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CHRONICLES 
OF    THEBERTON 

A    SUFFOLK    VILLAGE 


BY 

HENRY    MONTAGU    DOUGHTY 

Author  of  "  Frieslatid  Meres,  "  ^'c. 

With  an  Introduction  and  Notes  by 
The  Rev.  W.  W.  SKEAT,  Litt.D.,  &c. 

Professor  of  Anglo-Saxon  in  the  University  of  Cambridge. 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS   AND   MAPS 


MACMILLAN    AND    CO.,    LIMITED 
ST.    MARTIN'S    STREET,   LONDON 

1910 


TN  this  book  we  have  the  history  of  a  Suffolk  parish  written 
by  one  who  knows  its  traditions  and  loves  its  soil.  Com- 
mencing with  the  Norman  Conquest,  when  its  serfs  were  still 
sold  like  its  cattle  and  when  it  was  called  by  a  corruption  of  the 
older  Saxon  name,  Thewardetuna,  we  are  led  carefully  down,  step 
by  step,  to  the  recent  date  of  1850.  The  parish  has  changed  very 
little,  and  that  slowly,  since  the  days  it  was  mentioned  in  the 
Paston  Letters.  The  old  tower  which  was  standing  in  1066  is 
still  part  of  the  Church,  and  on  its  outskirts  a  portion  of  another 
venerable  building  (and  both  of  these  are  included  in  the  illustra- 
tions of  this  book),  the  Abbey  of  Leiston,  exists  also.  Of  this  Abbey 
we  are  told  much  here,  for,  until  the  Dissolution,  it  possessed 
the  advowson  of  Theberton  which  adjoined  it,  having  acquired  it 
in  1373  from  Margaret  Countess  of  Norfolk,  and  it  occasionally 
upheld  its  rights  vi  et  armis.  The  author  puts  the  whole  life  of 
the  parish  in  the  different  centuries  before  us,  giving  us  details  of 
the  Church,  the  incumbents  and  their  difficulties  during  the  Tudor 
and  Stuart  times,  the  parish  government,  the  folklore,  and  even  the 
inns.  He  has  much  to  say  of  the  land  owners,  and  the  residents, 
one  of  whom  in  remembrance  of  his  happy  youth  at  Theberton 
carried  the  name  of  the  parish  to  a  suburb  of  Adelaide  in  South 

I  Australia.  He  gives  moreover  extracts  from  the  registers  (which 
'  date  from  1 548)  showing  the  names  of  the  parishioners,  and 
indicates  by  the  prices  and  valuations  which  he  quotes  the  gradual 
progress  of  luxury  and  comfort.  When  records  of  the  parish  have 
been  wanting  the  writer  has,  from  his  local  knowledge,  been 
enabled  to  fill  up  the  lacuncBhy  illustrations  from  the  history  of  the 
adjoining  parishes,  and  this  book,  originally  intended  as  the  history 
of  a  small  Suffolk  community,  will  be  found  to  be  of  special  interest 
not  only  to  East  Anglians,  but  to  all,  far  and  wide,  who  wish  to 
know  how  their  forefathers  have  fared  and  carried  on  parish  life 
from  the  time  of  the  Norman  Invasion. 


EXTRACT    FROM    INTRODUCTION 

By  the  Rev.  PROFESSOR  SKEAT 

The  law  of  progress  has  always  involved  great  and  important 
changes.  Many  of  these,  especially  as  regards  the  pronunciation 
of  our  language  and  the  history  of  our  spelling,  have  been  so  slight 
and  imperceptible  at  the  time  as  to  have  usually  escaped  much 
observation ;  but  constant  flux  and  steady  movement  produce 
important  differences  at  last.  One  difficulty  of  watching  events 
consists  in  the  perpetual  change  of  time  and  place  ;  and  it  is  for  this 
reason  that  it  is  a  partial  gain — because  it  affords  us  a  steadier 
view — to  eliminate  one  of  these  elements  by  making  the  place 
invariable.  This  is  why  it  is  often  of  much  assistance  to  peruse 
the  annals  of  a  single  parish,  such  as  that  of  Theberton,  in  order  to 
understand  how  it  is  fully  subject  to  the  general  law,  changing  from 
day  to  day  for  the  most  part  imperceptibly,  yet  not  unfrequently 
even  violently  affected  by  the  shocks  of  great  events.  It  is  extremely 
interesting  to  note,  in  the  following  pages,  several  instances  in 
which  even  a  quiet  parish  has  passed  through  its  trials.  See,  for 
example,  the  remark  at  p.  8,  that  "from  that  act  of  a  pope,  who 
died  seven  centuries  ago,  our  rectors  have  still  to  suffer  ! "  The 
"first  prosecution  of  a  poacher"  goes  back  to  1299  (p.  10).  In 
1 131  there  was  "a  deadly  pest  amongst  the  animals,  such  as  had 
never  been  in  memory  of  man"'  (p.  11).  And  it  was  ascribed 
to  the  appearance  in  the  sky  of  an  exceptionally  beautiful  exhi- 
bition of  the  aurora  borealis.  Much  interest  attaches  to  the  prices 
of  wheat  and  bullocks  in  1281  and  1288  (p.  22).  A  pheasant  cost 
as  much  as  a  goose.  In  1348-9  came  the  terrible  Black  Death, 
when  "  harvests  rotted  upon  the  ground  "  (p.  24).  Few  of  us  realise, 
even  in  a  slight  degree,  the  many  comforts  of  life  which  we  moderns 
enjoy.  Even  the  peasant  may  now  protect  his  windows  with  glass  ; 
but  the  medieval  noble,  who  knew  but  little  privacy,  often  had  to 
dine  in  hall,  protected  only  by  a  clumsy  hood,  or  not  at  all,  from 
the  horrible  draughts  pouring  through  apertures  in  the  cold  stone 
wall.  "  How  women  got  on  without  pins  is  hard  to  imagine " 
(p.  30).     There  is  a  strange   story  about  the  arrest  of  the  rector  of 


Theberton  in  his  own  church,  whilst  he  was  celebrating  divine 
service,  on  Ascension  Day,  1445  (p.  55).  In  1528,  we  have  the 
trials  of  two  "  wise  women,"  who  pretended  to  effect  cures  (p.  63)  ; 
and  somewhat  later,  of  a  wizard  who  practised  divination  by  help 
of  a  sieve  and  a  pair  of  shears  (p.  65).  In  1514,  the  new  hand- 
guns  were  challenging  the  use  of  the  bow  ;  but  the  parliament 
decided  in  favour  of  the  latter  (p.  69). 

These  are  a  few  specimens  of  the  multifarious  kinds  of  inform- 
ation to  be  here  found  ;  all  within  the  first  70  pages.  It  would  be 
easy  to  multiply  them  largely ;  but  I  hope  enough  has  been  said 
to  recommend  to  the  reader  a  careful  perusal  of  the  whole  volume. 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Old  Round  Tower,  Theberton  Church. 
Church  of  St.  Mary  de  Insula. 
A  Survivor  of  the  Old  Deer  Park. 
Framlingham  Castle. 
'The  Font,  Theberton  Church. 
Leiston  Abbey  in  1781. 
The  Church  Farm. 
"The  Stone  to  sitt  upon." 
George  Doughty  Esquire. 
Norman  Door,  Theberton  Church. 
Theberton  Hall. 

MAPS. 
Tylers  Green. 
Winters  Heath. 
The  Commons  of  Theberton  in  1824. 


London:  MACMILLAN  AND  CO,  Ltd. 


-riKi: 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/chroniclesofthebOOdougiala 


CHRONICLES  OF  THEBERTON 


Thk  Old  Round  Tower,    IHkbkkton  Church. 


CHRONICLES 
OF    THEBERTON 

A    SUFFOLK   VILLAGE 


BY 

HENRY   MONTAGU   DOUGHTY 

Author  of  ^^ Friesland  Meres"  &'c. 

With  an  Introduction  and  Notes  by 
The   Rev.   W.   W.   SKEAT,   Litt.D.,   &c. 

Professor  of  Anglo-Saxon  in  the  University  of  Cambridge 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  MAPS 


MACMILLAN    AND    CO.,   LIMITED 

ST.   MARTIN'S    STREET,   LONDON 

1910 


Richard  Clav  and  Sons,  Limited, 

bread  street  hill,  r.c,  and 

bungav,  suffolk. 


DA 


TO   MY   FRIENDS   IN   THEBERTON 


Theberton  Hall, 

April,  1 9 10. 


825854 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Introduction xiii 

Chapter  I i  / 

Theberton  in  Doomsday — Aspect  of  the  Country — Our  Round 
Tower — Death  of  William  the  Conqueror — The  First  Leiston 
Abbey — Slaves  in  Theberton — Forgotten   Sites — Monastic   Land-  J 

owners  in  Theberton — Our  Earliest  Poacher — Superstition  and 
Cattle  Plague — Customs  of  the  Manor — The  Great  House  of  Bigod 
— Edward  II.  Patron  of  the  Benefice — Early  Rectors — Devolution 
of  the  Advowson. 

Chapter  II 17 

The  Black  Death— A  XlVth  Century  Assessment— Theberton 
Jurors  in  1341 — The  Parish  in  the  XlVth  Century — Earnings  and 
Cost  of  Living — Wages  and  Prices — Great  Fluctuations  in  Prices  — 
Suffolk  Farming — Standards  of  Comfort — Homes  of  the  Period — 
Has  our  Manhood  Degenerated? — Mediaeval  Manners — Domestic 
Industries — Home  Defence — Ancient  Local  Place  Names. 

Chapter  III 33 

The  Jenney  Family — ^Word  Pictures  from  Chaucer — Nature's 
Gentlemen — The  Old  Theberton  Deer  Park — Deer  for  Food  and 
Sport — The  Modern  Park  Tithe  Free — Venison  from  Framlinghani 
Castle — A  Park  Keeper's  Diary— The  Frenche  Quene  and  the 
Cardinal — Heveningham  Park — Concerning  Appropriations.  ^ 

Chapter  IV 45  .     J  ^^  . 

The  Theberton  Appropriation— The   Pope's  Usurped  Power— Wb^^l}''^ 

The  King  presents  Rectors — The  Appropriation  Invalid — How 
Invalidated? — Successive  Rectors — Presentation  of  John  Doonwych 
— Proceedings  against  Doonwych — An  Affray  in  Theberton  Church 
— Holy  Thursday  a.d.    1445 — Fifteenth   Century    Fashions — An  "  p 

Outrageous  Abbot.                ^^  hMLCti  4l^^A 

Chapter  V .  .  .'TT?. 58 

Theberton  Wills — A  Church  Ale  and  a  Trental —Visitations  of 
Leiston  Abbey — Local  Names  of  Leiston  Monks — Courts  Christian 
and  Apparitors — "Wise  Women"  in  the  XVIth  Century^ 
Drynkynges — A  Clerical  Wizard — A  Monkish  Conspiracy — The' 
Conspiracy  Fails — A  Rector's  Testament — The  Religious  Renais- 
sance— Longbow  versus  Caliver. 


1^ 


viii  CONTENTS 

Chapter  VI 71 

"  Tithes  Forgotten  "—Theberton  in  the  Star  Chamber— Abbot's 
"Assault  and  Grievous  Affray" — Taxable  Men  of  Theberton — 
A  Great  Change  Impending — "Poverty  their  Captain" — After 
the  Dissolution — ^John  Grene  the  Hermit — The  Paraphrase  of 
Erasmus — Walking  the  Perambulation — The  Soke  of  Leyston — 
Tenants  of  the  Soke  versus  Browne — Claim  for  Common  Rights. 

Chapter  VII 85 

A  Martyrdom  at  Yoxford — Our  Earliest  Parish  Register — An 
Old  Theberton  Lawsuit — Concerning  Theberton  Hall — Parish 
Topography — The  Ingham  Family — Communicants  and  Recusants 
— Agricultural  Prosperity — An  Elizabethan  Farmer's  Belongings — 
The  Church  Farm — State  of  Highways  A.  D.  1 555 — The  Eastbridge 
Inn  A.D.  1589 — Our  Old  Church  Bells. 

Chapter  VIII 99 

Christmas  Festivities — Holloaing  Largesse— Suffolk  Fair  Maids — 
Theberton  Christian  Names — Old  Theberton  Surnames — Eliza- 
bethan Magistrates — Poachers  and  Game  Preservation — Payment  of 
Members  of  Parliament — A  Theberton  Parson's  Will — Presentation 
of  William  Fenn — Troublous  Times. 

Chapter  IX in 

The  Book  of  Sports— Bull-Baiting— Betwixt  the  Two  Bundles  of 
Hay — The  Great  Protestation — The  Eastern  Association — The 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant — Scandalous  Ministers — Parson  Fenn 
Summoned — Sequestration  of  the  Rectory — Fenn's  Case  Considered 
— Death  of  Parson  Fenn — Commissioners  Sitting  at  Eastbridge — 
A  Wreck  off  "  The  Sluice"— Fenn's  "  Herbi^e  Book"— The 
Rectory  in  1635 — A  Flood  of  Superstition, 

Chapter  X 127 

Witches  Hanged  at  Aldborough — Superstition  at  Theberton — A 
Digression  about  Weasels — The  Directory — The  Engagement — 
Profanity  Expensive — The  Rolls  of  the  Manor — Marriage  by 
Magistrates — Our  Parish  Soldier — Theberton  Parish  Accounts — 
The  Plague  Year — Bartholomew  Confessors — Hue  and  Cry  at 
Theberton. 

Chapter  XI 141 

Our  Man-of-War  Parson — The  Battle  of  Sole  Bay — Noise  of 
Battle  at  Theberton — Oboli  and  Quadrantes — Customs  of  Tithing — 
Attending  the  Generals — The  View  of  Frank  Pledge — The  "  Stone 
to  Sitt  Upon  " — Contents  of  a  XVIIth  Century  Cottage — Edmund 
Bohun  of  Westhall— Labourers'  Wages  in  1682— The  "  Pariter." 

fyit  Chapter  XII 154 


\^^ 


^ 


Repairs  to  the  Church — Fees  for  Chirurgioning — Assessment  for 
Poll  Tax — The  Archdeacon's  Prandium — Tyler's  Green — A  Tax  on 
Bachelors — The  Last  Jenney  of  Theberton — Parish  Apprentices — 
"Noyful  Fowells  and  Vermyn" — Concerning  Briefs — The  Moll 
House. 


CONTENTS  ix 

Chapter  XIII i66 

Primitias  or  First  Fruits — Coronation  Festivity — Linen  Weaving 
— Parish  Republics — Duties  of  Parish  Constables — Phaba  Booth's 
Penance — Appointment  of  a  Parish  Clerk — Phaba  Married — 
Influence  of  Justices — Fuel  for  the  Poor — Peat  from  the  Common 
Fen — Herbs  for  Physic. 

Chapter  XIV 179 

Dipping  for  Lameness — Purchase  of  a  "Dog  Wipe" — Pluralist 
Parsons — The  Complaint  of  "  Orthodoxus  " — A  Parish  Doctor's 
Bill — Repairing  the  Tombs — The  Bear  Way — Hall  and  Park 
House— A  Potash  Office — The  Bell  Brook — Vitality  of  Whin  Seeds 
— Crofts  and  Tofts — Incorporation  of  Blything  Union — Riot  at 
Bulcamp  Workhouse — Theberton  Rioters. 

Chapter  XV 195 

A  Forgotten   Sport — Setting  Partridges — How   it   was  Done — 


0 


\  \h 


Shooting,  Old  Style  and  New — Suffolk  in  India — The  Brick  House        ft>   \V        V 
— A    Theberton    Empire    Builder — An    Australian    Theberton —  \lry       v 


r 


Balloting  for  the  Militia — Hard  Times— Parish  Topography — Con- 
templated Enclosure  of  Commons — Theberton  Enclosure  Act — 
Concerning  Parish  Rights — Tylers  Green  and  Winters  Heath — 
More's  the  Pity. 

Chapter  XVI 212 

"Legalised  Spoliation" — New  Parish  Roads — Who  were  Bene- 
fited?— Minsmere  Level — Church  Plate  in  1801 — The  Company  of 
Singers — Our  Last  Parish  Clerk — The  Church  of  the  People — Old 
Gravestones  — Theberton  House  —  Rules  for  a  Holy  Life  —  A 
Theberton  Statesman. 

Chapter  XVII 225 

The  Last  Parish  Perambulation — A  Parish  Emigrant — Education 
Past  and  Present — Commutation  of  Tithes — Value  of  Theberton 
Tithes — Untrustworthy  Terriers — A  Poet  Rector — The  Church 
Restored— The  Gleaning  Bell— The  End  of  the  Story. 

Notes  by  the  Rev.  Professor  Skeat 241 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Old  Round  Tower,  Theberton  Church  Frontispiece 

Church  of  St.  Mary  de  Insula     . 

A  Survivor  of  the  Old  Deer  Park 

Framlingham  Castle   . 

The  Font,  Theberton  Church 

Leiston  Abbey  in  178 i 

The  Church  Farm 

"The  Stone  to  sitt  upon" 

George  Doughty  Esquire  . 

Norman  Door,  Theberton  Church 

Theberton  Hall 


MAPS. 

Tylers  Green         ..... 

Winters  Heath 

The  Commons  of  Theberton  in  1824 


To  face 

page 

6 

11 

11 

38 

tt 

» 

42 

»» 

» 

56 

j> 

5> 

78 

5> 

5> 

96 

» 

» 

148 

y> 

)> 

196 

» 

5> 

2l8 

j> 

» 

232 

Toface 

page 

208 

» 

210 
214 

ERRATA 

Page  26,  line  6  from  foot,  for  "  Bedingfield  "  read  "Beding- 
feld." 

Page  28,  lines  2  and  4,  transpose  the  words  "  hall "  and 
••  bower." 


INTRODUCTION 

By  the  Rev.  PROFESSOR  SKEAT 

Our  history  is  full  of  great  events,  and  extends,  since 
the  time  of  Caesar,  over  more  than  nineteen  hundred 
years  ;  but  the  more  important  part  of  it,  considered  as 
it  affects  us  at  present,  is  comprised  within  the  modern 
period.  Students  of  the  history  of  our  language  usually 
consider  this  as  beginning,  for  practical  purposes,  with 
the  accession  of  Henry  VII.;  and  it  was  near  the 
beginning  of  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign  that  Columbus 
discovered  San  Salvador.  The  events  of  the  last  four 
hundred  years  concern  us  therefore  most  nearly  ;  but 
there  is  also  much  that  we  cannot  rightly  appreciate 
without  some  acquaintance  with  the  laws,  manners,  and 
customs  of  medieval  times. 

The  law  of  progress  has  always  involved  great  and 
important  changes.  Many  of  these,  especially  as  regards 
the  pronunciation  of  our  language  and  the  history  of 
our  spelling,  have  been  so  slight  and  imperceptible  at 
the  time  as  to  have  usually  escaped  much  observation  ; 
but  constant  flux  and  steady  movement  produce  import- 
ant differences  at  last.  One  difficulty  of  watching  events 
consists  in  the  perpetual  change  of  time  and  place  ;  and 
it  is  for  this  reason  that  it  is  a  partial  gain — because  it 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

affords  us  a  steadier  view — to  eliminate  one  of  these 
elements  by  making  the  place  invariable.  This  is  why 
it  is  often  of  much  assistance  to  peruse  the  annals  of  a 
single  parish,  such  as  that  of  Theberton,  in  order  to 
understand  how  it  is  fully  subject  to  the  general  law, 
changing  from  day  to  day  for  the  most  part  impercept- 
ibly, yet  not  unfrequently  even  violently  affected  by  the 
shocks  of  great  events.  It  is  extremely  interesting  to 
note,  in  the  following  pages,  several  instances  in  which 
even  a  quiet  parish  has  passed  through  its  trials.  See, 
for  example,  the  remark  at  p.  8,  that  "  from  that  act  of 
a  pope,  who  died  seven  centuries  ago,  our  rectors  have 
still  to  suffer ! "  The  "  first  prosecution  of  a  poacher  " 
goes  back  to  1299  (p.  10).  In  1 131  there  was  "a  deadly 
pest  amongst  the  animals,  such  as  had  never  been  in 
memory  of  man"  (p.  11).  And  it  was  ascribed  to  the 
appearance  in  the  sky  of  an  exceptionally  beautiful 
exhibition  of  the  aurora  borealis.  Much  interest  attaches 
to  the  prices  of  wheat  and  bullocks  in  1281  and  1288 
(p.  22),  A  pheasant  cost  as  much  as  a  goose.  In 
1 348-9  came  the  terrible  Black  Death,  when  "  harvests 
rotted  on  the  ground  "  (p.  24).  Few  of  us  realise,  even 
in  a  slight  degree,  the  many  comforts  of  life  which  we 
moderns  enjoy.  Even  the  peasant  may  now  protect  his 
windows  with  glass ;  but  the  medieval  noble,  who  knew 
but  little  privacy,  often  had  to  dine  in  hall,  protected 
only  by  a  clumsy  hood,  or  not  at  all,  from  the  horrible 
draughts  pouring  through  apertures  in  the  cold  stone 
wall.  "  How  women  got  on  without  pins  is  hard  to 
imagine"  (p.  30).  There  is  a  strange  story  about  the 
arrest  of  the  rector  of  Theberton  in  his  own  church, 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

whilst  he  was  celebrating  divine  service,  on  Ascension 
Day,  1445  (p.  55).  In  1528,  we  have  the  trials  of  two 
'*  wise  women,"  who  pretended  to  effect  cures  (p.  63) ; 
and  somewhat  later,  of  a  wizard  who  practised  divination 
by  help  of  a  sieve  and  a  pair  of  shears  (p.  65).  In  15 14, 
the  new  hand-guns  were  challenging  the  use  of  the  bow ; 
but  the  parliament  decided  in  favour  of  the  latter 
(p.  69). 

These  are  a  few  specimens  of  the  multifarious  kinds 
of  information  to  be  here  found  ;  all  within  the  first 
70  pages.  It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  them  largely ; 
but  I  hope  enough  has  been  said  to  recommend  to  the 
reader  a  careful  perusal  of  the  whole  volume. 

WALTER  W.  SKEAT. 


V 


CHRONICLES    OF   THEBERTON 


CHAPTER  I 

It  seems  a  far  cry  back  to  the  days  of  William  the 
Conqueror ;  but  thus  deep  must  we  delve  to  find  the 
earliest  notice  of  Theberton. 

When  William  felt  himself  secure  in  his  saddle,  the 
thought  came  to  his  mind  to  have  a  survey  made  of  his 
new  dominion.  We  learn  from  the  most  ancient  book 
in  the  English  language — the  "  Saxon  Chronicle  " — how 
the  king  spoke  very  gravely  to  his  Witan,  and  that  he 
sent  scribes  throughout  England,  to  write  what  every 
man  possessed  in  land  and  in  cattle,  and  how  much 
money  it  was  worth ;  "  no  single  hide,  no  rood  even  of 
land,  no  ox,  nor  cow,  nor  pig,  was  omitted."  All  these 
accounts  were  collected,  and  together  form  what  we  call 
the  "  Doomsday  Book." 

