BHO

Addenda et corrigenda

Pages 381-383

The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk: Volume 1. Originally published by WS Crowell, Ipswich, 1846.

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ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA.

Page xiii. The liberty of St. Edmund no longer returns a distinct grand jury. That privilege was abolished in the summer of 1839, on the removal of the assizes once a year to Ipswich.

Beccles.

Besides the fine estate on the fen and common, the town of Beccles is possessed of 102a. 0r. 1p. of land, let in 1846 for £250. This property has been held and managed by feoffees from a very ancient date, though no records are existing to show how and when the town first acquired it. The proceeds are annually applied for parochial purposes. An old feoffment book, commencing in 1636, and ending in 1757, containing the receipts and disbursements of the rents arising from this property, has been discovered in a lumber-room in the house of Thomas Farr, Esq., since the publication of the account of Beccles. The names of many families still residing in the town and its environs appear among the lists of feoffees, as those of Crowfoot, Elmy, Leman, Farr, and Rede, &c. Its pages contain some very curious notices illustrative of the manners and incidents of the times, especially those connected with the civil war in the reign of Charles I., when Beccles furnished soldiers for the expedition against the Scots in 1639.

£. s. d.
1639. Item, given to Burton, by the consent of the Ffeoffees, at his goeing into Scotland to serve in the Towne Armes 2 10 0
Item, paid to Burton for three daies trayning before hee went into Scotland, the some of 0 3 0
Item, to Mr. Gosling for a suite of clothes for Burton when hee was to goe into Scotland, ye some of 0 18 7
Item, to William Warner for a capp for Burton at his going 0 2 8
Item, paid for a shirt for Burton before hee went into Scotland, for him to goe in 0 2 6
Item, paid for a payre of hose for him to goe into Scotland 0 2 8
Item, for two payre of shooes for him when he went awaie 0 5 1
Item, given to Burton's wyfe by ye consent of the ffeoffees, the some of 0 10 0
Item, paid to old Beane for scowring ye towne armes before they went into Scotland, ye some of 0 1 6

From the next entry it would appear that Burton had not sustained the honour of Beccles in the Scottish wars so successfully as was probably desired, for we find him returning sick, and deprived of his sword.

£ s. d.
Item, given to Burton at his returne from Scotland, being sent a waie in ye Towne Armes, and comeing home sicke, and not able to worke, and for his sword hee bought, his owne being taken a waie, yesome of 0 8 0

Notwithstanding this misadventure, Burton seems to have sustained some "apostolic blows and knocks" from his presbyterian opponents, as the next item proves.

£ s. d.
Item, paid to Matt. Caston for newe lyning the Towne Armes wch came out of Scotland wth leather, and for skowring them 0 10 0

From the same record we gather that Beccles paid £1. 15s. 7d. towards the ship-rate, raised in 1639. In 1649, John Elmy, an ancestor, in all probability, of the family of that name, lately extinct in the male line, at Beccles, received £2. 11s. 6d. for going to the siege of Colchester, then held, in favour of the King, by those gallant royalists, Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle. In the following year, 1650, the town participated in the benefit of democratic government by paying £2. 6s. as a quarter's rate towards maintaining the Parliamentarian army.

There appears from the same authority to have been a market cross formerly at Beccles, for, in 1639, the feoffees paid a considerable sum towards its reparation.

£. s. d.
Item, to John Bennington, ye mason, for worke done by him about ye Crosse, ye some of 0 13 0
Item, to him for bringing xxxxiiij bushells of lyme from ye Stath to ye Crosse 0 0 9
For bringing thirteen hundred bricks from Barsham
Item, to Goodman Barber, of Barsham, to mende ye Crosse, and for fetching two loads of sand and a loade of lyme from ye Stath, ye some of 0 6 0
Item, paid to Mr. Suckling for ye bricks wch was used about ye Crosse in repayring of it 1 2 3
Item, paid to Amos Carter, for lyme and other things received of him, the some of £1. 5s. 3d., as appeereth by his bill, wch was used aboute mending the crosse, and the other towne houses 1 15 3
1688. May. Pd. Gisleam for ringing for his highnesse Prince George, when he passed through this towne in returne from Denmarke 0 5 0

Upon the rebuilding of Beccles jail, about forty years since, the feoffees granted a lease of the site, which was part of their estate, for a term of nine hundred and ninetynine years.

Weston.

Page 98.—After passing from the Garneys, the manor of Weston became the estate of the Wards of Bixley, near Norwich. The court books commence in 1694. In 1704, Sir Edward Ward was lord. He married Barbara Gooch, who survived him, and was lady of this manor in 1721. Sir Edward had one son, Edward, who married a Miss Randall. He died, leaving two sons, Edward and Randall, and one daughter, Susanna, who were successively owners of the manor. Susanna Ward was heiress of Sir Randall Ward, who survived his brother Edward. About 1760 she married the Earl of Roseberry, and died in a year or two afterwards. The Earl then became, and continued, lord of the manor of Weston until about 1809, when he sold it to Thomas Farr, Esq., of Beccles.

Flixton.

Page 207, line 2.—For 'Oxford' read 'Cambridge.'

Gisleham.

Page 245, line 20.—For 'March' read 'January.'

Page 248, line 13.—For 'within' read 'without.'

Fritton.

Page 358.—Since the account of Fritton church has been printed, I have been favoured with the following note from the Rev. J. Cubitt, the Rector: "If not too late, I should feel obliged if you will insert under the head of Fritton, that the anomalous wooden pedestal and silver bowl for a font have been supplanted by a Norman font in stone, a copy of the one at Hartland, Devonshire, as detailed in the Oxford illustrations of baptismal fonts."

Printed By W. Hughes, King's Head Court, Gough square.