The village was the birthplace of Faith Emmeline Backhouse, mother of the war poet John Gillespie Magee, Jr..
On 12 March 1678, he married Elizabeth Tollemache (daughter of Elizabeth and Lionel Tollemache, 3rd Baronet of Helmingham) at Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Evans family lived relatively simply, moving their home in the neighbourhood to Needham Market and Helmingham to follow the teaching posts, and at his wife's retirement they settled down finally in Brooke, a small Norfolk village, where George continued to write.
The Tollemache family's names are parodied in Book 1, Episode 4 of James Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake, as Helmingham Erchenwyne Rutter Egbert (HERE) Crumwall Odin Maximus Esme Saxon (COMES) Esa Vercingetorix Ethelwulf Rupprecht Ydwalla Bentley Osmund Dysart Yggdrasselmann (EVERYBODY).