This  old  book — eight  hundred  years  old — is  still 
preserved  ;  and  in  it  are  entries  relating  to  this  our  parish 
which  the  Normans  called  "  Thewardetuna,"  The  Saxon 
name  had  been  Theod-beorhtes-tun,  the  "  tun  "  or  farm 
of  Theod-beorht,  whence  Thebbert's-tun,  and  dropping 
the  s  Thebbert-ton.  Theod-beorht  was  pronounced 
Tibert  by  the  Normans,  whence  another  form,  Tibberton. 

B 


2  THEBERTON  IN  DOOMSDAY 

That  corruption  fell  off,  and  Theberton,  as  now  written, 
faithfully  preserves  the  name  of  the  "  tun  "  as  Thebbert " 
himself  pronounced  it  a  thousand  years  ago.  ^ 

Mentioned  too,  in  "  Doomsday,"  is  the  manor,  which  is 
still  in  being.  It  was  old  even  then,  having  come  down 
perhaps  from  Theod-beorht.  At  the  time  of  the  survey, 
a  man  named  Hubert  held  it  under  the  great  Robert 
Malet,  of  whom  we  shall  read  later  on.  In  the  days  of 
Edward  the  Confessor,  there  had  been  one  free  man  in 
Theberton,  whose  name  was  Suart  Hoga,  who  held  sixty 
acres  under  one  Ulf,  son  of  Maning  Suart ;  and  there 
had  been  one  plough,  and  two  acres  of  meadow  land  put 
at  £i  a  year  ;  but  William's  surveyor  found  the 
plough  no  longer ;  .the  land  had  dropped  out  of  cultiva- 
tion, and  the  value  had  fallen  to  but  los.  a  year. 

The  plough,  I  think,  implied  as  much  "  earable  "  land 
as  a  team  of  eight  oxen  and  one  plough  could  work  in  a 
twelve-month,  which  might  perhaps  be  one  hundred 
acres.  The  present  area  of  Theberton,  probably  much 
the  same  as  in  the  Conqueror's  time,  is  something  under 
two  thousand  acres  ;  so  we  must  picture  some  nineteen 
hundred  acres  of  natural  country — wild  heath,  fen  and 
forest,  with,  in  the  midst  of  it,  about  one  hundred  acres 
of  clearing. 

And  as  was  this,  so  were  the  adjacent  manors  ;  each 
for  the  most  part  waste  ;  and  the  wastes  together  formed 
a  vast  wilderness,  dotted  with  oases,  cultivated  like 
ours  of  Theberton.  Good  harbour  was  there  for  wild 
game — red,  fallow,^  and  roe  deer,  wolves,  and  wild  boars, 
beavers,  and  perhaps  bears.  Herds  of  tame  swine  also, 
in  the  charge  of  Saxon  swineherds  like  Gurth  of  Ivanhoe, 

'  This  on  the  high  authority  of  Professor  Skeat,  for  whose  kind 
help  I  am  greatly  indebted. 

2  Fallow  deer  are  supposed  to  have  been  introduced  by  the 
Romans. 


ASPECT  OF  THE   COUNTRY  3 

battened  on  beech-mast  and  acorns,  as  swine  do  to  this 
day,  during  the  pannage  months,  in  what  was  then  in 
fact  as  well  as  name  the  New  Forest.  Rude  huts  there 
must  have  been  for  herdsmen  and  ploughmen  ;  and  no 
doubt  near  the  sea,  and  on  the  shores  of  the  estuary 
now  the  Minsmere  Level,  were  other  cots  for  fishermen, 
who,  in  wicker  hide-covered  coracles,  used  to  go  fishing 
for  herrings. 

Poor  cabins  all  such  dwellings  then,  though  maybe 
neither  cold,  nor,  judged  by  the  barbarous  standard  of 
those  days,  quite  comfortless.  Bits  of  garden,  yards 
they  called  them — we  Suffolk  folk  call  them  yards  still 
— were  about  them,  and  sheds,  too,  for  cow  or  pony. 
Men  built  their  own  dwellings  and  sheds.  Material  was 
plentiful  and  nigh  to  hand,  wood  out  of  the  forest  for 
"  house  bote  "  and  "  hedge  bote,"  clay  under  foot  fit  for 
daubing,  and  reeds  from  the  nigh  fen  for  their  thatch- 
ing. No  roads  worthy  the  name  then  existed,  only  rutty 
tracks  here  and  there,  worn  by  solid  cart  wheels,  and 
paths,  mere  forest  trails,  for  foot  people. 

There  doubtless  stood  a  church  in  our  clearing,  built 
by  some  Saxon  lord  of  the  manor,  of  rough  logs  prob- 
ably, and  thatched  with  reeds  ;  and  near  it,  perhaps  even 
touching  it,  stood  an  ancient  tower. 

Such  towers  were  many  in  East  Anglia,  mostly 
placed  either  near  the  sea  ;  or  by  those  first  highways  of 
an  uncleared  country  the  courses  of  rivers  ;  or  near  the 
great  high  roads,  which  the  Romans  during  four 
centuries  had  driven  through  all  obstacles.  No  quarri- 
able  stone  is  found  in  these  parts  for  corners,  so  copying 
Roman  work  such  as  the  half-round  bastions  of  Burgh 
Castle,  our  Saxon  ancestors  picked  flints  from  off  the 
land,  bedded  them  in  concrete,  and  built  their  towers 
round.     "  Rounde  maad  in  compas  "  were  they,  like  the 

B  2 


4  OUR  ROUND  TOWER 

"  Tower  of  Jelousie,"  the  mortar  perhaps  compounded 
like  Chaucer's  prescription : 

".  .  .  Of  licour  wonder  dere 
Of  quykke  lyme  persant  and  egre 
The  which  was  tempred  with  vynegre." 

At  all  events,  one  finds  the  mortar  now  as  hard  nearly 
as  the  flint  stones.  These  round  towers  must  have  been 
the  work  of  able  craftsmen,  so  many  of  them  still,  after  the 
storm  and  stress  of  centuries,  standing  strong  as  ever. 

Like  most  of  its  compeers,  our  round  tower  of  Theber- 
ton  stands  on  a  conspicuous  site,  put  there  to  serve 
not  only  for  a  stronghold  against  sea  rovers,  but  as  a 
landmark  too,  and  a  lighthouse  to  guide  wayfarers 
through  an  intricate  forest.  Afterwards,  when  men 
needed  a  church  for  worship,  and  to  serve  as  a  store- 
house for  treasures,  they  built  it  close  to  their  tower,  in 
which  they  then  hung  bells.  Our  Suffolk  towers  thus 
came  to  resemble  in  their  usefulness  the  noble  Irish 
Round  Towers. 

Just  when  the  primitive  log  church  gave  place  to  a 
better  we  cannot  tell  with  certainty,  but  that  the  nave 
and  the  westernmost  half  of  the  present  chancel  were 
built  not  long  after  the  Conqueror's  time  is  probable  ;  the 
north  door  is  a  fine  piece  of  Norman,  and  an  accomplished 
architect,  my  late  friend  Mr.  St.  Aubyn,  showed  me 
good  Norman  work  as  far  east  as  to  half  the  length  of 
the  chancel. 

A  church  at  Theberton,  dedicated  to  St.  Peter,  was 
taken  note  of  in  "Doomsday  "  ;  and  there  was  then  a  house 
for  the  parson,  and  glebe,  perhaps  the  selfsame  fields  as 
now,  computed  at  fifteen  acres  ;  acres  were  then  uncertain 
quantities,  there  are  twelve  statute  acres  at  the  present 
day ;  the  benefice  was  put  at  40  marks  or  ;^26.  13^.  ^d- 
a  considerable  income  at  the  then  value  of  money. 


11 


DEATH  OF  WILLIAM  THE   CONQUEROR    5 

A  year  after  his  great  survey,  King  William  died  in 
Normandy.     In  those  days  news  travelled  slowly,  few  of 
the  laity  could  even  read  ;  so  our  forbears  in  Theberton 
may  have  heard  nought  of  the  king's  death  till   their  n 
priest  from  the  steps  of  the  altar — there  were  no  pulpits  / 
then — announced  to  them  that  his  son  had  been  crowned  / 
"aFWestminster,  and  that  he  had  given  sixty  pennies  to 
Theberton  and  every  other  country  church,  for  his  soul's 
sake. 

A  masterful  lord  had  been  William,  "  mild  "  indeed 
"  to  those  good  men  who  loved  God,  severe  beyond 
measure  to  those  who  withstood  himself."  "  In  his 
time,"  says  the  contemporary  chronicler,  "  any  man  who 
was  himself  aught,  might  travel  through  the  kingdom 
with  a  bosom-full  of  gold  unmolested,  and  no  man  durst 
kill  another,  however  grievous  the  injury  he  might  have 
suffered." 

It  helps  to  bring  home  to  one  how  different  an  England 
our  far-away  ancestors  lived  in,  and  how  different  they 
were  from  ourselves,  when  one  recalls  that  even  the 
language  they  spoke  would  at  this  day  sound  foreign  to 
our  ears.  English  has  been  so  changed  in  the  course 
of  long  centuries  that  we  have  to  learn  the  old  words — 
Anglo-Saxon  we  call  them  now — as  one  learns  Dutch, 
by  the  help  of  dictionary.  The  parish  priest  of  Theberton 
was  no  doubt  a  Saxon— an  Englishman — and  made  his 
announcement  in  good  English  to  English  folk,  but  we 
moderns  could  not  have  understood  a  word  of  it. 

One  thing  that  old  time  priest,  whose  name  even  is 
forgotten,  had  in  common  with  our  modern  parsons  ;  he 
was  not  forbidden  to  have  a  wife  and  family.  Not  long 
after  it  was  ordered  by  William  of  Corboyl  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  and  all  the  bishops  of  England,  that 
priests  should  abandon  their  wives ;  but  the  chronicler 


6  THE   FIRST   LEISTON  ABBEY 

adds  that  they  all  kept  their  wives  just  as  before,  and 
that  by  the  King's  permission. 

Towards  the  close  of  Henry  H's  reign,  in  1182,  a 
house  of  religion  made  its  first  appearance  on  the 
borders  of  our  parish  among  the  swamps  of  the  river 
Myssemeare.  Now,  the  swamp  is  laid  dry,  but  the  walls 
of  the  Abbey  church  still  stand  upon  an  eminence  rising 
above  the  green  level  as  if  still  an  island.  Tidal  waters 
did  indeed  ebb  and  flow  round  the  desolate  spot,  when 
by  a  deed  yet  existing,  William  de  Valleines  gave  land 
to  the  Church  by  the  name  of  the  "  Church  of  St.  Mary 
de  insulel."  The  Abbey  was  founded  by  a  Suffolk  worthy, 
Sir  Ranulph  de  Glanvil,  a  great  lawyer  to  whom  our 
earliest  law  book  is  attributed,  a  knightly  warrior,  captor 
of  King  William  the  Lion  of  Scotland,  Justiciary,  Regent 
of  the  Kingdom,  one  of  King  Henry  H's  executors. 
His  supposed  birth-place  is  the  parish  of  Stratford  near 
our  market  town,  Saxmundham.  He  died  doing  his 
devoir  under  Cceur  de  Lion  at  Acre. 

By  the  twelfth  century,  the  monastic  virtues  were 
mayhap  declining,  but  Ranulph  introduced  a  new  order 
of  special  sanctity,  a  late  graft  upon  the  primitive  stock 
of  that  father  of  monks  St.  Benedict.  St.  Norbert, 
founder  of  the  new  order,  was  Archbishop  of  Magdeburg, 
where  travellers  should  visit  his  convent,  spared  by  even 
Tilly.  He  settled  his  community  first  in  the  forest  of 
Coucy,  where  a  site  was  shown  him  by  an  angel,  the 
pratum  monstratum,  from  which,  or  from  the  Norman 
pr^montr^,  comes  the  designation  of  his  order.  His 
Premonstratensian  or  Premontratensian  monks  who  wore 
a  white  habit,  were  also  known  as  white  canons. 

This  house,  the  first  Leyston  Abbey,  and  its  two 
successors  on  a  different  site,  all  stood  close  upon  the 
borders  of  our  parish.     I  have  tried  to  tell  their  story 


<    < 


SLAVES  IN  THEBERTON  7 

elsewhere,  but  it  is  so  interwoven  with  the  story  of 
Theberton,  that  I  shall  have  to  repeat  a  little  ;  and  some 
further  gleanings  from  its  archives  will,  I  hope,  add 
interest  to  this  narrative. 

In  the  barbarous  days  of  old,  we  know  our  country 
was  cursed  with  the  blight  of  slavery.  In  our  now  free 
England,  as  in  Russia  but  yesterday,  and  the  day  before 
yesterday  in  Mecklenburg,  Christian  men,  women  and 
children  could  be  bought  and  sold  like  cattle.  One 
class,  the  "  villeins  regardant,"  only  indeed  was  attached 
to  the  soil,  so  that  when  land  was  sold  they  passed  as 
part  of  it ;  a  lower  class  "  villeins  in  gross "  being 
saleable  independently,  like  any  other  merchandise. 

Now  for  one  document  from  the  Abbey  Chartulary. 
It  is  a  deed  whereby  one  Saer  de  Biskele  granted  to  the 
church  of  St.  Mary  of  Leeston  ^  and  the  canons  of  the 
Premontratensian  order  serving  there,  two  little  woods 
in  the  parish  of  Theberton,  and  together  with  them  one 
Roger  the  Carter  with  all  his  following — Roger  and  all 
his  family,  as  "  villeins  regardant,"  thus  passing  with  the 
land,  like  any  other  live  stock  upon  it. 

Take  another  charter,  whereby  the  same  man,  Saer  de 
Biskele,  granted  to  the  same  abbot  and  canons  a  house 
in  Theberton,  and  certain  lands,  of  which  some  were 
held  by  Bernard  Herell,  together  with  Bernard  himself 
and  his  following. 

These  charters  give  the  names  of  the  two  little  woods, 

and  of  the  house  of  Saer  de  Biskele.     The  woods  were 

called  Uphalheg  and  Chiltre,  and  the  house  was  known 

as  Kaldham.     And  other  charters  deal  with  other  lands, 

called    Mikel   Appeltun,    and    a   wood    Wimundesheg. 

^  Professor  Skeat  is  of  opinion  that  this  place-name  is  derived 
from  an  A.  S.  form  Leastun — "the  meadows  farm."  Hence- 
forward, the  several  spellings  of  the  name  found  in  the  several 
authorities  for  the  time  under  consideration  are  used  in  the  text. 


8 


FORGOTTEN  SITES 


Would  we  could  identify  them  ;  I  have  found  a  wood 
called  "Childer  wood,"  in  a  royal  grant  of  1557,  but 
it  is  exasperating  that  this,  as  well  as  the  other  old 
names,  have  now  dropped  out  of  memory.  We  read  also 
in  the  charters,  of  land  then  lying  "  in  mord"  and  of  one 
acre  described  as  "one  very  poor  acre,"  in  Theberton. 
Can  it  be  that  this  moor  of  Theberton  was  the  "dry 
common  "  of  more  recent  times  ?  As  to  the  "  very  poor 
acre,"  of  such  acres  ploughable  by  two  rabbits  and  a 
knife,  there  are  too  many  still  on  the  east  side  of  the 
parish. 

The  chief  landlords  in  Theberton  about  this  period 
were : — the  famous  house  of  Bigod,  one  William  always 
referred  to  as  the  son  of  Alan,  our  friend  Saer  de 
Biskele,  and  lastly  the  Abbey  and  Convent  of  Leystone. 

In  the  year  1200,  we  find  that  Roger  le  Bigod 
conveyed  to  William  the  son  of  Alan  half  a  knight's 
fee — equal  to  six  plough  lands  (otherwise  hides  or 
carucates)  for  the  life  of  William. 

In  1224,  the  Abbot  of  Leystone  held  lands  in  the 
parish,  and,  on  an  inquisition  held  in  1 274,  his  holding 
then  seems  to  have  been  thirty  acres. 

For  Leystone  Abbey  lands  no  tithe  was  payable,  as 
the  estates  of  the  Premontratensians  had  been  then  lately 
exempted  by  Innocent  III ;  and  from  that  act  of  a 
Pope,  who  died  seven  centuries  ago,  our  rectors  still  have 
to  suffer!  A  statute  of  Henry  VIII,  having  provided 
that  persons  who  at  the  Dissolution  should  come  into 
possession  of  dissolved  Abbeys'  lands  should  hold  them  as 
free  of  tithes  as  their  old  monastic  owners  had  held  them, 
has  had  this  consequence :  that  108  acres,  2  roods,  and 
17  perches  in  the  parish  of  Theberton,  formerly  property 
of  the  Abbey  of  Leystone,  are  now  held  tithe  free  by  the 
present  lay  owners.     There  are  yet  other  lands  besides, 


vV^/J 


t;r!,  rr,  '} 


MONASTIC  LANDOWNERS  IN  THEBERTON    9 

in  the  parish,  exempt  for  quite  other  reasons  as  we  shall 
see  later,  from  which  our  parson  draws  no  tithe  rent 
charge. 

At  that  time,  the  law  permitted  religious  communities 
to  hold  land,  and  estates  had  long  been  accumulating 
in  their  hands.  The  mischief  of  it  was,  that  areas  vast 
in  the  aggregate,  became  inalienable,  a  dead  hand  it  was 
said  laid  upon  them,  which  was  against  the  interests 
both  of  the  feudal  lords  and  of  the  Crown.  At  last, 
the  evil  increasing,  that  great  legislator  Edward  I 
determined  to  apply  a  remedy.  A  Parliament, 
summoned  by  him  for  that  object  in  1279,  enacted 
that    thenceforth    none    should    sell,    give,    bequeath  ,    ^"^ 

or  exchange  lands  to  any  religious  body  without  the       \  2^  f  yt 
King's    licence.      This    Act,    the    famous    Statute    of  I 

Mortmain,  however  obnoxious  to  their  cupidity,  the 
monks  had  not  dared  oppose,  lest  some  worse  thing 
should  befall  them  ;  the  mendicant  orders  had  favoured 
it ;  and  on  all  his  subjects,  both  lay  and  clerical,  had 
fallen  a  great  awe  of  the  resolute  King.  This  illustra- 
tion is  historical : — When  pressing  on  a  further  Act, 
it  came  to  the  King's  ears  that  ominous  murmurs  were 
heard  in  the  Monks'  Hall  at  Westminster.  Edward 
would  brook  no  murmurers.  A  knight,  one  Sir  John 
Havering,  sent  by  the  King,  marched  into  the  Hall, 
and  thus  spoke  he :  "  Reverend  Fathers,  if  any  of  you 
dare  to  contradict  the  King's  command,  let  him  stand 
forth  that  his  person  may  be  taken  note  of,  as  a  known 
peace  breaker  of  the  kingdom."  Silence  fell  upon  all ; 
only  one  man,  William  Montfort,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's, 
so  greatly  dared  as  respectfully  to  request  an  audience. 
It  was  granted,  but,  entering  Edward's  awful  presence, 
such  terror  overcame  the  dean  that  he  fell  dead,  so  the 
record  tells  us,  at  the  grim  monarch's  feet. 


/> 


10  OUR  EARLIEST  POACHER 

Soon,  occasion  arose  in  this  little  parish  of  ours 
to  put  the  law  in  force.  In  1289,  one  John  de  Livermere 
and  his  wife  Matilda  desired  to  grant  a  messuage  and 
thirty  acres  of  land  in  Theberton  to  Nicholas  the  Abbot 
and  the  Canons  of  Leystone,  and  for  this  they  had  to 
obtain,  and  did  in  fact  obtain,  a  licence  from  the  King. 
Again,  in  13 12,  we  find  that  the  same  John  and  Matilda, 
having,  together  with  other  persons,  conveyed  some 
lands  to  the  Abbey  without  the  King's  licence,  the  royal 
pardon  had  to  be  sued  for,  and  was,  probably  for  weighty 
reasons,  granted. 

In  1299,  occurred  the  first  prosecution  of  a  poacher 
I  have  found  recorded.  The  Abbot  of  Leyston  im- 
pleaded a  certain  man  John,  for  trespassing  and  driving 
off  the  hares  from  his  manor — the  manor  of  Leyston. 
That  same  John  afterwards  farmed  Abbey  lands  in 
Theberton.  Since  John's  time  such  "  dampnacionis  filii 
spiritu  diabolico  seducti" — as,  ages  afterwards.  Bishop 
Rede  called  poachers,  have  never  been  wanting  in 
Theberton. 

That  abbot's  successor,  John  de  Glemham,  acquired 
from  John  le  Bigod  de  Stockton  the  right  of  free  warren 
in  the  parish  of  Theberton,  which  enabled  him  and  his 
monks,  "  lovers  of  venerye,"  to  hunt  beasts  and  fowls 
of  warren — hares,  rabbits,  pheasants,  partridges — over 
lands  which  did  not  belong  to  them. 

Parliament,  by  the  Statute  of  Mortmain  had  thought 
to  bind  the  religious  orders  ;  but  the  fetters  it  forged,  the 
monks  snapped  like  pack  thread.  However  strong  the 
law,  their  ingenuity  found  means  to  evade  it.  Quite 
regardless  of  the  Statute,  they  went  on  adding  field 
to  field,  taking  conveyances,  not  to  themselves  direct, 
but  into  the  names  of  trustees  for  them.  We  are 
not  without  instances.      In    1300  and   1305,  one  John 


SUPERSTITION  AND  CATTLE  PLAGUE      11 

de  Leystone,  whose  name  we  shall  meet  later,  became 

such  a  Trustee  (pro  Abbate)  of   lands  in  our  parish. 

And  in  1345,  Richard  de  Bunstede,  and  in  1357,  William       Cgt) 

Scarlett  and  others,  became  respectively  trustees  in  like      \a  r  i 

manner  for  the  Abbey.     At  last  Parliament  put  an  end         "  [ 

to  the  practice  by  an  Act  of  1391. 

One  often  hears  it  said  what  good  times  our  fore- 
fathers had  in  these  early  Middle  Ages.  It  is  an  idle 
tale,  inspired  by  ignorance.  The  truth  is  that  oppression 
and  cruelty  raged  ;  battle,  murder,  and  sudden  death 
were  too  awfully  familiar;  agriculture  was  in  its 
rudiments ;  no  grain  for  food  was  imported ;  sanitation 
was  not  even  thought  of;  and  spectral  shapes  of 
famine,  plague,  and  pestilence  stalked  through  the  land. 
Men  lived  in  the  darkness  of  ignorance,  fear,  and 
superstition ;  they  imagined  baleful  portents  in  the 
heavens,  and  real  calamities  too  frequently  followed. 

This  by  way  of  illustration :  One  night  after  Christ- 
mas 1 131,  people  were  awakened  from  sleep  by  a 
portentous  spectacle — the  northern  half  of  the  heavens 
lit  up  with  burning  flame  !  That  same  year  brought 
a  deadly  pest  amongst  the  animals,  such  as  had  never 
been  in  memory  of  man.  It  fell  on  cattle  and  on 
swine  chiefly,  so  that  in  a  township  where  ten  or 
twelve  ploughs  had  been  kept  (ploughing  then  was 
done  by  oxen),  not  one  survived ;  and  a  man  who  had 
owned  two  or  three  hundred  swine,  had  not  one  left. 
After  that,  the  hens  died,  and  flesh  meat  became  scarce, 
and  cheese  too,  and  butter.  The  whole  country 
suffered  ;  Theberton  cannot  have  escaped.  "  God  mend 
the  state  of  things  when  such  shall  be  His  will,"  prayed 
the  devout  old  chronicler,  a  monk  of  the  great  Abbey 
of  Peterborough.  Simple,  superstitious  old  monk ! 
Celestial  aurora  borealis,  bright  and  beautiful  "  Merry 


1«  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  MANOR 

Dancers " — how  could  he  have  regarded  them  as 
portents  of  calamity  ?  I  have  met  with  no  earlier 
case  of  swine  fever  and  cattle  plague. 

