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The tithe memorial records the tithe wars, emblematic of the growing discontent across the country regarding tithes among the agricultural communities.

Tithes were a tenth part of someone's produce or income that they give or pay as tax to the Church of England. Whether or not the local people were Anglicans, tithes were still collected to help with the upkeep of the church and its vicar.

The Elmsett tithe memorial was built by Charles Westren, a farmer at Elmsett Hall at the edge of his land.

Westren gained national attention when he refused to pay a £385 tithe in 1932. Two years later, he had furniture and goods with a value of £1,200 confiscated from the hall.

The tithe memorial opposite the church is inscribed with the following message:

"1934. To commerate [sic] the Tithe seizure at Elmsett Hall of furniture including baby's bed and blankets, herd of dairy cows, eight corn stacks and seed stacks valued at £1,200 for tithe valued at £385."

Tension in the region was commonplace. The 15 April 1935 issue of Buffalo Courier-Express printed: "Scarcely a day passes without reports of fresh violence in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Kent counties, where the farmers appear to be particularly hard pressed.

"As many as one hundred farmers frequently band to attempt to aid a distressed comrade whose goods and chattels are being seized in lieu of tithe payments."

Westren emigrated in 1943 to America with the tithe system being abolished soon after the Second World War.