose family had originated in Saxmundham and had become numerous and remarkably long-lived. The Salmons were closely associated with Wickham Market for generations and regarded it as their home, even after some family members had moved elsewhere.

Dr Salmon’s career became entangled in one of East Suffolk’s most celebrated inheritance disputes. In 1764, he became involved in the legal battle between the Naunton family of Wales and the Leman family of Beccles over ownership of the Letheringham Abbey estate. The case dragged on for years before finally ending in 1773, with the Nauntons’ defeat. The affair appears to have damaged Dr Salmon’s reputation and left him financially weakened.

Despite these difficulties, the Salmon family continued to prosper. Dr Salmon’s son, William, first moved to Pettistree and later to Penllyn Court after the marriage of Dr William Salmon, Samuel’s grandson, to Hester Deere, the estate’s heiress. Yet the family’s connection with Wickham Market remained strong. Members of the family continued to be buried in the churchyard, maintaining ties with their ancestral village. The most remarkable of them was Dr William Salmon, who lived to the extraordinary age of 106.

A century later, Crafers was home to another distinguished resident, James Pringle Barclay (c.1829–1884). A barrister and Deputy Clerk of the Privy Seal to George IV, Barclay was an influential figure in village life. He held progressive political views and sought to promote education and self-improvement among local people.

In the 1860s, he organised “Penny Readings” at the old Town Hall, offering affordable literary and educational entertainment for residents. These events were popular across Victorian Britain and reflected Barclay’s belief that learning should be accessible to all.

James and his wife, Emily, raised five children in Crafers. Census records indicate that the household employed three domestic servants, while clerks worked in Barclay’s legal practice. The house would therefore have been a busy centre of family and professional life. Barclay died at 87 and was buried in Wickham Market Cemetery, leaving a reputation as one of the village’s most prominent nineteenth-century residents.

In 1941, Dr Harold Paul Lehmann exchanged Lynn House, 93a High Street, for this property and, in 1973, named it Crafers after a small village in Australia. The building also served as his surgery during his long years as Wickham Market’s doctor, from about 1927 until 1973; Lehmann House was later named in his honour. Dr Lehmann is also said to have kept a large model railway on the top floor, where he would invite friends to share in his enjoyment of it.

Today, despite the house changing hands many times and its former lands largely disappearing, Crafers remains a vivid reminder of Wickham Market’s past. Its walls have witnessed centuries of local history, from Georgian legal intrigues and Victorian reforming zeal to the quieter, everyday lives of the families who called it home. As we pass along the High Street, it is worth remembering that behind the familiar façade lies a story spanning more than 300 years.

Crafers Today

Yet Crafers is not only a building of historical interest; it remains firmly woven into everyday life in Wickham Market. The former residence is now home to a spacious first-floor apartment and three well-established local businesses: Café No. 46, Bellissima Beauty, and Mann Wealth Management.

Café 46 occupies the prominent frontage overlooking the Market Square, continuing a long tradition of hospitality and community gathering. Visitors can stop for coffee, light lunches, handmade cakes and refreshments while watching daily life unfold in the centre of Wickham Market. With its emphasis on local produce, it has become a familiar meeting place for residents, visitors and the many cyclists who pass through the village. In recent years, a new chapter has begun under its current ownership, and its place in the village’s social life endures.

Alongside the café, Bellissima Beauty has served clients in Wickham Market for many years. The salon offers a wide range of beauty and wellbeing treatments and has become a familiar feature of the village’s commercial life. Established in the heart of Wickham Market for nearly three decades, this historic building shows how it has adapted to changing needs while remaining closely connected to the community.

Mann Wealth Management is a more recent addition to the building and brings a different kind of service to the building’s present-day life. Offering advice on wealth management, financial planning and retirement matters, it reflects how Crafers continues to evolve while still playing an active role in village life.

More than three hundred years after the Mansion House was built, Crafers remains a living part of Wickham Market. Although the lawyers, surgeons, clergy and doctors have long since departed, the building still welcomes people through its doors every day. In that sense, it is not merely a survivor from the village’s past but part of its continuing life.

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This article is based on research compiled by the Wickham Market Area Archive Centre and other local historical sources. Readers with additional information or family connections to Crafers are always welcome to contact the Archive Centre.

Philip Tallent, Chairman, Wickham Market Area Archive Centre