Those  were  the  dark  ages  indeed  ;  yet  through  the 
mirk  of  them,  and  despite  their  distance,  the  concen- 
trated lights  of  history  enable  us  to  discern  a  slow  process 
of  development.  True,  there  were  constant  reactions, 
waves  advanced,  receded,  but  the  tide  was  rising. 

The  status  of  the  serfs  was,  from  one  cause  and 
another,  by  degrees  improving.  The  "villeins  re- 
gardant "  were  commuting  personal  service  for  money. 
Their  payments  were  recorded  on  the  rolls  of  the 
manor,  and,  at  last,  copies  of  the  rolls  grew  to  be 
title  deeds.  One  generation  gained  a  bit,  and  the  next 
a  bit  more.  At  first,  the  lord  could  at  pleasure  oust  a 
villein  who  held,  in  the  lawyers'  quaint  Norman  French, 
"  solonque  la  volonte  le  seigniour  " — absolutely  at  will. 
But  in  time  there  came  to  be  added,  qualifying  that 
formula,  this  other  term,  "  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
manor."  The  customs  of  the  manor  crystallised,  pre- 
cedent followed  precedent,  till  in  the  end,  the  copyholder 
could  eject  even  his  lord,  if  he  trespassed  on  his  holding. 
The  "  villein  in  gross  "  too,  slipped  more  and  more  out 
of  the  yoke  of  slavery,  and  stood  at  last  on  his  own  feet 
as  a  free  labourer. 

To  each  generation  in  our  quiet  village,  change  was,  we 
may  suppose,  hardly  perceptible  ;  things  would  seem  to 
go  on  much  as  usual.  There  were  the  two  time-out-of 
mind  authorities,  manorial  and  religious.  There  never 
failed  to  be  a  lord  of  the  manor ;  and  one  "  person  of  the 
parish  "  succeeded  another. 

The  manor  courts  were  held,  no  doubt,  regularly  by 
the  steward  ;  for  seldom  would  the  lord  himself  preside  ; 
the  suitors  would  know  only  the  steward.    A  non-resi- 


THE   GREAT  HOUSE  OF  BIGOD  13 

dent  lord  would  be  little  more  than  a  name.  Of  our 
manor  the  lord  was  non-resident  and  a  foreigner  to 
boot,  but  he — Robert  Malet,  Robert  the  Hammer,  the 
Norman  who  had  buried  Harold  by  the  sea-shore — was 
such  a  famous  warrior,  and  so  vast  were  his  possessions, 
that  when  he  tumbled  from  his  high  estate,  his  fall  must 
have  shaken  the  ground  even  of  remote  Theberton, 
Two  hundred  and  twenty-one  manors  had  he  in 
Suffolk.  A  defeated  rebel,  he  lost  them  all,  they  were 
forfeited  to  the  King. 

How  long  this  manor  of  Theberton  continued  in  royal 
hands  I  do  not  know,  but  not  later  than  King  John's 
time ;  for  in  his  reign,  and  through  the  reigns  of  suc- 
ceeding Plantagenets,  on  to  King  Henry  V's  time,  we 
know  it  was  held  by  Bigods. 

They  too,  for  a  long  period,  were  owners  of  the 
advowson.  Probably,  they  held  it  as  appendant  to  their 
manor ;  but,  on  such  evidence  as  is  available,  I  cannot 
trace  its  devolutions  in  their  hands  before  the  fourteenth 
century. 

The  earliest  dealing  with  the  advowson  that  I  have 
found,  was  effected  by  an  ancient  charter,  which  is  pre- 
served in  our  great  treasure  house  the  British  Museum. 
By  this  charter  the  same  William  son  of  Alan  whom 
we  have  met  before,  granted  to  the  Leyston  canons  the 
church  of  St.  Peter  of  Theberton,  which  was  then  in  his 
fee.  Charters  in  those  days  bore  no  dates,  but  Mr. 
Jeayes,  of  the  MSS.  Department  of  the  Museum,  tells  me 
that  the  names  of  the  witnesses  (Hubert,  bishop  of 
Sarum,  and  Radulf  archdeacon  of  Colchester)  prove 
that  the  deed  was  made  between  1189  and  1194.  The 
words  of  William's  grant  would  seem  sufficient  to  have 
passed  the  entire  advowson,  but  I  conjecture  that,  in 
fact,  it  passed  only  some  lesser  interest,  perhaps  a  next 


14     EDWARD  II.  PATRON  OF  THE  BENEFICE 

presentation.  If  the  grant  had  vested  the  advowson  in 
the  Abbey,  what  more  unlikely  than  that  monks  would, 
unless  under  compulsion,  divest  themselves  of  it  ;  yet, 
though  unluckily,  there  is  a  gap  just  here  in  our  records, 
it  is  in  evidence,  that,  not  a  century  after  the  grant,  the 
advowson  of  Theberton  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Bigods. 
We  know  that  in  1305,  Roger  Bigod,  Earl  of  Norfolk, 
presented  one  Richard  de  Dodyngtone  to  the  Theberton 
Rectory;  and  from  the  inquisition,  held  in  1306  after 
the  death  of  Earl  Roger  Bigod,  it  appeared  he  had  held, 
besides  half  a  knight's  fee  in  the  parish,  "the  church 
of  Theberton." 

In  1307,  the  advowson  was  in  King  Edward  II,  who 
had  it,  so  we  learn,  by  reason  that  the  estates  late  of 
Earl  Roger  were  in  his  hands. 

The  question  arises — how  they  got  into  the  King's 
hands.  And  this  opens  a  window,  out  of  our  little  parish 
into  the  world. 

The  facts  are  these,  Edward  the  First  had  called 
upon  Roger  Bigod,  his  Earl  Marshal,  to  lead  troops  out 
to  Gascony.  He  would  go  cheerfully,  he  said,  if  the  King 
was  himself  going,  and  would  march  in  the  van  as  was 
his  right  by  birth  ;  but  if  the  King  went  not,  he  was  not 
bound  to  serve  in  arms  beyond  the  limits  of  England. 

"No!  I  am  not  so  bound,"  the  Earl  hardily  insisted, 
"  and  I  will  not  go  without  you." 

"  By  God,  Sir  Earl,  you  either  go  or  hang." 

"  By  God,  Sir  King,  I  neither  go  nor  hang." 

The  King  did  not  hang  him,  but  so  heavy  had  been 
the  cost  of  the  quarrel,  that  it  crippled  the  Earl ;  and  in 
the  end  wrought  disaster  for  the  house  of  Bigod, 
Exhaustion  of  his  resources  drove  Roger  to  borrow  ;  he 
borrowed  from  his  rich  brother  and  heir  presumptive, 
John  Bigod.  Whether  the  gossip  is  reliable  that  he 
planned  to  spite  John  for  asking  repayment  we  cannot 


EARLY   RECTORS  15 

tell.  But  the  fact  is  certain  that  the  Earl  did  con- 
trive this  compact  with  the  King :  the  Earl  would 
surrender  to  the  King,  as  his  feudal  lord,  all  his 
castles,  manors,  and  lands,  and  also  his  titles  and 
dignities,  upon  this  condition :  that  the  King  should 
defray  his  debts ;  should  provide  him  for  life  with  a  com- 
petent revenue — i,ooo  marks  ;  should  re-grant  to  him  and 
the  heirs  of  his  body  the  titles  and  dignities  of  Earl  and 
Marshal ;  and,  further,  should  re-grant  all  the  castles, 
manors,  and  lands  to  the  Earl  and  Countess  Alice  his 
wife,  and  their  issue,  with  remainder  to  the  King  himself 
and  his  heirs.  Roger  and  Alice  never  had  any  children, 
so  the  compact  worked  out,  that  when  Earl  Roger  died, 
the  dignities  of  Earl  and  of  Marshal  lapsed  to  the  King  ; 
and  the  castles,  manors,  and  lands  vested  absolutely  in 
the  King  also,  subject  only  to  a  life  estate  in  Countess 
Alice.  The  final  result  being  that,  not  only  was  John 
disinherited,  but  the  House  of  Bigod  was  stripped  for 
ever,  and  beyond  recovery,  of  all  their  great  estates  and 
dignities. 

Soon  after  Roger  the  Earl's  death.  King  Edward  I 
died,  and  his  son  Edward  II  reigned  in  his  stead. 

In  1 306,  one  "  Lebygod  "  was,  it  seems,  presented  to 
Theberton.  I  guess  that  this  name  should  be  le  Bigod, 
and  that  Countess  Alice  as  tenant  for  life  of  the  advowson 
presented  some  member  of  her  late  husband's  family. 

The  benefice  was  soon  vacant  again,  for  in  1307,  one 
John  de  Framlingham  was  presented,  the  patron  now 
being  Edward  II,  who  again  in  13 12  presented  Laurence 
de  Rustene. 

It  must  be  presumed  that  not  long  after  her  husband's 
death  Countess  Alice  had  surrendered  her  life  estate  in 
the  advowson  to  the  King. 

Between  de  Framlingham  and  de  Rustene,  an 
incumbency  intervened  of  John  de  Trydian  a  Cornish 


16        DEVOLUTION  OF  THE  ADVOWSON 

man.     I    suppose    that    the    King   presented    him,    I 
cannot  say. 

The  rector  who  succeeded  de  RuStene  was  William 
de  Neupert,  who,  in  1316,  was  presented  by  Thomas 
called  de  Brotherton,  the  then  Earl  of  Norfolk. 

This  Thomas,  a  brother  of  King  Edward  II,  derived 
his  surname  of  de  Brotherton  from  his  birthplace,  a 
village  in  Yorkshire.  The  King  had  created  him  both 
Earl  of  Norfolk  and  Marshal  of  England,  and  endowed 
him  with  the  estates,  which  had  been  surrendered,  as  we 
have  seen,  by  Earl  Roger  Bigod, 

Thomas  de  Brotherton  died  in  1338,  and  was  buried 
at  Bury  St.  Edmunds  ;  and,  his  only  son  having  died 
before  him,  his  estates,  which  included  the  Theberton 
advowson,  descended  to  his  daughters  Margaret  and 
Alice,  co-heiresses,  subject  however  to  the  dower  of  their 
mother  Countess  Maria,  part  of  which  was  half  of  a 
knight's  fee  in  Theberton.  Ultimately,  these  estates 
became  the  sole  property  of  the  eldest  daughter  Margaret, 
who  married  firstly  John  Lord  Segrave,  and  secondly 
the  famous  Sir  Walter  Manny.  Her  seal  bears  the  style 
"  Margareta  Marischalla,  Comitissa  Norfolciae." 

All  this,  I  fear,  is  of  the  order  dryasdust,  but  the 
facts  have  to  be  stated,  to  introduce  personages  who, 
Margaret  of  Norfolk  in  particular,  will  take  leading  parts 
later  on  in  our  story. 

It  is  on  record  that  in  1339  an  order  passed,  to  deliver 
the  advowson  of  Theberton  to  Lord  Segrave  and  his 
wife  Margaret  the  Countess  of  Norfolk.  Lord  Segrave 
exercised  his  rights,  by  presenting  Bartholomew  de 
Salle  in  1349  and  Roger  de  Eccleshall  in  1351  to  the 
Rectory  of  Theberton. 

Sir  Walter  Manny  presented  Robert  de  Iselham  to 
the  same  Rectory  in  1361. 


CHAPTER  II 

In  1363,  Robert  Earl  of  Suffolk,  then  patron  of 
Leyston  Abbey,  built  for  the  monks  a  new  convent  on  a 
site  more  healthful  than  their  island  of  the  Myssemeare 
— an  undertaking  which  doubtless  brought  work  and 
welcome  wages  to  the  men  of  Theberton.  That  structure 
only  stood  twenty-six  years,  being  burned  down  in 
1389  ;  and  strong  arms  and  deft  hands  from  Theberton 
helped  to  erect,  on  the  same  site,  a  third  Abbey, 
whose  ruins  we  admire  still. 

In  the  meantime,  had  occurred  an  event  noteworthy 
for  our  parish — the  passing  of  the  advowson  of  Theberton 
into  the  hands  of  the  conventual  house  of  Leyston.  It 
came  to  happen  in  this  wise  : — 

In  1372,  Margaret  Lady  Segrave,  Countess  of  Norfolk, 
then  owner  of  the  advowson,  made  a  grant  of  it  to  the 
abbot  and  canons,  in  exchange  for  an  annual  rent  of 
40J.  to  be  paid  to  her  and  her  heirs ;  it  being  further 
provided  that  the  Abbey  should  supply  two  chaplains  to 
celebrate  daily  mass  in  the  church  of  Theberton. 

These  terms  were  varied  ten  years  afterwards,  by 
another  charter,  whereby  the  Countess  re-granted  to  the 
Abbey  the  40s.  rent,  and  released  them  from  providing 
one  of  the  two  chaplains ;  in  consideration  of  which,  the 
Abbey  on  their  part  granted  another  advowson,  that  of 

17  Q 


18  THE  BLACK  DEATH 

Kirkley,  to  the  Countess  in  tail,  with  ultimate  remainder 
to  the  King  in  fee  simple. 

From  another  charter  of  the  same  year,  we  learn  the 
pious  object  of  the  lady's  grant  to  the  Abbey.  Done 
into  English  the  charter  runs  thus : — The  Lady 
Margaret  the  Countess  of  Norfolk  has  given  to  the 
Monastery  of  Leyston  in  Suffolk  the  advowson  of  the 
church  of  Theberton  ...  for  the  souls  of  Thomas  de 
Brotherton,  late  Earl  of  Norfolk  g^d  Marshal  of  England, 
and  of  Lady  Alice  formerly  his  consort — father  and 
mother  of  the  said  Lady  Margaret,  and  for  the  souls  of 
the  Lords  John  de  Segrave,  and  Walter  Manny — and  so 
forth. 

The  name  of  one  rector  I  have  omitted  hitherto, 
I  know  not  who  presented  him.  This  man,  one 
Robert  de  Warham,  became  rector  in  1330,  and  his 
next  successor  was  instituted  in  1 349 ;  so  it  may  be  that 
de  Warham  died  a  victim  to  the  Great  Pestilence  of 
1 348 — that  awful  plague  known  to  after  generations  as 
the  Black  Death.  In  this  one  diocese  alone  there 
perished  two  thousand  clergy  ;  two  out  of  every  three 
parishes  lost  their  incumbents  ;  one- third,  some  say  one- 
half,  of  the  population  of  the  kingdom  was  swept  away. 
In  London,  no  less  than  fifty  thousand  corpses  were 
buried,  in  thirteen  acres  of  ground  called  Spittle 
or  Spital  Croft,  dedicated  for  that  purpose  by  Sir 
Walter  Manny.^    How  poor  Theberton  fared,  no  record 

'  Site  afterwards  of  the  Charter  House.  "  John  Stow  saith  that 
he  had  read  this  Inscription  fixed  on  a  stone  cross  some  time 
standing  in  the  Charter  House  churchyard:  'Anno  Domini 
MCCC.  XL.  IX.  Regnante  magna  pestilentia,  consecratum  fuit 
hoc  cemiterium  in  quo  et  infra  septa  presentis  monasterii  sepulta 
fuerunt  mortuorum  corpora  plus  quam  quinquaginta  millia  praeter 
aha  multa  abhinc  ad  presens  quorum  animabus  propitietur  Deus. 
Amen.' "    (Weever). 


A  XIVth  century  ASSESSMENT  19 

remains    to    tell    us ;    we    know    that    many  villages 
were  depopulated. 

The  year  1341  presents  us  with  a  record  of  much  local 
interest. 

Parliament,  at  the  King's  request,  had  granted  him  a 
tax  of  the  ninth  sheaf  and  fleece  and  lamb  throughout 
England.  It  was  firstly  arranged,  that  the  ninths  to  be 
paid  by  each  parish,  should  be  taken  to  be  equivalent  to 
the  value  of  the  tithe  paid  to  the  Church ;  and  secondly 
(perhaps  to  avoid  another  assessment),  that  the  assess- 
ment which  had  been  made  in  1293,  the  taxatio  of 
Pope  Nicholas  IV,  should  be  deemed  the  then  value  of 
the  tithes ;  except  where  cause  should  be  shewn  why  it 
ought  to  be  more  or  less. 

The  taxatio  of  1 293  had  put  the  value  of  the  tithes  of 
Theberton  at  the  figure  they  stood  at  in  Doomsday,  viz. 
40  marks.  The  ninths  due  from  Theberton  would 
therefore  be  £26.  1 3^.  4«a?. ;  but  assessors  would  have  to 
make  inquisition,  to  find  what  ought  to  be  either  added 
or  deducted.  All  this  is  premised,  to  make  clear  what 
next  follows : — 

"  On  Thursday,  next  before  the  feast  of  S.S.  Perpetua 
and  Felicitas,  in  the  15th.  year  of  King  Edward  III 
from  the  Conquest,"  an  Inquisition  was  taken  at  Dunwich 
before  the  Abbot  of  Leyston  and  his  companions, 
assessors  and  collectors.  Among  the  jurors  we  find 
local  names,  such  as  Payne  de  Halesworth,  John  de 
Donkwyk  (query  Dunwich),  Jacob  de  Chediston,  Richard 
de  Denham,  Alan  de  Henstede,  John  de  Wangford,  John 
de  Thorpe;  and  witnesses  to  the  Return  were  four 
parishioners  of  Theberton,  whose  names  were  :  Richard 
Austyn,  William  Noble,  William  del  Field  and  Robert 
Poer.      The    document,    Englished,    runs    on : — "  The 


C  2 


90  THEBERTON  JURORS  IN  1341 

jurors  say  upon  their  oaths  that  the  ninths  of 
sheaves,  fleeces  and  lambs  of  the  Church  (Ecclesie)  ^ 
of  Theberton  are  worth  ;^io  no  more;  because 
there  are  in  that  place  {items  of  clerical  income 
which  y  not  being  tithes  of  sheaves^  fleeces  or  lambs  ought  to 
be  deducted,  viz.)  13  acres  of  land  of  the  endowment 
of  the  Church,  which  are  worth  13  shillings,  at  the  rate 
of  12  pence  per  acre;  also  half  an  acre  of  meadow, 
which  is  worth  12  pence  {this  I  take  to  represent  the 
glebe) ;  also  oblations  for  the  three  great  days,  with 
other  small  tithes,  which  are  worth  £\  ;  also  tithe  of  hay 
worth  ^os. ;  also  tithe  of  reed  and  rushes  worth  66j.  ;  also 
tithe  of  milk  and  calves  worth  ^os.  ;  also  tithe  of  flax 
and  hemp  worth  26s.  8d.  ;  also  rent  Ss. ;  also  gallin 
de  apport  {query  hens  paid  as  rent)  worth  i6s. ;  also 
tithe  of  turbary  {turf  and  peat)  worth  i6s.  ^d.;  also 
two  hundred  acres  of  arable  land  in  the  same  town 
which  used  to  be  cultivated,  submerged  by  the  sea, 
whence  a  ninth  is  worth  20s."  These  items  added 
together  come  to  £16.  i^s.,  which  deducted  from 
£26.  i^s.  4d.  leaves  £g.  i6s.  4^., the  difference  between  that 
sum  and  the  ;^io  being  due  probably  to  some  clerical  error. 

Does  not  this  old  Return,  apart  from  its  intrinsic 
interest,  help  us  to  raise  the  veil  drawn  by  time  over 
fourteenth-century  Theberton. 

Then,  the  Abbot  of  Leyston  was  evidently  a  respected 
personage,  not  only  within,  but  without  the  walls  of  his 
Abbey.  The  rectory  of  Theberton  was  then,  as  now, 
a  fairly  good  living  ;  for  though  £26.  1 35.  4^.  at  first 
strikes    one    as    absurdly    inadequate,   yet    when    one 

*  So  it  is  written,  but  my  own  opinion,  confirmed  by  good 
authority,  is  that  the  word  Ecclesie  was  a  slip  of  the  scribe's  pen, 
and  that  villae  was  really  meant.  The  word  "  town "  is  used 
in  the  record  of  a  similar  Inquisition  for  Framlingham,  also  taken 
before  the  abbot  of  Leyston  and  others.     Hawe's  Framlingham. 


THE   PARISH   IN  THE   XIVth   CENTURY   21 

remembers  that  £i  then,  would  purchase  as  much  as 
£1$  or  ;^20  now,^  it  is  plain  that  the  parson  of  1341 
received  much  the  same  in  value,  as  the  rent  charge 
fixed  for  his  modern  successor  at  the  commutation  in 
1838.  A  14th  century  parson  had  "  no  incumbrances," 
and  an  income  equivalent  to  ;^400  at  least,  besides  a 
rent-free  rectory,  would  suffice  for  his  needs,  with  a 
margin  over  for  works  of  charity  and  hospitality. 

Judging  from  the  arable  portion  of  the  glebe,  the 
arable  land  in  our  parish  was  worth  about  the  same  as 
now,  1 5 J.  to  20s.  the  acre  ;  enough  hay  was  grown  to 
yield  a  tithe  of  ;^30  ;  reeds  and  rushes  yielded  more  than 
half  as  much  tithe  again  as  hay — there  were  then  great 
tracts  of  reed  beds  and  marshes  ;  there  must  have  been  a 
good  head  of  cattle  to  produce  £$y.  los.  in  tithes  of  milk 
and  calves ;  enough  flax  and  hemp  was  then  grown  in 
the  parish  to  produce  ^20  in  tithe ;  poultry  was  kept 
as  it  is  now — perhaps,  as  now,  it  was  the  women's 
perquisite  ;  peat  and  turf  were  used  for  fuel  then  and 
long  afterwards  ;  I  suppose  our  marsh  lands  were  always 
liable  to  floods  ;  but  two  hundred  acres  of  drowned 
arable  land  implies  an  unusual  irruption  of  the  sea. 

So  much  we  learn  from  this  one  local  document. 
Let  us  try  for  a  wider  view  of  those  far  away  times. 
Conditions  widely  prevailing  may  be  safely  applied  to 
our  particular  parish. 

Five  or  six  hundred  years  ago,  men  had  of  course, 
as  they  have  now,  to  earn  their  bread  either  by  labour, 
or  by  handicrafts,  or  trade,  and  what  margin  they 
realized  between  earnings  and  expenses  was  the  measure 

^  Authorities  differ  perplexingly  as  to  the  purchasing  power  of, 
say,  a  fourteenth-century  penny.  Henceforward,  modem  money 
equivalents,  arrived  at,  following  Professor  Skeat,  by  multiplying 
the  ancient  figures  by  15,  will  always  be  used. 


IV 


^  EARNINGS  AND  COST  OF  LIVING 

of  their  comfort.  We  have  therefore  to  look  what 
wages  were  current,  and  what  the  prices  were  of  the 
prime  necessity,  food. 

Readers  will  be  surprised  to  find  such  variations, 
as  are  well  nigh  incredible,  between  districts,  between 
successive  years  and  even  months,  and  between  one 
harvest  and  another.  Factors,  strange  to  us  now, 
governed  both  wages  and  prices  at  that  far  distant  time. 
We  moderns  have  telegraphs,  newspapers,  good  roads, 
railways,  steamers  ;  labour  and  merchandise  can  seek 
for  and  find  markets  at  great  distances  ;  communications 
are  easy,  and  transport  cheap.  Quite  otherwise  were 
fourteenth-century  conditions ;  labour  and  products  of 
labour  were  rooted  to  one  spot,  and  there,  any  surplus 
was  dammed  up,  and  could  not  flow  to  supplement 
shortage  in  another  locality.  Another  factor  to  be 
reckoned  with  was  the  system,  then  moribund  but  not 
yet  dead,  of  villeinage,  which  kept  workmen  at  home  ; 
and  their  predial  services  affecting  the  price  of  labour. 
The  following  figures  I  offer  for  what  they  may  be 
worth  : — 

In  1 28 1,  the  price  of  wheat  was  63.?.  ^d.  the  quarter, 
of  barley  53J.  i\d.,  of  peas,  355'.  ^\d.\  a  bullock  sold 
for  63.?.  9^.,  the  price  of  a  quarter  of  wheat.  Wages 
ruled  as  follows :  for  threshing  wheat  per  quarter  3^.  9^^., 
barley  \s.  \o\d.,  peas  half  a  crown,  for  cutting  fire  wood 
— coals  were  not  in  use  then — the  pay  was  half  a  crown. 
Land  let  as  follows :  arable  land  5^.  to  lOi-.,  meadow 
or  mowing  land  at  the  enormous  rent  relatively  of 
;^3  the  acre. 

Seven  years  afterwards,  in  1288 — 1289,  we  find  corn 
was  cheaper,  wheat  50^.  the  quarter — this  in  London  ; 
in  other  parts — a  good  illustration  of  how  difficult  was 
transport — 25.?.,  20J.,  1$^.,  los.     Barley  was  ys.  6d.,  and 


WAGES  AND  PRICES  28 

oats  5^-.  the  quarter.  Prices  of  poultry  and  of  game  are 
remarkable  ;  a  fat  cock  or  two  pullets  fetched  is.  lo^d.,  a 
goose  Sj-.,  a  partridge  is.  lO^d,  a  pheasant — no  artificially 
reared  pheasants  then,  there  are  too  many  now — was  5^., 
a  heron — thought  not  eatable  now — fetched  ys.  6d.,  a 
swan — a  state  dish  for  banquets — no  less  than  45^.,  a 
crane — one  sees  them  in  Germany  but  they  are 
extinct  here — i$s.,  two  woodcocks  is.  lo^d.  These 
game  birds  were  all  got  by  the  sport  of  hawking,  caught 
in  ingenious  nets,  or  now  and  then,  perhaps,  brought 
down  by  an  archer's  "  bird  bolt."  ^  Early  lambs  were 
reckoned  delicacies,  for  between  Christmas  and  Shrove- 
tide a  fat  lamb  fetched  £1,  but  only  5j.  at  other  times. 

Natural  variations  of  seasons — bad  seasons  not 
mitigated  by  any  skill  of  husbandry — wrought  violent 
cruel  fluctuations  in  the  price  of  wheat.  Happily  for 
poor  folk,  mixtures  of  oats,  tares,  peas,  rye  and  barley 
— bulmong,  meslin  and  dragel,  and  not  wheat,  formed 
the  chief  part  of  their  diet.  In  131 5,  131 6,  and  13 17, 
wheat  sold  for  £1$,  £24,  £^i,  the  quarter  !  In  the  last 
of  those  years  when  it  stood  at  £2,Zi  we  read  "wheat 
was  excessive  scarce  " — It  must  have  been  ! 

In  1336,  harvests  were  abundant,  and  as  the  King, 
Edward  III,  was  then  commandeering  all  the  cash  he 
could  squeeze  from  his  subjects,  to  pay  for  his  wai:s  in 
France  and  Scotland,  buyers  of  wheat  were  few,  and 
prices  fell  ;  the  grain  sold  in  London  at  30J.  the  quarter. 
That  year,  men  bought  a  fat  ox  for  £$,  a  fat  sheep  for 
ys.  6d.  or  los.  at  the  highest,  a  fat  goose  for  2s.  6d.^  and 
a  pig  (weight  not  stated)  for  fifteen  pence ! 

1 347  saw  corn  first  imported  into  England. 

^  The  earliest  notice  I  have  found  of  guns  used  for  fowling  with 
small  shot  is  a  Bill  to  regulate  shooting  with  "  hand  guns  and  hail 
shot,"  passed  in  1 548.  Shooting  flying  was  not  practised,  I  think, 
before  the  first  quarter  of  the  1 8th  century. 


24        GREAT  FLUCTUATIONS  IN  PRICES 

In  1348,  there  occurred,  so  we  read,  "such  a  conjunc- 
tion of  Saturn  with  the  other  planets  as  could  not  be 
more  than  once  in  a  thousand  years — a  prodigy 
portentous  of  calamity  ;  it  actually  was  followed  by  the 
horror  of  the  Black  Death.  During  that  dreadful  year, 
a  general  panic  prevailed ;  the  business  of  the  world 
fell  out  of  gear  ;  labourers  would  not  work  ;  employers 
would  not,  could  not  pay ;  villeins  of  both  classes 
deserted  their  manors,  and  turned  tramps  and  vagrants  ; 
robbery  and  violence  were  rampant ;  landlords  were 
forced  to  abate  half  their  rents.  Things  were  sold 
for  next  to  nothing,  a  horse  worth  £10  for  but 
;^5,  a  good  fat  ox  £'^,  a  cow  15^.,  a  heifer  or  steer 
ys.  6d.,  a  fat  sheep  5^,,  a  ewe  3^.  gd.,  a  lamb  2s.  6d. 
Wool,  principal  produce  of  the  kingdom,  fell  to  i  is.  id. 
the  stone ;  it  was  thought  that  it  carried  infection, 
"  men  were  not  only  afraid  of  the  cattle  dying  but  of 
their  own  deaths,  for  otherwise  wool  need  not  have  been 
so  cheap."  Harvests  rotted  upon  the  ground,  and  sheep 
and  cattle,  Mr.  Green  tells  us,  strayed  through  the 
standing  corn,  and  there  were  none  left  to  drive  them. 

Next  year,  the  pestilence  and  panic  were  declining, 
and  we  read  that  corn  and  other  provisions  were  already 
plentiful ;  wheat  again  sold,  as  in  the  good  year  of  1336, 
at  30J.  the  quarter. 

Ten   years   later,  1359,   the   price   per  quarter   rose 

to  ;^20. 

In  1 36 1  when  : 

"  Beches  and  brode  okas  were  blowen  to  the  grounde  " 
And  "  tomed  upward  ther  tallies," 

and  the  spire  of  Norwich  Cathedral  was  blown  down, 
and  the  second  great  pestilence  smote  the  country,  wheat 
fell  again  to  los.  the  quarter. 


SUFFOLK  FARMING  26 

In  1369,  there  was  so  great  a  dearth  that  the  grain 
sold  at  ^18  (another  chronicler  says  ;^IS),  barley  at 
£12.  <,s.,  and  oats  at  £^  the  quarter. 

For  1379,  we  find  wheat  at  ;^3,  a  price  which  now 
would  make  both  farmers  and  landlords  happy.  It  was 
then  thought  so  cheap,  that  the  low  price  was  urged  by 
the  Commons  as  a  good  argument  for  refusing  Supply. 
Barley  that  year  was  30^'.  the  quarter  and  peas  i  '^s. 

In  1389,  wheat  was  quoted  the  same,  but  barley 
dearer  at  £2.  55-.  the  quarter,  and  oats  were  worth  305-. 

To  show  what  Suffolk  farming  was  like  in  the  14th 
century,  Sir  John  CuUum's  researches  prove  that  in  the 
years  1 386-1 388,  upon  a  farm  cultivated  as  well  or  better 
than  the  average,  sixty-one  acres  sown  with  wheat  pro- 
duced no  more  than  seventy  quarters ;  how  would  that 
suit  our  modern  agriculturists  .-'  The  cost  of  threshing 
then,  was  for  wheat  55-.,  and  for  other  grain  2s.  6d.  the 
quarter.  The  harvest  wage  of  a  reaper  was  $s.  a  day  ; 
cutting  and  tying  three  acres  of  wheat  cost  ^i.  Ss.  gd.,  "per 
taskam" — by  piece  work.  Meadows,  in  1389,  were 
mown  for  ys.  6d.  the  acre,  and  people  weeding  corn 
earned  half  a  crown  a  day. 

1390  again  was  a  year  of  great  scarcity.  At  Hawsted, 
Sir  John  Cullum  says,  the  yield  for  an  acre  was  less  than 
six  bushels  of  wheat,  twelve  bushels  of  barley,  the  same 
of  peas,  and  five  bushels  of  oats.  Prices  rose,  wheat 
fetched  ;^io,  barley  £^.  2s.  6d.,  oats  £$,  peas  £6  the 
quarter.  Wool  fetched  45^.,  305-.,  and  down  to  2$s.  the 
stone ;  this,  it  is  true,  compares  well  with  the  Black 
Death  year ;  but  the  price  was  considered  low,  and  the 
law  blamed,  by  which  exportation  was  forbidden.  And 
we  find  these  wages  quoted  : — for  carters  and  ploughmen 
£j.  los.  a  year,  shepherds  $s.  more. 

Those  of  us  who  have  passed  say  their  half  century, 


«6  STANDARDS  OF  COMFORT 

have  seen  the  standard  raised  both  of  human  comfort, 
and  also,  one  regrets  to  note,  of  self-indulgent  luxury. 
The  change  in  one's  own  lifetime  is  quite  apparent. 
Great  then  must  be  the  difference  between  our  standard 
now,  and  that  of  men  removed  so  far  from  us  as  by 
twenty  generations.  What  seems  to  us  no  more  than 
ordinary  comfort,  would  have  been  to  our  forefathers 
and  foremothers  of  that  old  time  unheard  of  luxury. 

To  speak  first  of  houses,  and  first  of  all,  the  houses 
of  great  folk.  Before  the  13th  century,  these  were  built 
of  rubble,  flints  bedded  in  mortar.  Some — the  strong 
houses  of  the  Jews,  and  others  it  is  said  copied  from  them 
— were  of  hewn  stone  ;  the  house  of  Aaron  of  Lincoln  is  a 
surviving  example.  After  that,  the  fashion  came  in  for 
timber-framed  houses,  and  not  until  the  14th  century 
did  builders  from  the  Continent  initiate  us  into  the  art, 
forgotten  since  the  Roman  times,  of  brick  building.^ 

In  England,  the  first  case  of  brick  building 
I  have  read  of  was  a  wall  which,  Stowe  says,  Ralph 
Stratford  Bishop  of  London  built  round  that  grave- 
yard which,  as  we  have  seen.  Sir  Walter  Manny 
gave  for  the  victims  of  the  Black  Death.  Oxburgh 
Hall  in  the  neighbour  shire  of  Norfolk,  ancient  seat 
of  the  ancient  family  of  Bedingfield,  was  built  of  brick 
in  Henry  the  Fourth's  reign.  At  our  east  country 
University,  we  first  hear  of  brick  building  in  1449. 
Roof  tiles  Indeed  are  mentioned  so  far  back  as  11 89, 
when  Henry  Fitzalwayne,  the  mayor  of  London,  ordered 
that  houses  within  the  city  should  be  roofed  with  "  brent 

*  It  had  been  practised  earlier  on  the  Baltic  shores  of  North 
Germany,  where  there  is  no  quarriable  stone.  For  instances  :  the 
Dom  of  Liibeck  dates  from  the  twelfth  century ;  that  age-worn 
house,  the  Alte  Schule  at  Wismar,  from  1300 ;  the  strange  gates  of 
Neu  Brandenburg  from  1306 ;  and  the  art  was  known  also  in  the 
Netherlands. 


HOMES  OF  THE  PERIOD  27 

tyle,"  instead  of  straw  or  reeds.  In  country  places 
however,  few,  even  great,  houses,  whether  of  stone,  rubble, 
or  timber-framed,  or  of  the  early  brick  building,  had 
other  covering  than  thatch. 

In  even  great  houses  "  chambers  with  chymneyes " 
were  still  uncommon  ;  "  then  we  had  none  but  reredosses, 
and  our  heads  did  never  ake."  The  rooms  were  dark, 
cold,  and  draughty.  In  place  of  clean  carpets,  floors 
were  littered  with  straw,  or  with  rushes  seldom  removed, 
covering  miscellaneous  nastiness,  spilled  grease,  and 
half-gnawed  bones  and  scraps.  Few,  even  good,  houses 
could  boast  of  inside  staircases  ;  upper  floors  were  reached 
by  an  outside  step-ladder,  protected  only  by  a  pent-house 
roof.  The  beds  and  the  bedrooms  of  the  lower  middle 
classes  were  beneath  the  standard  of  our  modern  prisons. 
Harrison  wrote  generations  later,  in  the  civilized  days  of 
great  Elizabeth  ;  his  words  may  often  need  a  grain  of 
salt  with  them,  but  we  cannot  be  very  wrong  in  applying 
his  description  to  the  earlier  ruder  times  that  we  are 
dealing  with.  "  People,"  he  says,  slept  on  rough  straw 
pallets,  or  "  mats  covered  onlie  with  a  sheet,  under  cover- 
lets of  dogswain  or  hopharlots,  a  good  round  log  under 
their  heads  instead  of  a  bolster  ....  as  for  servants,  if 
they  had  anie  sheet  above  them  it  was  well,  for  seldom 
had  they  anie  under  their  bodies,  to  keep  them  from  the 
pricking  straws  that  ran  through  the  canvas  of  the  pallet 
and  rased  their  hardened  hides." 

The  homes  of  poor  folk  were  deplorable,  damp  and 
dark  huts,  the  floors  of  earth,  the  walls  of  clay  daubing, 
no  upper  rooms,  oranches  in  the  rough  for  rafters,  roofs 
thatched  with  straw  or  with  rushes,  unglazed  holes  for 
windows — glass  was  too  costly  for  any  but  rich  houses. 
Chaucer — of  East  Anglian  extraction — describes  such  a 
home  from  his  own  observation.     It  was  divided  into, 


28     HAS  OUR  MANHOOD  DEGENERATED  ? 

what  with  poet's  licence,  he  calls  "  a  hall "  and  "  a  bower." 
In  the  hall  lived  and  slept  a  mother  and  her  two 
daughters,  and  pigs  and  poultry  made  themselves  happy 
in  the  bower.  It  disgraces  our  times  that  human  lairs 
like  that  are  yet  found  in  remote  corners — the  cabins  of 
Gal  way,  and  the  "  but  and  ben  "  cots  of  the  Western 
Islands,  for  example. 

Writers  of  mediaeval  romances  paint  ideal  pictures  of 
mail-clad  knights  and  men  at  arms,  to  whom  they 
attribute  not  only  a  fanciful  code  of  chivalry,  but  like- 
wise huge  bodily  strength  and  heroic  stature.  Fighting 
men,  trained  from  youth  upward  in  feats  of  arms  and 
horsemanship,  were  doubtless  both  strong  and  agile ; 
they  may  have  leaped,  as  it  is  said,  to  their  saddles, 
sheathed  in  weighty  armour,  without  putting  foot  in 
stirrup.  A  man  of  gentle  birth  would  have  lost  caste,  if 
not  adept  at  such  knightly  exercises.  To-day,  of  course, 
personal  prowess  is  not  essential,  we  are  not  trained  for 
hand  to  hand  fighting,  and  so,  some  people  think  the  man- 
hood of  our  time  has  degenerated.  My  humble  opinion 
however,  is  that  the  physique  of  Englishmen,  except  those 
born  and  bred  in  urban  slums,  is  as  good  as  ever.  I  once 
asked  the  hall-keeper  at  Penshurst,  an  ex-soldier  of  rather 
below  average  stature,  if  he  could  wear  the  old  armour, 
and  I  have  put  the  like  question  to  a  beefeater  at  the 
Tower.  "  No ! "  was  the  answer  in  both  these  cases  ; 
hardly  any  suit  of  armour  was  big  enough. 

There  was  a  barbarous  show  of  magnificence,  as 
witness  old  Froissart's  delightful  descriptions,  but  it  is 
undeniable  that  domestic  habits  even  of  nobles  and 
gentles  were  gross,  and  that  manners,  albeit  ceremonious, 
were  coarse.  A  man  of  the  upper  classes  would  take 
his  own  knife  in  a  sheath  to  a  dinner  party,  sit  there 


MEDIAEVAL  MANNERS  f^ 

with  his  hat  on,  use  his  fingers  for  fork,^  and  dip  his 

unwashed  spoon  for  each  mouthful  into  a  common  dish. 

The  diet  of  even  wealthy  people  was  unwholesome,  too 

much  salt  meat,  not  vegetables  enough  ;  while  the  food 

of  our  poorer  folk  was  both  bad  and  insufficient,  and 

leprosy  and  scurvy  were  rife  among  them. 

The  dress  of  the  mediaeval  rich  was  extravagant. 

Long  beards  heartless, 
Painted  hoods  witless, 
Gay  coats  graceless, 
Make  England  thriftless. 

was  contemporary  satire.     The  middle  and  lower  classes 

were   fretted   by   harsh   sumptuary  laws ;   no   working 

woman,  for  instance,  dared  to  be  seen  at  church  wearing 

other  headgear  than  a  hideous  cap  of  wool,  on  pain  of 

her  husband  forfeiting  half  his  week's  wages. 

Society  had  not  attained  that  stage  of  development 
which  results  in  elaborate  organisation  and  division  of 
labour  and  function.  A  family  did  not  then  depend  for 
its  daily  needs  on  purveyors,  such  as  the  butcher  and 
baker,  nor  even  on  tailors  or  dressmakers ;  each  house- 
hold was,  far  more  than  now,  self-sufficing,  independent 
of  outsiders. 

For  the  lord  of  the  manor's  house,  his  folds,  and  farm- 
yards, and  gardens,  furnished  a  plain  table  ;  and  deer 
park,  dove  house,  and  warren  more  delicate  dishes ; 
fish  ponds  provided  for  fast  days  ;  while  woods,  fen  and 
heath  lands  supplied  kindling,  billets,  peat,  and  turf  for 
fuel.  The  farmer  again,  and  his  men  made  their  own 
implements,  and  their  wives  and  daughters  baked  bread, 

^  That  forks  had  not  come  into  general  use  even  in  the 
17th  century,  all  who  have  seen  a  great  picture  in  the  Ryks 
Museum  at  Amsterdam  have  evidence.  In  the  "  Schutters 
maaltyd"  (Civic  guard  banquet),  painted  in  1648  by  Bartholomew 
van  der  Heist,  the  officers  are  shown  eating  without  the  aid  of  forks. 


80  DOMESTIC  INDUSTRIES 

brewed  beer,  spun  wool,  wove  cloth,  made,  not  only  their 
own  garments,  but  also  the  smock  frocks  (worn  from 
King  John's  days  to  our  own)  for  their  men  folk.  How 
women  got  on  without  pins  is  hard  to  imagine.  They 
only  had  skewers  of  wood,  bone,  or  silver,  and  tied  their 
clothes  with  tags  and  laces.  When  pins  came  in,  they 
were  so  much  thought  of,  that  a  wife's  allowance  was 
called  her  pin-money.  In  Henry  the  Eighth's  time  "  an 
acte  for  the  true  making  of  pynnes  "  ordained  that  the 
price  of  pins  should  not  exceed  6s.  Sd  a  thousand — 
more  than  a  penny  of  our  money  for  each  pin. 

Our  paid  professional  army  relieves  civilians  now  from 
personal  service,  but  had  we  lived  in  the  thirteen 
hundreds  we  should  often  have  seen  a  man  impressed 
from  Theberton. 

In  13 15,  Parliament  granted  to  the  King,  in  aid  for 
his  war  in  Scotland,  from  every  village  in  England  one 
stout  foot-man.  These  men  were  armed  with  swords, 
bows  and  arrows,  slings  and  lances,  and  every  village 
had  to  pay  for  its  own  man's  armour,  and  also  for  his 
expenses  of  getting  to  his  rendezvous  and  of  food  for 
sixty  days  thereafter,  at  the  wage  of  4ti.,  or  in  modern 
money  $s.  a  day.  War  in  Scotland  was  then  of  course 
foreign  service. 

For  home  defence,  adequate  means  had  long  before 
been  provided  ;  even  the  far  distant  12th  century  show- 
ing, in  that  respect,  a  beacon,  an  example,  to  ourselves. 
By  the  Assize  of  Arms  of  1181,  all  Englishmen  of  an 
age  fit  for  war,  were  bound  to  serve  in  defence  of  home 
and  country.  Such  vital  matters  were  not  then  the 
shuttlecocks  of  partisan  politicians. 

In  the  thirteen  hundreds,  surnames  were  slowly  coming 
into  common  use ;  it  was  a  natural  process,  thus  Jack 
the  Smith,  developed  into  John  Smith,  and  the  sons  of 


HOME  DEFENCE  31 

other  Johns  came  to  be  called  Johnsons,  Welshmen 
concocting  English  names  either  prefixed  a  P,  for  ap — 
son  of,  as  P-richard  son  of  Richard,  or  affixed  s  for  son,  as 
Jone-s  son  of  John,  Evan-s  of  Evan.  Our  women 
workers  too  were  the  mothers  of  names ;  a  female 
brewer  for  instance  was  then  called  a  brewster,  a  female 
weaver  a  webster,  whence  those  surnames  yet  among  us. 
A  local  example  occurs  from  the  rolls  of  the  adjacent 
manor  Fordley  ;  the  grant  of  a  house  in  1354  from  one 
Robert  le  Coupere  to  Geoffrey  le  Draper — Cooper  and 
Draper  are  common  names  now. 

Though  our  language  has  altered  much  in  the  course 
of  ages — not  so  much  in  Suffolk  however  as  elsewhere — 
place-names  of  quite  obscure  localities  have  suffered 
little  change.  For  instance  the  Packway,  a  narrow  lane 
in  Fordley,  worn  deep  by  the  traffic  of  countless 
generations,  bore  the  same  name  certainly  in  the  15th 
century,  probably  for  centuries  earlier.  The  Fordley 
manor  rolls  which  are  perfect,  and  in  perfect  preservation, 
from  the  thirteen  hundreds,  record  that  Robert  Grosse, 
weaver  by  trade,  held  in  the  twenty-first  year  of  Edward  IV 
a  piece  of  land  called  Fordeland,  lying  by  "  le  Packewaye" 
in  the  same  place,  leading  from  Kelsale  to  Dunwich.  Only 
one  stretch  of  this  old  "  pedders  ^  way  "  is  left,  though  it 
might  perhaps  still  be  traced  along  a  "  via  chasea,"  a 
cattle  driving  way — we  call  them  drift  ways  in  Suffolk 
— which  leads  from  the  Fen  Farm  in  Middleton  to  the 
marshes,  and  probably  once  crossed  the  old  river,  and 
led  on  over  Westleton  walks  to  Dunwich. 

My  neighbours  may  perhaps  identify  other  places  in 
Middleton-Fordley,  such  as  the  Chapel  Croft ;  Magg's 
Bridge,  seemingly  not  far  from  Stone  Hill ;  Slade  Mere, 

1  Weever  says,  but  his  derivation  is  doubtful,  that  pedders  ways 
were  so-called  '*  quod  pedes  iter  conficiunt." 


set  ANCIENT  LOCAL  PLACE  NAMES 

a  parish  boundary ;  Ton  Mere  (Town  Mere)  another 
parish  boundary  on  the  Theberton  side.  The  "  pinfold 
domini,"  lord's  pound,  was  probably  on  the  same  site 
as  the  pound  I  remember  on  Middleton  Moor.  The 
king's  highway,  "  via  regia,'"  afterwards  the  turnpike 
between  Theberton  and  Yoxford,  was  in  1367  known  as 
Medow  Lane.  It  traversed  meadows  then  ;  and  its 
grassy  margins  must  then  have  been  wider,  as,  after 
the  statute  of  Winchester  of  1285,  no  brushwood  was 
allowed  to  grow  within  two  hundred  feet  on  either  side 
of  roads  ,  for  fear  of  sheltering  robbers.  The  lord  of  the 
manor  had  a  park  in  Fordley,  referred  to  on  the  rolls  as 
"  le  parke  "  and  as  "  parous  domini."  Upon  the  present 
Dovehouse  Farm,  perhaps,  stood  the  manorial  dovecote, 
whence  the  lord's  tame  pigeons  were  privileged  to  raid 
other  men's  crops. 


CHAPTER  III 

For  even  slight  parish  sketches,  we  sorely  need  fore- 
ground figures.  Without  figures,  almost  any  picture 
lacks  interest,  and  for  historical  subjects  they  are  not 
less  than  essential.  Houses,  habits,  manners,  language, 
all  help  us  with,  as  it  were,  a  background  ;  but  we  want 
life ;  we  want  to  see  men  and  women,  the  "  him  and  her," 
who,  twenty  generations  back,  lived,  walked,  and  talked 
in  this  village  of  Theberton.  This  I  could  never  have 
supplied,  but  happily,  a  word-smith,  a  poet,  himself 
an  eye-witness,  has  left  us  his  masterpieces  of 
.description. 

Geoffrey  Chaucer,  father  of  English  Poetry,  we  are 
proud  to  claim  for  Suffolk,  as  descended  from  an 
Ipswich  family  ^ ;  and  it  is  very  probable  that  his  im- 
mortal characters,  so  fresh,  so  vivid  in  colour,  so  obviously 
likenesses,  were  drawn  from  Suffolk  friends  and  relations. 
They  may  well  stand  at  all  events  for  types  of  such 
people  as  he  might  have  met,  any  day  at  Theberton. 

In  the  days  we  are  describing,  no  figures  were  more 
familiar  in  our  parish,  than  the  monks  of  Leyston. 
Theberton  folk  assisted   at   their   choral   services,  and 

1  See  "  The  Chaucers  of  Suffolk,"  an  article  by  Mr.  V.  B.  Red- 
stone in  Memorials  of  Old  Suffolk^  edited  by  him.  I  have  to  thank 
Mr.  Redstone  for  friendly  help. 


84  THE  JENNEY  FAMILY 

admired  their  frequent  processions,  saw  work-a-day 
brothers  labouring  at  harvest,  and,  now  and  then,  perhaps 
a  gay  abbot,  riding  with  hawk  on  wrist,  or  following 
hounds,  over  the  unfenced  open  fields,  privileged  by 
his  right  of  free  warren. 

A  canon  of  the  church  indeed,  forbade  clerics  to  hunt 
with  hawk  or  hound  ^^voluptatis  causd"  but — fine  the 
distinction — it  was  permitted  them  if  "  recreationis  aut 
valetudinis  gratid"  a  bit  of  subtlety  which  monks  would 
delight  in,  and  not  fail  to  take  full  advantage  of. 

The  neighbourhood  was  not  without  gentle  families. 
In  1437,  an  Inquisition  was  held  at  Benhall,  a 
neighbouring  parish,  after — and  a  strangely  long  time 
after — the  death  of  one  William  Leyston,  who  had  died 
in  1365. 

William  Leyston  had  had  a  daughter  Margery,  married 

to  John  Bokele.      They  had  a  son  William,  whose  son 

again   was  John   Bokele.      This  younger  John  had   a 

daughter   named  Maud.      Maud  Bokele  married  John 

Jenney,^  and  they  had  a  son  named  William. 

j^SJljIi       The    Inquisition   found    that   William    Leyston   had 

died  seised  in  tail  of  the  Manor  of  Wadehalle,  with  its 

,1      f ,    appurtenances     in     Leyston,     Theberton,     Middleton, 

V  x/f^  K*^     Fordley,  Aldringham,  Knoddishall,  Buxlow  ^  and  Friston, 

by  the  gift  of  his  father  John  de  Leyston,  who  was  I 

think   the  man   who  had   acted   as  a  trustee   for   the 

Abbey ;  and  it  was  further  found  that  one  of  his  next 

heirs  was  the  above-named  William  Jenney  ;  son  of  Maud 

and  John  Jenney. 

*  In  Knoddishall  Church  near  Leiston,  Weever  noted  this 
inscription  :  "John  Jenney  Esquyer,  Matylda  (Maud)  daughter  of 
John  Bokele  Esquyer  and  Margery  his  wyves  which  John  dyed 
Mcccclx." 

*  Slight  remains  of  the  round  tower  of  Buxlow  Church  may  be 
found  in  the  garden  of  a  cottage  near  Knoddishall  Red  House. 


WORD  PICTURES  FROM  CHAUCER        36 

Thus  it  appears  that  William  Jenney  inherited  estates 
in  Theberton  from  William  Leyston,  and  through  him 
from  John  de  Leyston,  who  had  been  born  in  Edward  I.'s 
time.^ 

The  Bokeles  we  shall  meet  again  later.  For  many 
years  I  shot  with  friends  through  a  wood  in  Leiston 
called  Buckles  Wood,  by  which  perhaps  the  ancient 
name  is  commemorated. 

Among  the  Leystones,  the  Bokeles,  and  the  Jenneys, 
might  doubtless  have  been  found  models  for  Chaucer's 
"  perfight  gentil  knight "  or  for  the  jolly : 

.  .  househaldere  and  that  a  gret  was  he 


It  snewed  ^  in  his  hous  of  mete  and  drynk 
Of  alle  deyntees  that  men  cowde  thynke 

His  table  dormant  in  his  halle  alway 
Stood  redy  covered  al  the  longe  day. 

Some  younger  brother  might  have  stood  for  the  stout 
yeoman 

.  .  .  clad  in  coote  and  hood  of  grene 
A  shef  of  pocock  arwes  bright  and  kene 
Under  his  belte  he  bar  ful  thriftily 


His  arwes  drowpud  nought  with  fetheres  lowe 
And  in  his  hond  he  bar  a  mighty  bowe 

Upon  his  arme  he  bar  a  gay  bracer 
And  by  his  side  a  swerd  and  a  bokeler 
And  on  the  other  side  a  gay  daggere. 

Chaucer's  art,  like  Rembrandt's,  delights  in  strong 
contrasts  of  light  and  shade.  Monks  under  rule,  and 
priests  out  in  the  world,  he  paints  as  he  saw  them, 
always  at  enmity  with  each  other.     His  typical  regular 

*  Among  the  Paston  Letters  is  a  letter  from  William  Jenney 
to  John  Paston  Esqr.  written  from  Theberton.  The  date  is 
uncertain,  but  is  believed  to  be  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI. 

2  We  still  say  "  it  snewed  "  in  Suffolk. 

D  2 


86  NATURE'S  GENTLEMEN 

.  .  ,  loved  venerye 


Greyhoundes  he  hadde  as  swifte  as  fowel  in  flight 
Of  prikyng  and  of  huntyng  for  the  hare 
Was  al  his  lust,  for  no  cost  wolde  he  spare. 

How  different  his  specimen  of  the  secular  priest,  the 
beautiful  original  of  many  a  later  poet's  description. 
Though  but  a  poor  country  parson, 

.  .  ,  riche  he  was  of  holy  thought  and  werk 
He  was  also  a  lemed  man,  a  clerk 
That  Cristes  gospel  gladly  wolde  preche  : 
His  parischens  devoutly  wolde  he  teche. 
Benigne  he  was,  and  wonder  diligent, 
And  in  adversite  ful  pacient 


Wyd  was  his  parisch,  and  houses  fer  asondur 
But  he  ne  lafte  not  for  reyne  ne  thondur 
In  siknesse  ne  in  meschief  to  visite 
The  ferrest  in  his  parissche.  .  .  . 

This  humble  priest  had  a  brother,  good  and  worthy  as 
himself,  in  another  calling.     He  was  a  poor  ploughman. 

A  trewe  swynker  and  a  good  was  hee, 
Lyvynge  in  pees  and  parfight  charitee. 
God  loved  he  best  with  al  his  trewe  herte 
At  alle  tymes,  though  him  gained  or  smerte, 

And  thanne  his  neighebour  right  as  himselve. 
He  wolde  threisshe  and  therto  dyke  and  delve 
For  Cristes  sake,  with  every  pore  wight 
Withouten  huyre  if  it  laye  in  liis  might. 

I  have  in  Theberton  known  just  such  Christian 
gentlemen  of  the  ploughman's  calling,  and  truly  and 
well  has  it  been  written  that  "  humble  thoughts  which 
smoake  from  a  poore  man's  cottage,  are  as  sweet  a 
sacrifice  unto  the  Lord  as  the  costly  perfumes  of  the 
prince's  pallace." 

It  is  deplorable  that  the  old  manor  rolls  of  Theberton 
are  not  available,  we  might  have  quarried  out  of  them 
material  of  interest;  but  those  we  have  only  date  from 


THE  OLD  THEBERTON  DEER  PARK   37 

1 64 1,  Exhaustive  searches  have  been  made  for  the 
old  rolls,  but  "  non  sunt  inventi " — gone,  it  may  be, 
stolen.  Lawyers  delight  in  precedents  : — "  Whereas  " 
I  quote  from  the  city  books  of  Lincoln,  date  1520,  divers 
documents  "  pertaining  to  the  Gild  Hall  be  embezzled 

and  withdrawn if  no  person   will  acknowledge 

the  having  of  them,  then  a  monition  shall  proceed  of 
mrsing  against  all  such  persons  as  keep  any  such  books 

rolls or  other  writings."     To   follow  this   good 

precedent  would  afford  the  present  writer,  as  their 
monition  doubtless  afforded  the  city  fathers  of  Lincoln, 
a  glow  of  real  satisfaction. 

There  was  in  ancient  days  a  park  in  Theberton  of 
about  1 88  acres.  It  seems  to  have  been  a  long  narrowstrip, 
extending  east  and  west  between  the  two  water-courses 
which  flow  to  the  eastward,  of  which  one  bounds  the 
parish  of  Theberton  on  the  north,  and  the  other,  after 
running  through  the  Church  farm,  passes  the  Wash 
Cottage,  and  crosses  the  road  by  the  rectory  corner. 
From  the  westward,  the  park  seems  to  have  stretched 
from  within  the  next  parish  of  Kelsale  beyond  the 
Ashen  Spring  Covert,  to  the  marshes  on  the  Hall  farm, 
comprising  such  part  of  the  now  Hall  park,  as  lies  in 
Theberton.  The  whole  of  this  area,  however,  could  not 
have  been  included,  as  it  covers  more  ground  than 
188  acres,  but  we  have  no  material  for  more  accurate 
description. 

At  what  date  the  old  park  was  formed  there  is  no 
evidence ;  ^  it  may  have  been  at  any  time  between  the 
thirteenth  and  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
So  many  parks  were  made  about  the  thirteenth  century, 
that  licences  to  impark  brought  considerable  revenue  to 

^  Doomsday  enumerates  thirty-one  parks  in  all  England,  of 
which  the  Castle  Park  at  Eye  was  the  only  one  in  Suffolk. 


88  DEER  FOR  FOOD  AND  SPORT 

the  Crown ;  for  the  law  was  that  no  man  could 
make  a  park  which  was  '■' quodam  modo  to  appro- 
priate those  creatures  which  are  ferce  natures  and 
nullius  in  bonis  to  himself,  and  to  restrain  them  of 
their  natural  liberty,"  without  the  king's  permission. 
In  Henry  III.'s  time  the  statute  of  Merton,  and  in 
Edward  I.'s  time  the  statute  of  Westminster,  authorised 
lords  of  manors  to  impark,  by  enclosing  portions  of  the 
common  pasture,  so  as  the  rights  of  commoners  were 
not  interfered  with. 

I  think  practical  needs  dictated  the  growing  fashion 
for  making  parks.  Fat  venison  is  excellent  meat,  but, 
though  there  were  both  fallow  and  red  deer  in  the 
wastes  and  forests,  their  nature  is  to  wander  far,  and 
they  could  not  be  brought  to  hand  always  just  when 
wanted ;  landowners  therefore  found  their  advantage  in 
making  enclosures,  into  which  the  deer  could  be  collected, 
and  kept  in  good  condition  for  the  table.  Venison 
was  salted  then  for  the  winter.  In  the  late  Mr.  E.  P. 
Shirley's  delightful  **  Deer  and  Deer  Parks  "  is  found  a 
record  of  1298  which,  put  into  English,  is  as  follows  : — 
"  The  King  to  the  guardians  of  the  bishoprick  of  Ely 
(the  See  was  then  vacant)  we  command  that  one  hundred, 
fallow  deer  now  in  season  in  the  episcopal  park  be 
salted,  and  dried,  (smoked  })  and  so  salted  and  dried  be 
stored  in  tubs,"  &c.  Sport  also  in  a  mediaeval  sense, 
was  promoted  by  imparking.  The  mode  then  was  to 
drive  the  deer  past  fixed  stands, "  stable  stands,"  whence 
sportsmen  shot  them  with  arrows;  just  as,  with  rifles  in 
the  place  of  bows,  is  done  to-day  by  German  potentates. 
An  enclosed  park  was  thus,  in  an  old  writer's  words, 
"  always  ready  to  furnish  you  with  those  animals  (deer) 
either  for  use  or  for  pleasure." 

So  the  fashion  of  imparking  grew,  and  more  and  more 


A  SURVIVOK  OK  THE  OlD  DeKR  PaRK. 


THE  MODERN  PARK  TITHE  FREE         39 

parks  were  enclosed,  till  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  when  Harrison  estimated  that  no  less  than  one 
twentieth  part  of  the  kingdom  was  used  for  deer  and  for 
conies. 

The  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  saw  the  tide 
of  imparking  turn.  Parks  brought  "  no  maner  of  gaine  or 
profit  to  the  owners  sith  they  comonlye  give  awaye  their 
fleshe,  never  taking  penny  for  the  same,  because  venission 
in  England  is  neither  bought  nor  soulde  by  the  right 
owner."  And  desirous  of  some  profit,  gentlemen  threw 
down  their  park  palings,  and,  as  it  was  then  quaintly 
said,  made  the  deer  leap  over,  to  give  place  to  bullocks. 

There  is  no  evidence  when  the  Theberton  deer  park 
was  disparked ;  only,  we  know  it  must  have  been  after 
1 60 1,  for  which  year  Davy  records  this  extract  from  the 
lost  manor  rolls  :  "  Curia  generalis  cum  leta  tenia 
5  Aug.  43,  Eliz.  Juratores  presentant  quod  parens 
dominihujus  manerii  fraetus  est,sed per  quern  incognitum 
est'*  The  jurors  present  that  the  park  of  the  lord  of 
this  manor  was  broken  into,  but  by  whom  it  is  not 
known. 

It  may  be  noted  here,  that  the  modern  Hall  park  with 
some  adjacent  land,  all  part  of  the  old  enclosure, 
perhaps  the  original  nucleus  of  it,  is  at  this  day  tithe 
free,  subject  only  to  a  trifling  modus.  It  was  never 
Abbey  land.  Can  it  be  that  deer,  being  wild  animals  or 
in  legal  phrase  feres  natures^  the  ancient  park,  which 
produced  nothing  else,  was  never  titheable,  and  was 
subjected,  instead  of  tithes,  to  the  modus  .^  A  case  in  point 
may  be  cited  for  this.  Mote  Park  in  Kent  contains 
480  acres,  of  which  140  are  free  of  tithe  ;  this  is  believed 
to  be  because  those  140  acres  represent  the  original  deer 
park. 

There  probably  were  deer  in  the  park  at  Theberton  of 


40     VENISON  FROM  FRAMLINGHAM  CASTLE 

Sir  Edmund  Jenney,  who  had  been  knighted  at  the 
marriage  of  Prince  Arthur  with  Katharine  of  Arragon  ; 
but  he  accepted,  as  did  other  gentlemen  in  the  like  case, 
presents  of  venison.  In  "  Deer  and  Deer  Parks,"  are 
printed  the  accounts  from  1515  to  1518  of  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk's  "  parker  "  at  Framlingham  Castle.  Among 
persons  to  whom  the  Duke  sent  venison  are  named 
both  Sir  Edmund,  and  his  eldest  son  William  who  died 
before  him,  "  one  buk  "  each.  The  park  keeper's  ortho- 
graphy is  strange,  he  seems  to  have  been  a  north- 
country  man,  we  Suffolkers  never  misplace  H's. 
His  list  of  names  comprised,  besides  the  two  Jenneys, 
most  of  the  prominent  folk  of  the  neighbourhood. 

Among  them  are  "  my  lord  (the  bishop)  of  Norwich  "  ; 
"my  lord  Wylleby"  (Willoughby  of  Parham) ;  "the 
abbot  of  Sypton"  (Sibton) ;  "Sir  Wm.  Rows"  (an 
ancestor  of  the  Earl  of  Stradbroke) ;  "  The  Abbas 
(abbess)  of  Brusyzard"  (Bruisyard  a  convent  of  Poor 
Clares) ;  "  the  Master  of  Metyngham "  (Mettingham 
College) ;  "  Johan  Henyham  "  (whose  family,  dating 
from  the  reign  of  Canute,  ended  with  William 
Heveningham  the  regicide) ;  "  Sir  Arthur  Hopton " 
(who  sold  Henham  to  the  Rouses) ;  "  The  Prior  of  Hey 
(Eye),  and  the  Scoell  Mastyr " ;  "  The  balys  (bailiffs) 
of  Ypswyche";  "the  Abbot  of  Bery"  (Bury);  "the 
Prior  of  Butley  "  ;  "  the  Prior  of  Seynt  Petyrs  "  ;  "  the 
Prior  of  Woodbrege  "  ;  "  the  Parson  of  framlyngham  for 
tythe  "  (a  voluntary  gift  in  lieu  of  tithe  not  claimable  >)  ; 
"  Sr.  Richard  Wentforthe"  (Wentworth  of  Nettlestead)  ; 
♦•  Sr.  Anthony  Wingfield  "  (of  Wingfield  Castle) ;  "  Sir 
Richard  Cawndysche"  (Cavendish);  "Sir  Johan 
Glemham "  (of  Benhall,  pronounced  now  as  written 
in  9  Elizabeth,  Benall) ;  "  the  Priories  (prioress)  of 
Campsey  (whose  house  was  owner  of  the  advowson  of 


A  PARK  KEEPER'S  DIARY  41 

Carlton  by  Kelsale) ;  "  the  Parson  of  Orford  "  ;  "  the 
Prior  of  Thelforthe "  (?  Thetford);  "Sr.  Thomas  Tyrell" 
(of  Gipping,  one  of  whose  family  is  said  to  have 
murdered  the  princes  in  the  Tower). 

Convents  of  monks  and  nuns  were  obviously  plentiful 
as  blackberries,  or  as  squires'  houses  now ;  strangely 
enough,  the  abbot  of  Leyston  is  not  mentioned  among 
the  favoured  heads  of  religious  houses,  to  each  of  whom 
was  sent  "  one  buk."  Of  the  family  of  Glemham,  was 
later  "that  most  famous  and  venterous  gentleman, 
Edward  Glemham  of  Benhall  in  Suffolk,"  whose  "  honor- 
able actions  ....  latelie  obtained  against  the  Spaniards 
and  the  Holy  League  in  four  sundrie  fights,"  were 
published  in  1591  "for  an  ^encouragement  to  our 
English  Adventurers  (gentlemen  sailars  and  soldiars) 
that  serve  against  the  enemies  of  God  and  our 
country."  ^ 

I  cannot  keep  from  my  readers  some  quaint  further 
extracts  from  the  "  parker's "  accounts,  which,  though 
not  directly  concerning  Theberton,  are  yet  of  interest, 
throwing  light  just  where  we  want  it,  on  the  common- 
places of  our  forbears'  life  in  the  neighbourhood  ; 
such  for  instance  as  : — 

"  Balling  of  Laxfield  Merser  (Mercer)  ij  doggis  of  hys 
came  in  and  kyllyd  a  doo  and  a  fawne." 

"  On  holy  rood  evyn  I  found  in  the  parke  Sr.  lohan 

^  H.  R.  wrote  "  in  commendation  of  the  right  worshipful!  and 
valiant  Generall,  Edward  Glemham,  Esquire  "  : — 

Brave  men  at  Armes,  England's  Cheueleers, 
Let  Glemham's  honors,  'mongst  you  be  of  name 
Whose  conquests  gainde,  'gamst  Spanish  Cauiliers 
With  goulden  Trumpe,  eternised  is  by  fame  : 
Tutkie,  Spaine,  and  France  reports  the  same, 
To  England's  honor  Glemham  gaines  renowne 
In  spite  of  those  which  at  his  weale  dothe  frowne. 

The  little  book  from  which  these  lines  are  extracted  was  reprinted 
in  1820. 


42  THE  FRENCHE  QUENE  AND  THE  CARDINAL 

bowse  parysch  pryst  of  tanyston  (Tannington  parish. 
Priests  being  graduates  were  then  called  Sir)  with  hys 
bow  bent  and  an  arrow  in  yt,  betyng  (making  ready 
to  shoot)  at  the  herd." 

"  Item — Johan  pulsham  (Foulsham  a  Theberton 
family  name)  thelder  (the  elder)  cam  rydyng  be  the  wey, 
and  fowned  a  do  without,  and  hys  doge  kyllyd  hym — 
and  he  hyng  hys  dog !  " 

In  1 5 19,  was  killed  "for  Sr.  lohan  Rows,  for  syngynge 
of  his  first  Messe  (Mass),  one  bucke." 

"  Item  the  Mundaye  afore  Mychaelmes  daye,  cam 
in  a  dogge  of  Johnsons  of  denyngtone  the  schoe  maker, 
and  kyllyd  ij  dooes,  and  then  the  dogge  was  take  up, 
and  I  sende  to  hym  to  wete  (know)  wether  he  wold  have 
the  dogge  agayne,  and  he  send  me  word  naye,  and  then 
I  hynge  him  upon  a  tre." 

I  transcribe  a  few  entries  more,  which  relate  to 
historical  persons  in  our  county. 

Among  the  bucks  killed,  the  "parker"  accounts 
for  : — "  the  frenche  quene  one  buk,  item  ij  fawnys  item 
she  sent  to  me  for  a  fawne,  item  the  quene  cam 
agayne  and  kyllyd  iiij  bukkys."  This  was  Mary  Tudor, 
the  young  widow  of  Louis  XII.  She  married  "that 
martiall  pompous  gentilman,"  Charles  Brandon,  the 
Duke  of  Suffolk,  of  whom  it  is  related  that,  at  a  grand 
tournament  on  the  occasion  of  their  wedding,  he 
tilted  with  his  horse  in  trappings  half  cloth  of  gold  and 
half  frieze,  with  these  lines  on  them. 

Cloth  of  gold  do  not  despise 

Though  thou  art  matched  with  cloth  of  frieze 

Cloth  of  frieze  be  not  too  bold 

Though  thou  art  matched  with  cloth  of  gold.  • 

Again — "  for  the  comyng  of  my  lord  Cardenall,  one 
*  He  was  interred  at  Bury  St.  Edmund's. 


Framungham  Castle. 


HEVENINGHAM  PARK  48 

buk.  Item  he  cam  trow  the  parke  and  kyllyd  one  buk 
and  a  do,  item  on  the  next  day  I  was  sygned  to  kyll 
for  him  xij  bukkys."  This  was  of  course  the  "  top 
proud  cardinal "  son  of  a  grazier  of  Ipswich — Thomas 
Wolsey. 

Again — "to  Wyndferdying  (Winfarthing,  near  Diss,     . 
where  was  an  ancient  park  one  mile  in  circumference)    ^ 
was  sent  for  my  lord  of  Surrey  121  quyke  (live)  deer 
taken   at  seven   different  times."      This  was  Thomas,     V^* 
Earl  of  Surrey,  afterwards  third  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  '\/0^^'^^ 


In  those  days,  gentlemen  did  not  sell  their  venison  ;     P^\  a  IWI 
and    licence    to    kill    deer    in    another    man's    park     ^4-W*'.  .  - 


married  Anne,  daughter  of  King  Edward  IV.  f^  *^  J^^ 

was  a  prized  privilege  to  be  granted  in  solemn  1\Jm^ 
form  of  law.  The  Sir  John  Heveningham  above  men-  ^ 
tioned  had  a  great  park  at  Heveningham,  where,  at  a 
later  date.  Queen  Bess  is  said  to  have  slain  a  fat  buck 
with  her  own  hand.  Among  his  neighbours  was  Nicholas 
Bohun  Esquire,  of  Westhall ;  and  in  1533,  a  Deed  Poll 
was  executed  under  the  hands  and  seal  of  Sir  John, 
Dame  Alice  his  wife,  and  Anthony  his  son  and  heir 
apparent,  whereby,  Sir  John,  with  consent  of  his  wife  and 
son,  "graunted  to  Nicholas  a  yerly  fee  of  oon  buk  in 
somer  and  oon  doo  in  wynter,  to  be  taken  of  my  gifte 
within  my  parke  at  Heveyngham,  in  seasonable  and 
convenyent  tymes  in  the  yer :  to  have  and  enjoye  the 
said  fee  of  oon  buk  and  oon  doo  yerly,  to  be  taken  in 
such  tyme  and  place  as  is  aforesaid,  to  the  said  Nicholas 
and  his  assyns  during  his  life  naturall " :  and  it  was  pro- 
vided that  it  should  "be  lefull  to  the  same  Nicholas,  at 
his  own  plesure,  to  kille  yerly  the  said  buk  and  doo  in 
convenyent  tymes  of  the  yer,  with  hys  houndys,  grey 
houndys,  or  long  bowe ;  soo  always  the  same  Nicholas 
be  there  present  in  his  own  person  ;  and  so  that  the  said 


44  CONCERNING  APPROPRIATIONS 

Nicholas  do  gif  convenyent  knowledge  to  the  keper  of 
the  seid  parke  for  the  tyme  being  of  his  comyng  their 
to  hunte  and  kyll  as  is  aforesaid  ;  or  ellys  the  same  buk 
and  doo  to  be  killed  by  the  same  keper,  and  delivered 
to  the  seid  Nicholas  or  his  assigns  at  the  seid  park." 


CHAPTER   IV 

We  have  already  traced  the  advowson  of  Theberton     .  i^ 

into  the  hands  of  the  monks  of  Leyston,  who,  after  1372,    ^-^MAJH  (Itt 
had  the  right  of  presenting  rectors  to  the  benefice.  Cui  /-  c^-^ 

They  had  not  to  wait  long  for  their  first  opportunity. 
In  1374,  they  presented  a  priest,  one  Robert  de  Dersham 
(query  Darsham)  "  confrater  et  concanonicus,"  to  the 
then  vacant  church  of  Theberton  ;  and  their  presentation 
was  followed,  in  due  course,  by  the  canonical  institution 
of  the  same  monk  by  Henry  de  Spencer,  "  the  fighting 
bishop  of  Norwich,"  who  was  then  residing  at  his 
episcopal  house  at  Hoxne. 

This  done,  the  canons  set  to  work  to  gain  a  further 
step  by  squeezing  out  of  Theberton  advantages  for 
the  future,  more  tangible  than  their  bare  right  of 
patronage.  The  law  then  permitted  a  process,  known 
by  an  euphemism  as  "  appropriation,"  whereby  parish 
priests  were  plundered  to  aggrandize  religious  houses. 

When  a  spiritual  corporation,  a  monastery  for  instance, 
was  patron  of  a  rectory,  it  could,  upon  a  vacancy,  make 
itself  also  the  rector,  and  entitle  itself  in  that  capacity  to  , 
take  the  tithes  of  the  parish.  The  cure  of  souls  could  be  7)ff 
vicariously  served  by  a  clerk,  may-be  a  monk  in  priest's 
orders  of  their  own  house,  as  their  vicar  or  deputy,  who 
would  be  in  the  position  of  a  modern  curate — the  rector 


% 


46        THE  THEBERTON  APPROPRIATION 

house  taking  the  tithes,  and  paying  the  vicar-curate  a 
stipend  for  his  services. 

Monkish  apologists  raked  in  the  ashes  of  antiquity 
for  a  justification  of  such  robberies.  Tithes,  they  main- 
tained, were  originally  divided  into  four  equal  parts — 
one  part  for  the  bishop,  one  for  reparations  of  the  church 
and  priest's  manse,  one  for  the  poor  and  for  the  exercise 
of  hospitality,  leaving  only  one  fourth  for  the  support  of 
the  parson.  And  why,  if  one  fourth  had  then  sufficed  for 
that  purpose,  should  it  not  suffice  still.  And  as  to  the 
three-fourths — the  bishop  needing  his  fourth  no  longer — 
how  could  the  money  be  applied  more  piously  than  to 
support  the  professed  religious,  holy  devoted  men  such 
as  themselves } 

This  hypocritical  iniquity,  practised  now  for  genera- 
tions, had  become  a  great  and  crying  scandal.  It 
resulted  that  Rectorial  hospitality  was  neglected, 
churches  and  rectory  houses  fell  into  disrepair,  some- 
times not  even  any  minister  was  provided.  Monks  kept 
"parsonages  in  their  own  hands,  dealt  but  a  twentieth 
part  to  the  poor,  and  preached  but  once  in  the  yeare  to 
them  that  paid  the  tithes."  Even  a  Pope,  Alexander 
IV.,  had  in  the  thirteenth  century  stigmatized  the 
system,  as  "  the  bane  of  religion,  the  destruction  of 
the  church,  and  a  poison  that  infected  the  whole 
nation."  ^ 

Let  us  see  how  an  appropriation  was  effiscted  at 
Theberton. 

There  is  preserved  in  the  Register  of  the  Sacrist  of 
Norwich,  a  document  which  gives  a  full  account  of  it. 
The  deed  bears  date,  "  The  Chapter  House  of  Leyston 

*  Hooker  wrote  centuries  afterwards  of :  "  that  which  hath  been 
taken  from  the  church  in  appropriations  known  to  amount  to  the 
value  of  ;^i  26,000  yearly."  This,  it  will  be  remembered, 
represents  a  vastly  larger  figure  according  to  the  present  value 
of  money. 


THE  POPE'S  USURPED  POWER  47 

Abbey,  15  April,  1381."  From  it,  we  learn  that  Henry 
Despencer  the  bishop  of  Norwich,  had,  with  the  consent 
of  the  Chapter  of  Norwich,  "  annexed  and  united  and 
appropriated "  (the  actual  appropriation  was  it  seems 
effected  in  the  previous  year)  the  church  of  Theberton 
to  the  convent  of  Leyston ;  and  that  the  Abbot  and 
Convent  agreed  to  pay,  during  the  appropriation,  an 
annual  pension  of  4^.  to  the  Sacrist,  at  the  Michaelmas 
and  Easter  synods  of  the  church. 

At  that  date,  1381,  Robert  de  Dersham  was  still  the 
Rector  of  Theberton  ;  and,  till  he  vacated  the  benefice, 
the  monks  had  not  an  opportunity  to  take  advantage  of 
the  appropriation.  He  died,  it  would  seem,  in  1391.  In 
the  January  following,  one  John,  like  his  predecessor 
surnamed  de  Dersham  and  like  him  a  monk  of  Leyston, 
was,  in  the  capacity  of  a  lawfully  constituted  "  proctor 
of  the  religious  men  the  Abbot  and  convent,  instituted 
by  the  said  father  (the  bishop)  into  the  parish  church  of 
Theberton  then  vacant."  The  document  effecting  this 
is  interesting  enough  to  set  out.  It  runs  thus,  translated 
from  the  Latin  and  omitting  the  merely  formal  parts : 
Henry  by  divine  permission  Bishop  of  Norwich  to  our 
beloved  sons  the  Abbot  and  Convent  of  the  monastery 
of  the  blessed  Mary  of  Leystone  of  the  Premonstraten- 
sian  order  in  our  diocese,  who  now  are  or  at  all  future 
times  shall  be,  salutation  grace  and  benediction.  As 
regards  the  parish  church  of  Theberton  in  our  Diocese 
now  vacant  by  the  death  of  brother  Robert  de  Dersham 
the  last  rector  there,  of  which  you  have  obtained  the 
right  of  patronage ;  we,  by  the  authority  of  our 
ordinary  (jurisdiction)  and  by  virtue  of  the  privilege  of 
the  Apostolic  See  by  Pope  Celestine  of  blessed  memory 
of  old  granted  to  you  and  your  monastery ,1  do  canoni- 

^  Referred  to  by  Hooker  as  "the  Pope's  usurped  power  of 
appropriating  ecclesiastical  livings  unto  Monks." 


48  THE  KING  PRESENTS  RECTORS 

cally  unite  annex  and  incorporate  and  appropriate  it  to 
your  proper  use  for  ever.  And  we  grant  the  same,  in 
the  person  of  brother  John  de  Dersham  member  and 
canon  of  the  said  monastery  and  your  proctor  legally 
constituted,  according  to  the  form  and  effect  of  our 
letters  to  you,  as  to  the  union  annexation  incorporation 
and  appropriation  aforesaid,  made  and  sealed  with  our 
seal  and  the  seal  of  the  chapter  of  our  Cathedral  Church. 
And  we  admit  and  canonically  institute  you  Rectors  in 
the  same.  Saving  to  us  and  to  our  successors  and  to 
our  Cathedral  Church  and  also  to  the  Archdeacon  of 
Suffolk  all  rights,  etc.,  etc. — as  in  the  said  letters  of 
appropriation  are  more  fully  set  out. 

Thus,  the  community  of  the  Abbot  and  Canons  of 
Leyston,  hitherto  only  the  patrons,  were  now  constituted 
the  incumbent  rectors  also,  of  Theberton. 

During  the  next  few  years,  I  suppose  that  the  Abbey 
served  the  cure  of  Theberton  by  a  stipendiary  "  vicar." 

In  1401,  we  find  that  King  Henry  IV.  presented  one 
Richard  Herman  priest  to  the  "parish  church  of 
Theberton,"  to  which  he  was  in  due  course  lawfully 
instituted.  The  words  "  the  parish  church  "  meant,  of 
course,  the  Rectory. 

How  the  King  obtained  this  presentation  does  not 
appear. 

Besides  the  evidence  of  the  form  of  presentation,  the 
fact  that  Richard  Herman  was  in  as  rector,  is  shown 
aliunde.  We  have  it,  that,  in  the  second  year  of  his 
incumbency,  one  Mary  daughter  of  Thomas  Power  of 
Theberton  granted  to  him,  together  with  other  persons, 
certain  lands  situate  in  Theberton,  describing  him  as 
"  Richard  rector  of  Theberton." 

In  1404,  we  find  it  recorded  that  the  Sacrist  of  Norwich 
Cathedral  had,  for  that  year,  received  nothing  in  respect 


THE  APPROPRIATION  INVALID  49 


of  his  pension  of  4s.  from  the  Abbot  of  Leyston  on  /^nr^      it 

account  of  the  church  of  Theberton,  "  by  reason   it  is  ^  *Gs./HA;. 

said  that  the  church  was  then  in  the  hands  of  seculars."  f^L  jtbA  (^ 

Richard  Herman  seems  to  have  been  a  secular  priest.  I  '  ^^h       A 

In  1408,  the   Abbot  and   Convent   again   presented  1  ^      yf/f  ( 

to  the  parish  church  (rectory)  a  monk  of  their  house  ^""'^^ 


the  parish  church  (rectory) 
one  brother  John  Pethagh,  who  was  instituted  accord- 
ingly. 

Pethagh's  incumbency  was  short ;  and  in  1409  the 
King  again  presented  one  Henry  Leycestre  who  perhaps 
had  Court  interest.  He  was  not  even  in  Holy  Orders  : 
"primam  habuit  tonsuram  clericalem " ;  yet  he  was 
instituted  the  same  year  "  in  ecdesie  parochiali "  to  the 
parish  church.  Perhaps  this  was  not  in  canonical  order, 
for  another  institution  of  the  same  man  is  recorded  in  the 
year  following,  by  which  time  he  had  attained  sub- 
deacon's  orders.  Now,  there  can  be  no  room  for  doubt 
as  to  the  rectorial  status  of  Leycestre  ;  for  when  one 
Hugo  Sprot — I  think  also  a  secular — from  St.  Andrew's 
Holborn,  "  a  suburb  of  London  "  (how  oddly  it  sounds 
now),  exchanged  livings  with  him,  Sprot's  institution  was 
expressed  to  be  on  the  resignation  of  Henry  Leycestre 
"  late  rector  "  of  Theberton. 

We  have  seen  that  the  King  had  presented  one 
turn,  then  the  Abbot  and  Convent  presented,  and 
then  the  King  again  for  the  alternate  turn,  and  that 
all  the  presentees  were  canon ically  instituted  to  the 
rectory. 

Clearly,  these  facts  do  not  consist  with  the  validity  of 
the  appropriation.  Had  it  been  and  remained  valid,  a 
Rector  could  not  have  been  legally  instituted  ;  for  by  the 
appropriation  (to  which  moreover  the  King  had  con- 
sented) the  Rectory  had  been  "annexed  incorporated  and 
united  "  with  the  advowson,  and  thereby  the  Abbot  and 

E 


\S 


50  HOW  INVALIDATED? 

Convent  of  Leystone  had  become  for  ever  the  incumbent 
Rectors — "  parsons  imparsonees,"  to  use  the  quaint  old 
phrase — of  Theberton.  The  Rectory  was  full,  there  was 
no  vacancy  to  be  presented  to,  either  by  King  or  by 
Abbey,  yet  the  King  did  in  fact,  and  so  did  the  Abbey, 
present  clerks  to  the  Rectory,  and  their  presentations  held 
good,  for  their  presentees  were  in  due  form  instituted  by 
the  bishop  of  the  diocese. 

But  what  had  invalidated  the  appropriation  ?  How 
came  the  monks  to  lose  such  a  highly  prized  spiritual 
possession  ?  Of  course,  for  some  reason  we  do  not  know, 
it  may  have  been  invalid  ab  initio ;  or,  if  that  could  be, 
have  been  surrendered  ;  or  again,  this  conjecture  may  be 
worth  considering,  it  may  possibly  be  that,  having  parted 
by  grant  to  the  King  with  a  part  of  the  organism  of  their 
advowson — a  next  or  perhaps  next  alternate  right  of 
presentation  to  the  rectory — and  rectors  having  by 
virtue  thereof  been  presented  and  instituted,  the  union 
^%5  ,  between  rectory  and  advowson  had  been  severed,  and 
9/'  >.  ^iX  being  once  severed,  they  could  never  be  re-united  ;  and 
thus,  the  benefice  had  been  irrevocably  disappropriated. 
Or — there  is  another  more  likely  alternative ;  the  monks 
may  have  concluded  that  it  was  their  interest,  not  to 
appoint  vicars,  having  regard  to  the  restrictions  of  a 
statute  passed  in  1402.  That  Act  provided  that  all  vicars 
shojild  be  seculars,  not  members  of  any  religious  house, 
that  they  should  be  perpetual,  not  removable  at  the 
caprice  of  monasteries,  be  canonically  instituted  and 
inducted,  and  be  sufficiently  endowed  at  the  discretion 
of  the  ordinary.  This  made  it  impossible  for  the  Convent 
to  provide  pleasant  berths  for  its  monks,  as  vicars  ;  or  by 
appointing  them  in  rapid  rotation,  to  arrange  refreshing 
holidays.  May  it  not  be  then,  that  they  thought  to 
evade  the  obnoxious  act  by  an  expedient }    They  might, 


SUCCESSIVE  RECTORS 


51 


as  patrons,  regardless  of  the  appropriation,  present  a 
monk  to  the  rectory — the  statute  referred  only  to  vicars 
— and  might  they  not  extort  from  him  being  under  vows 
of  obedience  by  the  rule  of  their  order,  security  for  the 
payment  to  them  of  the  bulk  of  his  tithes,  and,  make 
him  sign  a  bond  besides,  conditioned  that  he  should 
resign  after  a  prescribed  period,  or  on  demand  of  the 
community.  Probably  this  had  been  devised — these  men 
of  religion  were  very  sharp  practitioners — when  they 
presented  brother  John  Pethagh. 

The  invalidity  or  loss  of  this  Theberton  appropriation 
is  the  more  remarkable,  seeing  that  had  there  been 
many  instances,  no  great  number  of  vicarages  would 
now  be  in  existence ;  whereas  the  fact  is,  that  (as 
appears  by  the  Diocesan  Calendar  for  1908)  out  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty-five  benefices  in  the  Archdeaconry  of 
Suffolk,  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  forty-two  are 
vicarages,  nearly  the  whole  number  of  which  originated 
from  appropriations  and  the  Act  of  1402. 

Sprot,  after  a  four  years'  incumbency,  was  succeeded 
by  a  Leyston  canon,  Clement  surnamed  of  Blythburgh. 
He  was  presented  by  his  House  ^  which  of  course  was 
still  the  patron,  and  was  in  due  course  instituted  to  the 
rectory  of  Theberton, 

This  monk  retained  the  benefice  for  eighteen  years, 
resigning  it  to  become  abbot  of  Leyston,  which  dignity 
he  held  till  1445. 

In  his  time  it  was,  that  the  revolt  in  men's  minds 
against  monastic  greed  found  striking  expression  in 
Parliament.  The  House  of  Commons  petitioned  the 
King  "  that  all  parsonages  appropriated  to  some  religious 
house  not  endowing  vicars,  might  within  six  months  be 

*  In  the  bishop's  register  it  is  written  that  he  was  presented  by 
the  Abbot  of  Sibton,  but  this  was  evidently  a  clerical  error. 

E   2 


l^lolxCvU 


V     -r^ 


.§ 


-^ 


i^ 


^v. 


/ 


Fs: 


v 


v/ 


52     PRESENTATION  OF  JOHN  DOONWYCH 

/  unappropriated."  No  legislation  seems  to  have  followed 
{  in  the  sense  of  the  petition  :  luckily  for  Leyston  Abbey, 
for  the  monks  held  other  appropriate  churches,  and 
there  is  evidence  that  they  worked  them  in  flagrant 
defiance  of  law  ;  even  as  late  as  1478,  they  had  to  make 
this  return  to  Bishop  Redman  their  visitor :  "  quinque 
habent  ecclesias  canonici,  sunt  airati  in  quibusdam^ 
sed  non  perpetui." 

When  Clement  resigned  Theberton,  the  Abbot  and 
Convent  presented  Nicholas  Craton,  another  member  of 
their  brotherhood,  and  he  again  was  instituted  to  "  the 
parish  church." 

To  him  after  less  than  two  years,  succeeded  another 
monk  John  Geyst,  or  Geyse ;  he  died  after  one  year — 
in  October,  1438. 

Then  in  November  following,  the  Abbot  and  Convent 
presented  John  Doonwych,  another  member  of  their 
House,  who  was  duly  instituted.  This  was  an  eventful 
presentation.  The  monks'  crafty  expedient  to  evade  the 
statute  of  1402  was  to  have  its  seaworthiness  tested. 

A  time  came,  when  for  some  reason,  the  Abbot  desired 
to  remove  this  monk  from  the  rectory  of  Theberton. 
Possibly,  having  bound  himself  to  hand  part  of  his 
rectorial  tithes  over  to  his  patrons,  he  may  have  failed 
in  his  payments.  At  all  events  the  Abbot  determined 
to  eject  him.  Doonwych,  beatus  possidens^  refused  to 
budge.  He  probably  was  a  cunning  unscrupulous 
fellow ;  the  convent  had  sailed  near  the  wind,  why  should 
not  he  ?  True,  he  may  have  agreed  to  resign  on  demand, 
but  the  unjust  compact,  designed  to  evade  a  plain  Act  of 
Parliament,  had  been  forced  upon  him  while  under 
monastic  duress.  True,  he  had  vowed  vows,  but  what 
were  vows  to  him,  now  that  he  was  no  longer  an  inmate 
of  the  cloister? 


PROCEEDINGS  AGAINST  DOONWYCH        53 

The  Abbey  had,  on  their  part,  a  strong  champion  ; 
Clement  the  abbot  was  not  a  man  to  be  trifled  with. 

What  the  event  was  will  be  unfolded. 

It  must  be  premised  that  the  visitors  of  the  Premon- 
tratensian  order  were,  at  this  time,  Thomas  Abbot  of 
Begham,  and  William  Abbot  of  Radegunde,  with  joint 
and  several  powers. 

They  made  this  petition  to  the  High  Court  of 
Chancery ;  I  venture  slightly  to  modernise  the  archaic 
spelling. 

"  Right  Mekely  besecheth  Thomas  Abbot  of  Begham 
and  William  Abbot  of  Radegunde,  visitors  jointly  and 
severally  and  by  thair  Commissaries,  of  the  Premonstra- 
tensian  order  within  the  Roialme  (realm)  of  Engeland, 
to  have  correccion,  and  duely  to  punisshe  eny  of  this 
same  ordre  defectif  or  rebyll  to  it,  within  the  said 
Roialme.  But,  gracious  lord,  for  as  muche  as  one  John 
Doonwiche,  one  of  the  said  ordre,  and  of  the  house  of 
Leyston,  was  noised  defectif  and  not  rueled  after  the 
fourme  of  his  said  ordre,  the  forsaid  Thomas  committed 
power  to  Clement  Abbot  of  Leyston,  to  cite  and  calle 
the  said  John  to  come  afore  hym,  to  answere  after  the 
forme  of  his  seid  ordre  ;  and  so  John,  by  the  said  Clement 
was  lawfully  cited,  and  it  disobeyd,  so  that  by  due 
process  he  standeth  accursed.  Whereuppon  the  forseid 
Clement  beyng  Commissarie,  came  to  Theberton  a 
parissh  belongyng  to  the  said  Abbey  of  Leyston,  whare 
the  said  John  was  abiding  against  the  will  of  his  ordre, 
kepyng  there  the  cure  ;  and  there,  required  the  Constable 
of  the  same  Parissh,  after  the  forme  of  our  said  souvrain 
lordes  letters,  to  succour  and  support  hym,  in  reforma- 
cion  and  correccion  of  the  said  John,  to  whiche  the  said 
Constable  agreed  and  obeyd;  but  gracious  lord,  the 
forsaid  John,  of  grete  malice  contrarie  to  his  order,  by 


54        AN  AFFRAY  IN  THEBERTON  CHURCH 

the  grete  supportacion  of  John  Curteys  and  John  Sturmy 
of  Theberton,  disobeid  the  said  Clement  and  his  correc- 
cion,  and  yit  doth.  Whereuppon,  if  hit  please  your 
gracious  lordship  to  consider  the  rebellion  of  the  seid 
John  Doonwiche  to  his  order,  and  howe  that  he,  standyng 
accursid,  kepith  the  cure  of  the  said  Parissh,  ministryng 
there  the  sacraments  of  holy  church,  by  the  supportacion 
of  the  forseid  John  Curteys  and  John  Sturmy,  there- 
uppon  of  your  good  grace,  to  grant  writtes  subpena, 
direct  to  the  forseid  John,  John,  and  John,  to  appere 
byfore  you  in  the  Chauncerie,  uppon  a  cartain  day,  to 
be  examined  uppon  the  matter  aforseid,  for  the  love  of 
God  and  in  weyrk  of  charete." 

Compliant  with  this  petition,  a  writ  dated  28th  June, 
1445  was  granted  out  of  Chancery,  directing  examina- 
tions to  be  taken. 

Accordingly,  we  read  that  on  Tuesday  the  Feast  of 
St.  Bartholomew  the  Apostle,  in  the  twenty-third  year 
of  Henry  VI.  (1445),  John  Doonwych,  with  John  Curteys 
and  John  Sturmyn,  appeared  at  Halesworth  before  Sir 
John  Heveningham  acting  on  a  writ  out  of  Chancery, 
and  they,  and  twelve  other  persons,  among  whom  were 
John  Feld,  Geoffrey  Ulff,  Ralph  Cotyngham  and  William 
Andrewe,  all  of  Theberton,  deposed  on  their  oathes  as 
follows : 

They  swore  that  Clement  Abbot  of  Leyston  had 
presented  the  said  John  Donewyche  to  the  church  of 
Theberton,  to  which  church  he  was  admitted  by  the 
ordinary,  and  lawfully  instituted ;  and  by  reason  of 
being  thus  under  obedience  to  the  said  ordinary,  the 
said  John  was  exempt  from  his  order,  and  absolved  from 
his  oath  ;  and  that  he  administered  the  cure  of  Theberton 
well  and  honestly.     Also,  that  the  said  Abbot  Clement, 


HOLY  THURSDAY  A.D.  1445  55 

with  one  William  Fraunceys  and  many  others  to  the 
number  of  twenty  persons  arrayed  in  warlike  manner, 
came  on  Ascension  Day  last  past,  to  the  church  of 
Theberton,  and  made  an  assault  on  the  said  John 
Doonwych  while  he  was  celebrating  service  there,  and 
arrested  him,  and  wanted  to  take  him  with  them. 
Whereupon  the  said  John  Curteys  and  John  Sturmey 
and  other  parishioners  of  Theberton,  went  and  spoke  to 
the  said  abbot  and  those  who  came  with  him,  with 
civil  and  honest  words,  and  induced  the  said  abbot  to 
release  the  said  Doonwych. 

How  strange  this  seems  to  us,  here  now  in  modern 
Theberton.  The  background  of  the  picture  we  can 
easily  bring  before  us.  Our  age- worn  church,  with  its 
old  round  tower  and  long  ridge  of  thatched  roof,  cannot 
be  much  altered,  though  whether  the  octagon  top  had 
then  been  added  to  the  round  tower  we  do  not  know. 
Again  those  crumbling  walls,  on  the  borders  of  our 
parish,  suggest  the  then  noble  Abbey  on  the  new  site,  to 
which,  a  century  before,  the  monks  had  migrated,  as 
"  bees,  which  having  first  built  in  the  ground  and  hollow 
trees,  get  them  hives  in  gardens  ;  and  leaving  the  deserts, 
gain  them  princely  houses  in  pleasant  places "  ;  their 
church  was  now  cathedral-like,  with  choir  and  nave, 
aisles  and  transepts ;  and  a  refectory,  abbot's  lodgings 
with  other  conventual  buildings,  covered  a  great  space 
of  ground.  Between  our  church  and  the  Abbey,  the  way 
was  then  a  grassy  track,  a  mile  or  more,  through  un- 
fenced  woodland  and  pasture. 

Even  the  interior  of  our  church  we  can  well  imagine. 
A  rood  screen  then  separated  chancel  from  nave  :  perhaps 
the  monastic  patrons  had  already  added  to  the  chancel 
to  afford  space  for  showy  ceremonial :  our  font  looking 


56  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  FASHIONS 

so  ancient  now,  probably  had  not  then  taken  the  place 

of  one  yet  more  ancient ;  ^  the  roof  was  unceiled  then, 

the  thatch  probably  showing  between  the  rafters. 

And  now,  let  us  try  to  picture  the  rustic  congregation 

on  that  Holy  Thursday  1445.     The  lord  of  the  manor 

may  have  been  there.     Imagine  him  in  a  long  gown  of 

rich  material,  his  hair  falling  down  below  his  shoulders, 

purse  and  dagger  hanging  from  his  girdle  : 

"  An  anlas  and  a  gipser  al  of  silk 
Heng  at  his  gerdul  whit  as  morne  mylk," 

The  toe  points  of  his  shoes,  pikes  ^  or  beaks  they  were 
called,  ridiculously  long,  and  tied  up  to  his  knees  with 
silver  chains ;  we  may  see  the  costume  in  kings  and 
knaves  upon  our  playing  cards.  And  perhaps  his  lady 
was  there  also,  dressed  in  the  fashion  of  card  queens, 
let  the  Queen  of  Hearts  serve  for  her  model ;  and  a  crowd 
of  more  humble  folk,  the  men  with  hair  cropped  close, 
clad  in  short  coats  with  leather  belts,  worsted  hose  and 
broad  shoes ;  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  church, 
their  wives  and  daughters,  in  hoods  entirely  enveloping 
their  hair,  the  older  ones  with  "  barbs  "  of  pleated  linen 
covering  the  chin  like  linen  beards  ;  all  the  women  in 
voluminous  petticoats,  and  not  deformed  by  then  un- 
thought  of  stays — they  were  first  worn  in  the  time  of 
Elizabeth. 

A  hushed  devout  congregation  we  may  not  doubt ; 
kneeling  on  the  bare  earthen  floor,  perhaps  for  that  great 
day  strewn  with  rushes,  there  were  no  fixed  seats  then. 
The  parish  priest  stood  to  celebrate  mass  at  the  altar. 
But  what  was  that  ?  A  hubbub,  a  sudden  clatter  of 
arms.     From  their  places  among  the  worshippers,  two 

*  The  present  font,  I  am  told,  dates  from  about  15 10. 

^  These  pikes  or  beaks  were  some  years  afterwards,  by  4  Ed.  IV. 
c.  7,  curtailed  to  two  inches,  under  a  penalty  both  to  the  shoemaker 
and  the  wearer. 


The  Font,  Theberton  Church, 


AN  OUTRAGEOUS  ABBOT  57 

reputable  men,  John  Curteys,  and  John  Sturmyn  a  land- 
owner in  the  parish,  rise  from  their  knees  ;  to  meet  at 
the  porch  door  a  familiar  figure ;  it  was  their  old  rector, 
now  father  Abbot  of  Leystone,  in  very  angry  mood,  and 
with  him  a  menie  of  a  score  men  "  arrayed  in  warlike 
guise ; "  who  marched  into  the  church  and  seized  the 
priest !  Curteys  and  Sturmyn  at  last  prevailed  with  the 
abbot  to  let  the  parson  go  ;  and  he  concluded  the 
service. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  offence  of  Doonwych, 
can  the  conduct  of  Clement  the  Abbot  be  judged  to 
have  been  less  than  outrageous  ? 

How  the  legal  issue  was  decided  I  cannot  say,  but 
the  fact  is,  that  brother  John  Doonwych,  only  a  few 
weeks  after  that  scandalous  scene,  resigned  the 
benefice  of  Theberton,  exchanging  it  apparently  for 
another  living. 

His  successor  was  one  John  Hert,  I  believe  a  secular 
priest,  presented  by  the  monastery,  whose  institution 
is  described,  as  upon  the  resignation  of  John  Doonwych 
"  the  late  rector." 


CHAPTER  V     - 

It  is  not  without  interest  to  find  the  mere  names  of 
men  who  lived  in  our  parish  nearly  five  hundred  years 
ago,  but  we  are  fortunate  in  knowing  more  than  the 
mere  names  of  some  of  them. 

We  know  that  William  Fraunceys,  who  supported 
the  abbot,  died  in  1459 ;  and  his  will  is  before  me 
as  I  write.  He  dwelt  in  Theberton,  a  man  it  seems 
of  some  substance,  and  was,  according  to  the  standard 
of  those  days,  a  good  churchman.  He  left  to  the 
high  altar  of  our  church  one  mark,  and  half  a  noble 
more  for  reparation  of  the  church  ;  to  the  light  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  in  the  monastery  of  Leyston  half 
a  noble;  to  the  friars  minor  of  Dunwich  half  a  noble 
(these  were  Franciscans  or  Grey  Friars,  whose  old  wall 
pierced  by  two  fine  gates,  yet  surrounds  the  remains 
of  their  conventual  buildings).  To  the  Friars  Preachers 
of  Dunwich  he  gave  6s.  2>d.  (these  were  Dominican  or 
Black  Friars  ;  their  convent  was  long  ago  washed  away, 
with  their  church  which  contained  the  bodies  of 
"  Richard  Bokyl  of  Leston,  and  Alice,  and  Alice, 
his  wives,"  together  with  other  benefactors) ;  to  John 
Curteys  of  Theberton  (defender  of  Doonwych),  he 
bequeathed  one  noble.  For  a  secular  chaplain  to 
celebrate  (in  the  parish  church,  no  doubt)  for  two  years 
for  his  soul,  he  made  due  provision.  And  he  provided 
for  a  potation,  that  curious  mediaeval  blend  of  festivity 
religion    and     charity    called    a    "  cherche-ale ; "    and 

58 


THEBERTON  WILLS  59 

Curteys   (defender  of  Doonwych)   was  appointed  one 
of  his  executors. 

John  Sturmyn,  the  other  defender  of  Doonwych,  we 
find  again  as  executor  of  the  wills  of  two  more  inhabitants 
of  Theberton.  One  testator  was  William  Andrews — 
from  whose  estate  he  had  to  contribute  :  to  make  the 
tabernacle  of  St.  Peter  of  Theberton,  for  a  secular 
priest  to  celebrate  in  the  church  of  Theberton  for  two 
years  and  more,  and  for  the  repair  of  a  way  at 
"  Estbrugge " — Eastbridge ;  this  will  was  proved  at 
Theberton  on  the  14th  July,  1464.  The  other  testator 
was  Thomas  Hervey,  who  bequeathed  one  quarter  of 
barley  to  the  altar  of  our  church,  and  left  to  his  son 
Thomas  three  acres  of  land  called  Jonefields  (perhaps 
Johns'  fields,  but  not  now  identifiable)  when  he  should 
arrive  at  full  age  ;  if  he  should  die,  then  to  his  wife 
Alice,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  Middleton  woman. 
Hervey  died  on  the  6th  day  of  February,  1474. 

Geoffrey  Ulff,  another  witness  against  Abbot  Clement, 
was  evidently  a  man  of  great  trust ;  we  find  him  as 
executor  for  no  less  than  six  Theberton  people,  Ulff 
was  in  the  15th  century  a  common  name  in  Theberton, 
Kelsale,  and  Middleton. 

Of  the  will  of  John  Feld  or  Field,  another  of  the 
witnesses.  Master  William  Jenney  and  Edmund  his  son, 
were  supervisors.  Field  died  on  St.  Mark's  Day  147 1, 
leaving  a  widow  Agnes.  She  died  in  1476,  and  I  quote 
shortly  from  her  will.  "  To  Joan  Townysende  of 
Knodishale  an  'Almarye'"  (I  think  an  Armoire  or 
cupboard  ^) ;  "  to   Godson   William    Townysende,  if  he 

^  In  1601,  Sir  Francis  Hastings,  in  a  speech  in  the  House  of 
Commons  spoke  of  certain  persons  as  worthy  to  be  locked  up  in  an 
"Ambery."  Specific  bequests  of  furniture  were  common;  such 
things  were  then  of  greater  relative  value  than  in  these  days  of 
machinery. 


60        A  CHURCH  ALE  AND  A  TRENTAL 

wishes  to  be  priested,  13 J.  4a?.  and  a  sheep.  ...  I  leave 
to  the  Rector  of  Theberton  my  green  cloak  for  his 
trouble."  That  rector,  with  John  Herberd,  and  Geoffrey 
Ulff   were  Widow  Field's  executors. 

We  have  also  the  testament  of  Ralph  Cotyngham 
or  Codyngham,  which  dealt  with  his  house  in  Theberton, 
and  lands  in  "Theberton,  Medilton,  Fordele  and 
Westlylton,"  and  provided,  as  did  that  of  Fraunceys, 
for  a  "  cherchale," — probably  partaken  of  in  the  church 
itself,  and  also  for  a  trental — thirty  masses  daily  for 
thirty  days — for  his  soul. 

For  1461,  we  have  in  a  business  letter  from  Richard 
Calle  to  John  Paston,  an  interesting  statement  of  prices 
which  helps  to  gauge  the  real  value  of  legacies  that  at 
first  sight  seem  so  trifling : — "  They  will  not  give  a 
noble  (6s.  Sd.)  nor  even  6s.  for  a  cow,  .  .  .  wheat  i2d. 
a  coomb,  barley  Sd.,  malt  gd.  and  lod." 

The  lord  of  the  manor  whose  presence  on  that 
Thursday  I  have  suggested,  would  have  been  the  William 
Jenney  who,  with  his  son  Edmund,  was  supervisor 
of  John  Field's  will.  He  was  afterwards  M.P.  for 
Dunwich,  and  then,  as  Sir  William,  one  of  the  Justices 
of  the  King's  Bench ;  and  having  seen  the  Wars  of  the 
Roses,  and  those  dark  days  for  England  of  Jack  Cade's 
rising,  died  in  1483. 

In  Weever's  time  there  remained  in  our  church  this 
inscription  : — "  Htc  jacet  Willelmus  Jermey  miles  unus 
Justiciar  Domini  Regis  de  Banco  suo  et  Elizabeth  uxor 
eius,  quiguidem  Willelmus  obiit  xxiii  die  Decembris  Anno 
Domini  mcccclxxxiij.  Quorum  animabus  propitietur  Deus 
Amen"  Jermey  is  evidently  a  clerical  error  for  Jenney. 
The  inscription  has  disappeared,  no  person  knows  what 
has  become  of  it. 

The  only  bit  of   ancient   brass   now   remaining   is 


VISITATIONS  OF  LEISTON  ABBEY  61 

a  small  plate  let  into  a  sepulchral  slab  in  the  floor  of  the 
nave  inscribed  in  black  letters  "  Orate  pro  anima 
K uterine  Pays  cujus  Anime  propicietur  Deus. — Amen." 
No  more  is  known  of  Katerine  than  that  she  died  and 
was  buried.  The  date  of  the  brass  is  thought  to  be 
about  1500.1 

Dowsing,  the  ruthless  destroyer  of  all  ^^  orate  pro 
animd  "  inscriptions,  seems  not  to  have  come  in  person 
to  Theberton,  but  to  have  sent  one  Francis  Verden  as 
his  deputy.  We  of  this  "sweet  and  civil  county  of 
Suffolk,"  where  it  was  his  lot  to  be  born,  do  not  pride 
ourselves  on  Dowsing. 

We  have,  in  duty  bound,  had  to  advert  upon  the 
craft  of  the  monks  of  Leystone  ;  but  they  were  no  worse 
than  were  mediaeval  monks  in  general.  Indeed,  there 
is  good  evidence  which  redounds  much  to  their  credit. 

At   three   years   intervals,   for   many    years,   Bishop 

Richard  Redman,  on  behalf  of  the  Mother   House  of 

Pr^montre,  made  triennial  visitations  of  the  Abbey.  And 

on  every  occasion  this  eminent  bishop  (successively  of 

St.  Asaph  of  Exeter   and  of   Ely)   speaks  well  of   it. 

In  1482,  he  thanked  God  that,  after  diligent  enquiry,  he 

found  everything  well,  and  charity  well  observed.     In 

1485,  there  seems  to  have  been  no  visitation,  it  was  a 

year  of  great  dying — the  Sudor   Anglicus,  the  terrible 

Sweating  Sickness.  In  1488,  the  house  was  in  an  excellent 

state,  and  the  church  services  were  carried  on  in  a  better 

way  than  in  any  other  house  ;  and  to  that,  the  bishop 

attributed  the  prosperity  of  Leyston  in  temporals  and 

spirituals.     In  1491,  the  bishop  testified  to  the  excellent 

rule  of  the  abbot,  and  the  state  of  the  monastery,  which 

^  At  Dennington,  in  1662,  51 J  lbs.  weight  of  brass  "which  had 
formerly  been  taken  off  the  gravestones  in  the  church  and  chancel," 
was  found  hidden  in  the  vestry. 


62       LOCAL  NAMES  OF  I^ISTON  MONKS 

agreed,  he  said,  with  the  belief  of  all,  clergy  and  laity 
— only  the  canons  wore  too  large  tonsures.  In  1494,  the 
highest  possible  praise  was  accorded  to  the  administra- 
tion of  the  abbot,  the  bishop  found  nothing  to  correct. 
In  1497,  the  excellent  state  of  the  house  and  the 
administration  of  the  abbot  was  commended.  Only  at 
the  last  of  the  visitations  in  1 500,  do  we  find  any  word 
of  blame  :  one  of  the  canons  had  committed  the  pro- 
digious offence  of  going  out  of  the  enclosure — meaning 
no  doubt  without  the  abbot's  leave.  The  bishop  added 
the  grave  admonition  that  "  the  canons  were  to  use  their 
hoods  over  their  cloaks  when  out,  and  never  tassels  ! " 

Many  of  the  canons  seem  to  have  been  drawn  from  the 
neighbourhood.  Among  the  names  are  John  Yoxford, 
William  Woodbridge,  John  Leystone,  John  Halesworth, 
John  Beccles. 

When  there  was  but  one  form  of  religion  in  the 
country,  and  all  admitted  the  supremacy  of  the  Roman 
Pontiff,  Church  discipline  for  lay  people,  as  well  as  for 
clerics,  was  a  very  real  thing.  In  some  ways,  it  worked 
good,  touching  a  class  of  offences  against  morality,  of 
which  the  common  law  did  not  take  cognizance  ;  but  on 
the  other  hand,  the  canon  law,  administered  by  "  Officials 
of  Ordinaries  "  and  their  Apparitors,  was  a  foreign  thing, 
which  affronted  the  English  sense  of  justice.  Our 
English  laws  regard  an  accused  man  as  innocent  till 
proved  guilty.  The  canon  law  took  the  contrary  view, 
and  the  Church  courts  were  as  much  prosecutors  as 
judges.  On  mere  common  report,  or  on  the  word  of  an 
Apparitor,  they  would  summon  a  man  to  appear  before 
them,  and,  assuming  his  guilt,  put  him  on  his  oath  to 
admit  or  to  deny  it. 

The  Apparitor  acted  as  a   social  spy  and  common 


COURTS  CHRISTIAN  AND  APPARITORS     65 

informer.  His  office  was  not  only  to  execute  the  Church 
Courts'  mandates  and  citations,  but  also  to  smell  out 
offences  among  his  own  neighbours.  Fees,  it  is  needless 
to  say,  were  exacted  at  each  stage  of  the  proceedings. 
The  whole  system  was  repugnant  to  our  national  tradi- 
tions, and  lent  itself  to  gratification  of  spite,  to  bribery, 
and  all  manner  of  abuses. 

Archdeacon  Hale,  in  1847  collected  a  series  of  cases 
heard  by  certain  Courts  Christian  as  they  were  called, 
from  1475  and,  continuing  after  the  Reformation,  to 
1640. 

We  may  perhaps  mention  a  few  of  the  lighter  sort, 
such  as : — In  1497,  a  man  was  brought  up  for  wearing 
the  garb  of  a  hermit,  not  having  been  professed  a  hermit ; 
a  monk  for  wearing  the  vestments  of  a  secular  priest ;  a 
rector  for  using  arts  of  sorcery  to  defame  his  neighbours  ; 
a  layman  for  violating  a  bishop's  park,  by  practising 
archery  and  playing  games  ;  an  aquae  bajulus — a  parish 
clerk — for  defaming  his  priest  with  "  Goo  forth  fole  and 
set  a  cockes  combe  on  thi  crowne."  All  these  were  in 
Henry  VII.'s  time. 

In  the  next  reign,  1528,  we  find  the  trials  of  two 
"  wise  women  " — a  race  by  no  means  extinct,  even  yet 
to  my  knowledge,  in  our  homely  Suffolk.  One,  Margaret 
Hunt,  was  put  on  her  oath  to  defend  herself,  and 
confessed  enormous  iniquities :  she  "  knelys  downe  " — 
these  were  her  words — "  and  prays  the  blessed  Trinite  to 
save  them  (her  patients)  and  hele  them  from  all  ther 
weked  enemys ;  and  then  she  techeth  them  ix  nights  for 
to  sey  V  paternosters,  v  aves,  and  a  crede,  and  iii  pater- 
nosters iii  aves  and  credes  in  the  worshyp  of  Seynte 
Spyrite  ;  and  when  they  take  ther  chamber  and  go  to 
bedde  at  night,  to  sey  one  pater,  one  ave,  and  one  crede, 
in  the  worshypp  of  Seynte  Ive,  to  save  them  from  all 


64  "  WISE  WOMEN''  IN  THE  XVIth  CENTURY 

envy.  And  then  for  them  that  lye  seke  of  the  ague,  she 
techeth  them  to  gether  herbe-grace,  peneryall,  redde  sage, 
redde  fenell,  and  the  barre  rote,  before  the  son  downe, 
so  that  it  be  the  last  dryncke  that  the  syke  drincketh 
at  night.  And  for  them  that  hath  ony  sorys  on  ther 
bodys,  she  techeth  them  to  gether  herbe-grace,  dyll, 
verveye,  marygoldes,  put  a  lyttill  holy  water  to  them, 
and  sey  sume  prayers  ;  and  when  she  stampethe  to  sey 
iii  paternosters,  iii  aves,  and  a  crede,  in  the  worshyp  of 
our  Lady,  yf  it  be  a  woman  that  stampeth  ;  and  if  it  be 
a  man  he  must  sey  iii  paternosters,  iii  aves,  and  a  crede, 
in  the  worshypp  of  Jesus."  And  this  in  Latin  ;  that  she 
had  learned  the  aforesaid  doctrine  in  Wales,  from  a 
certain  woman  called  mother  Emet.  The  punishment 
of  this  poor  creature  is  not  recorded. 

The  other  wise  woman,  Elizabeth  Fotman,  practised 
upon  horses  as  well  as  men.  She  was  forced  to  confess 
that  "  she  toke  the  mense  rodd  and  put  it  to  the  horse 
bely  that  was  syke  of  the  botts,  and  made  crosses  on  a 
caryers  horse  bely,  and  the  horse  rose  up  by  and  by ; 
and  that  the  seid  rodde  did  grow  besyde  the  Rhodes  " ; 
also,  she  said  "  she  used  to  hele  men  of  the  tothe-ache, 
and  the  worms  in  chylders  belys,  and  getheryng  of 
herbs,  yauyng  over  them." 

The  following  reminds  us  of  a  custom  now  long 
forgotten.  So  late  as  1543,  two  men  barely  escaped 
excommunication,  upon  their  own  extorted  confession, 
"  that  y*  haith  not  maid  ii  mo  torches,  nor  yet  kepede 
the  drynkynge  in  the  parishe,  accordynge  the  laudable 
use  and  custome  of  the  same  parishe.  Whereupon,  the 
judge  decreed  yt  y*  shall  make  ii  sufficient  torches,  be- 
twyxt  this  dale  and  the  feast  of  Saint  John  Baptiste  next 
ensuynge,  and  delyver  them  unto  the  churchwardens, 
accordynge  to  the  laudable  usage  and  custome  of  the  same 


DRYNKYNGES— A  CLERICAL  WIZARD      65 

parishe."  With  regard  to  torches,  ever  since  "  the  3rd 
century,  when  besides  adopting  other  pagan  ceremonies, 
they  also  h'ghted  torches  to  the  martyrs  in  the  day-time 
as  the  heathens  did  to  their  gods,  this  use  of  torches  and 
tapers  in  churches,  both  by  day  and  night,  has  prevailed 
in  Catholic  worship."  The  decree  did  not  deal  with  the 
"drynkynges."  What  a  "  drynkynge  "  was,  is  well  shown 
by  a  will  of  1527,  of  one  John  Cole  of  Thelnetham 
in  our  county.  He  left  the  rent  of  three  acres  of  land 
"  to  fynde  yearelie  a  busshell  and  halfife  of  malte  to  be 
browne  (brewed),  and  a  busshell  of  whete  to  be  baked  to 
fynde  a  drinkinge  upon  Ascension  Even,  everlastinge 
for  ye  prisshe  of  Thelnetham." 

Yet  later  again,  in  the  second  year  of  Mary's  reign, 
occurred  the  case  of  a  wizard,  William  Hasylwood 
clerk,  accused  of  using  art  magic  "  wytchecraft  or 
sorcery  with  a  seve  and  a  payre  of  sheeres,"  confessed  : 
"  that,  in  July  was  twelve  mony ths  last  past,  he  the  same 
Hasylwood,  having  then  lost  his  purse  with  xiiii  grootes 
(4J-.  Sd.)  in  the  same,  and  thereupon  remembryng  that 
he,  being  a  chylde,  dyd  hear  his  mother  declare  that 
when  any  man  hadd  lost  anny  thing,  then  they  wold 
use  a  syve  and  a  payre  of  sheeres  to  bring  to  knowledge 
who  hadd  the  thing  lost ;  and  so,  this  examinante  upon 
occasion  thereof,  dyd  take  a  seve  and  a  payre  of  sheeres, 
and  hanged  the  seve  by  the  poynte  of  the  sheeres,  and 
sayed  thees  wordes — by  Peter  and  Paule  he  hath  yt, 
namyng  the  partye  whom  he,  in  that  behalf  suspected  : 
which  thing  he  never  used  but  ones,  and  also  declared  yt 
to  one  of  his  acqueyntaunce."  Poor  Hasylwoode  had  to 
do  penance  thereupon. 

Later,  we  shall  meet  with  local  apparitors,  and  with 
public  penance  suffered  in  our  own  parish  church  of 
Theberton. 

F 


66  A  MONKISH  CONSPIRACY 

John  Hert  was  the  last  rector  we  have  named.  To  him 
succeeded  Thomas  Joye  in  1450.  He  was  a  secular, 
presented  to  our  parish  church  by  the  abbey  ;  the  monks 
we  may  suspect  had  taken  fright  at  the  escapade  of 
brother  John  Doonwych.  Plainly,  it  was  not  safe  to 
arm  one  of  their  brotherhood  with  weapons  he  might 
turn  against  his  own  community. 

How  they  must  have  lamented  the  loss  of  the 
Theberton  appropriation.  From  their  other  parishes 
still  appropriate,  the  tithes,  subject  to  a  fixed  allowance 
for  the  vicar,  belonged  to  themselves  as  rectors  by 
absolute  legal  title  ;  whereas  from  a  rector  of  this  parish 
of  Theberton,  were  he  a  secular  they  had  no  claim  ;  and 
even  were  he  of  their  own  religious  family,  no  hold, 
except  perhaps  upon  paper  possibly  invalid,  securities. 

There  were,  we  may  be  sure,  anxious  debates  in  the 
chapter  house  of  Leyston  Abbey.  Could  only  some 
ingenious  plan  be  hit  upon,  might  they  not  even  yet 
recover  their  rectorial  position,  arid  be  able  again  to 
appoint  a  vicar  to  Theberton.  They  would  be  too 
glad  to  embrace  the  provisions,  which  they  once  thought 
so  odious,  of  the  Act  of  1402. 

Now  for  the  outcome  of  their  deliberations ;  we  have 
a  significant  document  which  slightly  abbreviated  runs 
thus  : — 

"  On  the  penultimate  day  of  October  1452,  before 
Master  John  Selott,  Chancellor  of  the  bishop  (Walter 
Leyhart)  of  Norwich,  the  vicarage  of  the  parish  church  of 
Theberton  then  vacant  was  taxed  at  40i'.  for  first  fruits 
of  the  same  vicarage,  on  all  future  vacancies  to  be  paid 
to  the  bishop  and  his  successors."  The  Chancellor 
proceeded  to  decree  "the  said  vicarage  to  consist  of 
altarages  of  the  church  (offerings  and  perhaps  small 
tithes)  reserving  to  the  bisJiop  and  his  successors  power 


THE   CONSPIRACY   FAILS  67 

to  augment  the  poi'tion  of  the  vicar ;  and  an  enquiry 
was  directed  as  to  the  value  of  the  altarages  ;  and  Sir 
John  Marche  priest  was  personally  instituted  by  the 
Chancellor,  into  the  vicarage,  on  the  presentation  of  the 
religious  men  the  abbot  and  convent  of  Leyston,  being 
the  true  patrons." 

The  living  hadbeen  a  rectory — certainly  since  1408 ;  and 
yet  forsooth,  in  1452,  the  monks  hoped  by  help  of  the 
Chancellor — by  what  arguments  persuaded  we  can  only 
surmise — to  recover  their  former  rectorial  rights  ;  and  in 
future  to  present  vicars,  not  rectors,  to  Theberton  ! 

Audacity  succeeds  sometimes,  but  this  silly  attempt 
was  too  barefaced.  John  Marche  could  not  be,  and  in 
fact  was  never,  instituted.  Neither  he  nor  any  person 
could  lawfully  have  been  made,  or  recognised  as  vicar 
of  Theberton. 

1456  saw  a  fresh  hand  at  the  helm  of  Leyston.  The 
new  abbot  was  John  Sprotling  ;  and  in  the  first  year  of 
his  abbacy,  the  Abbot  and  Convent  presented  one  John 
Herberd  or  Herbert  presbiter,  to,  of  course,  "  the  parish 
church — rectory,  not  vicarage,  of  Theberton." 

This  was  the  rector  to  whom  Agnes  Field  had 
bequeathed  the  green  cloak.  He  died  in  1488.  By  his 
will,  written  in  Latin,  he  describes  himself  as  rector  of 
"  Thebyrton  "  and  thus  proceeds  : — 

"  I  leave  my  soul  to  God  Almighty,  the  blessed  Mary, 
and  all  the  Saints,  and  my  body  to  be  buried  in  the 
church  or  chancel  of  Thebyrton.  I  leave  to  the  aforesaid 
church,  a  missal,  a  vestment,  a  psalter,  a  processionary, 
and  a  surplice,  upon  this  condition,  that  the  parish  shall 
find  a  secular  priest  to  celebrate  in  the  said  church  for  half 
a  year,  and  he  to  have  for  his  salary  five  marks.  I  leave 
to  Sir  Thomas  Grene  a  portifory,^  on  condition  that  he 
*  "  Portiforium,"  a  service  book — breviary. 

F   2 


68  A   RECTOR'S  TESTAMENT 

shall  celebrate  in  the  said  church  for  a  quarter  of  a  year, 
for  my  soul  and  for  the  souls  of  my  benefactors.  I  leave 
to  the  said  Thomas  my  best  cloak.  I  give  to  Robert  Man 
of  Thebyrton  a  gown,  and  to  Isabell  his  wife  another 
gown.  The  residue  not  disposed  of  I  leave  to  the  disposi- 
tion of  Edmund  Jenney  Esqre,  and  Sir  Robert  Rowc,  to 
dispose  as  may  best  please  God  and  my  soul's  health." 

In  1488,  Henricus  Guerdon,  or  Everdon,  was,  by  the 
same  patrons,  presented  to  the  rectory,  and  was  there- 
after canonically  instituted  to  the  parish  church.  In  this 
case,  special  care  was  taken  to  leave  no  crevice  for  doubt, 
for  besides  the  words  "  to  the  parish  church,"  the  word 
"  Rector  "  was  used  ;  moreover,  the  vacancy  was  described 
as  upon  the  death  of  John  Herberd  "  last  rector." 

The  next  rector  was  Thomas  Went,  priest,  and  canon 
of  the  abbey.  He  was  admitted  in  1504,  by  the  some- 
what notorious  Bishop  Nix  of  Norwich,  to  the  parochial 
church  of  Theberton,  and  the  words  of  this  institution 
again  were  nc,  te  Rectorem  in  eadem  canonice  insti- 
tuimus.     Thomas  Went  died  rector  of  Theberton. 

He,  and  those  he  ministered  to,  lived  in  a  splendid 
period — the  time  of  the  awakening  of  a  new  world.  Some 
rumours  of  the  fame  of  it  must  have  reached  even  Theber- 
ton, for  one  of  the  prophets  of  the  religious  renaissance 
was  Colet,  then  rector  of  Dennington  a  parish  but  twelve 
miles  distant,  who  was  a  friend  of  Erasmus.  He  after- 
wards became  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  and  founded  a  great 
grammar  school  hard  by  his  cathedral,  which  is  St.  Paul's 
School  still.  Dean  Colet's  plans  must  have  fluttered  the 
Pharisees,  seeming  to  them.  Sir  Thomas  More  told 
the  Dean, "  like  the  wooden  horse  in  which  armed  Greeks 
were  hid  for  the  ruin  of  barbarous  Troy";  for  his  design 
was  nothing  less,  than  to  teach  boys  rational  religion  and 
sound  learning,  and  to  discard  the  scholastic  logic. 


THE   RELIGIOUS   RENAISSANCE  69 

Brother  Thomas  can  hardly  have  failed  to  imbibe  the 
narrow  prejudices  of  the  cloister  ;  but  then  again,  his 
later  life  as  rector  of  Theberton  may  have  opened 
his  mind  to  the  true  beauty  of  the  new  teaching.  Colet 
had  placed  over  the  master's  chair  in  St.  Paul's  school, 
an  image  of  the  Child  Jesus,  with  the  words  "  Hear  ye 
Him."  Pleasant  it  is,  to  imagine  our  parson  preach- 
ing from  that  text  to  his  flock  at  Theberton. 

It  was  indeed  a  time  of  wondrous  growth  and  change  ; 
and  that  not  only  in  religious  life.  All  works  of 
man  :  literature,  discovery,  arts,  handicrafts,  sprang  at 
a  bound  into  maturity. 

Perhaps,  our  simple  country  folk  would  feel  no  inno- 
vation more  nearly  than  the  threatened  revolution  in 
their  weapons.  The  bow,  from  immemorial  time,  had 
been  the  tried  and  trusted  arm  of  Englishmen  :  now  the 
talk  was,  that  smoking  gunpowder  and  leaden  balls 
would  supersede  good  yeomanly  bows  and  arrows.  The 
change  was  to  arrive  later,  but  as  yet,  it  was  an  open 
question  whether,  the  clumsy  caliver  would  really  be 
more  effective  in  war,  than  the  English  long  bow.  Lord 
Herbert  thus  stated  the  relative  merits  of  the  two 
arms : — "  When  he  that  carries  the  caleever  goes  unarmed 
(without  defensive  armour)  the  arrow  will  have  the  same 
effect  within  its  distance  as  the  bullet,  and  can  again 
for  one  shot  return  two.  Besides,  as  they  use  halberts 
with  the  bow,  (a  man  armed  with  a  caliver  could  carry 
no  weapon  besides)  they  could  fall  to,  to  execute  on  the 
enemy  with  great  advantage,  I  cannot  deny  but  against 
the  pike  they  were  of  less  force  than  the  caleevers." 

In  1 5 14,  Parliament  gave  judgment,  for  the  bow 
and  against  the  caliver.  It  made  perpetual  an  old 
statute  concerning  archery,  and  forbad  the  use  of  "  hand 
guns "  to  all  men  who  had  not  five  hundred  marks  a 


70  LONGBOW  VERSUS  CALIVER 

year,  an  income  considerable  at  that  time,  equivalent  to 
more  than  ;C300  now.^  All  men  under  forty,  were  by  law 
to  possess  bows  and  arrows  and  to  practise  shooting, 
and  butts  were  to  be  erected  in  every  village. 

So  there  must  have  been  butts  at  Theberton,  at  which 
men  used  to  practise  archery.  If  every  young  man 
now  possessed  a  magazine  rifle,  and  with  it  practised 
marksmanship,  we  should  be  freed  from  the  degrading 
fear  of  invasion. 

*  The  qualification  was  reduced  to  ;^ioo  the  next  year. 


CHAPTER  VI 

To  Thomas  Went,  succeeded  as  rector  of  Theberton 
"  Robert  Folkelynge  capellanus,"  chaplain  perhaps  of 
some  forgotten  guild,  it  might  be  that  of  St.  John  at 
Kelshall.  He  was  presented  in  1518  by  the  Abbot  and 
Convent  of  Leyston,  and  instituted  as  before. 

This  rector's  name  appears  in  the  last  will  dated  in 
1523,  of  one  of  his  parishioners.  John  Kylham  willed 
that  his  body  should  lie  in  the  churchyard  of  St.  Peter 
of  Theberton,  he  further  willed  "that  Robert  Folklyn 
have  XXd.  to  pray  for  me  and  for  my  friends  V  masses 
of  the  wounds  of  our  Lord." 

Probably  John  was  a  kinsman  of  another  Kylham — 
Richard,  who  by  his  will  of  the  same  date,  left  '*  XXd,  to 
the  High  Altar  of  our  church,  for  tithe  negligently 
forgotten."  Did  he  hope  that  this  might  save  his  soul 
from  the  evil  smells  of  purgatory }  Turchill,  an  Essex 
husbandman,  had  in  a  vision  seen  the  entrance  into  hell, 
whence  was  exhaled  a  smoke  of  most  foul  stench  ; 
which  arose  from  tithes  unjustly  detained  and  crops 
unjustly  tithed. 

Richard  Kylham  also  bequeathed  "  a  peyer  of  shalleys  " 
to  our  church.  Whether  the  church  ever  received  the 
Chalices,  or  what  has  become  of  them,  I  have  found  no 
record  ;  they  may  have  been  sold  since  for  parochial 
purposes. 

7* 


7«  "TITHES  FORGOTTEN" 

Church  plate  we  know  was  sold  from  Middleton  :  for 
under  date  1 547,  we  have  the  "  true  certificate  "  of  four 
churchwardens  there,  that  they,  "  with  consent  of  the 
town,  hathe  solde  ij  peyer  of  silver  sensors,  ij  peyer  of 
Chalys,  and  i  pax — price  xill".  Vll^"  (say  ;^I30  of 
our  money) ;  and  that  they  bought  with  the  proceeds 
"  grownde  for  to  enlarge  the  weys  in  the  town,"  and  paid 
for  "  kepyng  of  a  pore  chylde,"  and  also  for  "  settyng 
forth  of  certen  soldgers,"  and  further  for  "  mendyng 
Medylton  Brigge,"  (where  was  this  bridge  ?),  and  lastly 
for  "mendyng  a  lane  ledyng  from  Yoxforth  to  Theberton" 
— the  "  meadow  lane  "  before  alluded  to.  The  sale  was 
prudent  and  well-timed,  for  only  six  years  after,  in 
1553,  churchwardens  had  to  produce  to  commissioners 
then  sitting  at  Ipswich,  all  their  church  plate  and  orna- 
ments and  church  bells,  "grete  belles  and  saunce 
(sanctus)  belles  in  the  steples,  only  excepte  "  ;  to  be  sold 
"  for  God's  glory  and  the  king's  honour "  ;  only  the 
commissioners  had  authority  to  leave  one  or  two  chalices 
at  their  discretion. 

Robert  Folkelynge  held  the  benefice  for  twelve 
years,  resigning  it  in  1530  in  favour  of  another  Robert 
Folkelynge,  described  as  junior,  who  paid  a  yearly 
pension  of  40s.  to  Robert  Folkelynge  senior  for  the 
remainder  of  his  life.  Farmers  sometimes  cheated  this 
Robert  the  younger  as  they  had  his  elder  namesake  ;  one 
James  Maihewe,  in  1539,  left  Xlld.  to  the  High  Altar  of 
Theberton  for  "  tithes  forgotten  "  ;  and  the  same  testator 
evidently  a  farmer,  also  gave  three  bushels  of  wheat  and 
five  bushels  of  malt  for  reparation  of  our  church  ;  and 
after  bequeathing  live  stock — "  cows,  stirks,  and  colts, 
neate,  and  cattell,  calfe,  and  lamb,"  besides  money,  for 
benefit  of  his  wife  and  children,  directed  "  a  combe  of 
wheate  to  be  baken,  and  the  brede  thereof  to  be  distry- 


THEBERTON  IN  THE  STAR  CHAMBER     73 

butyde  among  the  most  needy  persons  in  the  parish  of 
Theberton."  "  Robert  Folkelyn  parson  of  Theberton 
and  Robert  Gosse  of  the  same  town  "  were  witnesses. 

This  Robert  Folkelyn  was  a  frequent  witness  to  the 
wills  of  his  parishioners.  In  1545,  we  find  him,  described 
as  parson  of  Theberton,  witness  to  the  will  of  John 
Alyn  of  Theberton  ;  in  155 1,  as  witness  to  the  will  of 
John  Carsey  also  of  Theberton,  whereby  that  testator 
directed  that,  failing  bequests  for  his  children,  his 
property  be  disposed  of  "  in  dedes  of  charity  to  the  most 
honour  of  God  and  comfort  to  his  soul." 

In  Robert  Folkelyn  junior's  time,  dispute  arose  con- 
cerning lands  in  Theberton,  between  two  bodies  of 
persons  with  both  of  whom  he  had  intimate  relations. 
On  one  side,  a  number  of  his  parishioners,  and  on  the 
other  side,  a  religious  house,  who  were  influential  neigh- 
bours and  patrons  of  his  benefice. 

In  the  Star  Chamber  proceedings  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  VIII,  we  find  the  following: — 

To  the  King  our  Sovereign  lord.  Humbly  complain 
unto  your  Highness  your  true  liege  men :  John  Grosse 
of  Kelsale,  John  Ulffe  of  the  same  town,  William  Ulffe 
of  Feberton  (Theberton),  Thomas  Mannock  of  the 
same  town,  John  Fryer,  George  Deer,  John  Grosse  of 
Febyrton,  Alexander  Norman,  Roberte  Elmeham, 
Thomas  Fraunceys,  Richard  Pecok,  John  Grey,  John 
Byrde,  John  Gierke,  and  other  inhabitants  dwelling  in 
the  town  and  village  of  Theberton  :  that  whereas  they 
and  their  neighbours  are  seised  of  their  several  lands 
and  tenements  in  Feberton  aforesaid,  and  by  reason 
thereof  they  and  their  ancestors  have  had  free  common 
of  pasture  appendant  thereunto,  in  four  several  marsh 
land  and  hard  land  grounds,  called  the  Fryth,  and  in 
other  lands,  marsh  and  heath,  amounting  to  700  acres 


74  ABBOTS  "ASSAULT  AND  GRIEVOUS  AFFRAY  " 

or  thereabouts  in  Leyston  and  Feberton  aforesaid,  for 
pasture  of  their  cattle  and  for  mowing  of  "  thakes  "  ^  and 
rysshes  for  the  covering  of  their  said  tenements  and 
houses;  that  this  so  continued  till  21  July  25  Henry 
VIII  (1533-4)  when  John  Fereby  clerk,  Robert  Fyske 
of  Leyston  clerk,  being  a  white  canon,  Thomas  Browne 
of  Feberton  yeoman,  William  Okey  of  Leyston,  Henry 
Kechyn,  William  Symson  of  the  same  town,  William 
Trusse  of  Pesenale  cooper,  Thomas  Pryce  of  Leyston 
barber,  Robert  Shanke  of  Aldryngham  husbandman, 
William  Cuthbert  of  Leyston  white  canon,  William 
Crispe  of  Leyston  labourer,  George  Kendall  of  Leyston 
white  canon,  Robert  Dawys  of  Medylton  labourer, 
Robert  Wyllet  of  the  same  town  labourer,  William 
Gylberde  of  Leyston  butcher,  James  Morce  of  Leyston 
labourer,  William  Cache  of  Leyston  carpenter,  with 
other  evil  disposed  persons  to  the  number  of  twenty- 
three,  servants  to  George  Carleton  Abbot  of  Leyston, 
with  swords  and  bucklers  daggers  and  quarter  staves, 
assembled  at  Therberton,  and  then  and  there,  in  riotous 
manner,  did  enter  into  all  the  said  common  pasture,  and 
thereof  wrongfully  disseise  your  complainants  to  the  use 
of  the  said  Abbot ;  and  did  make  assault  and  grievous 
affray  on  the  said  John  Ulff  and  others,  and  carried  off 
two  loads  of  rushes,  the  goods  of  the  said  Thomas 
Fraunceys  and  Thomas  Pawston.  That  of  this  riot,  all 
the  said  misdoers,  except  the  said  abbot,  are  lawfully 
judged  by  the  verdict  of  twelve  true  men  within  the 
county  of  Suffolk.  And,  because  the  said  misdoers 
are  the  said  abbot's  servants,  and  by  his  "  extorte  power  " 
are  very  like  shortly  and  untruly  to  be  acquitted,  unless 
the   king's   favour    be   shewn   in  that  behalf,  the  com- 

*  Thatch  and  thatchers  are  still  "thak"  and  "thakkers"  in  Suffolk 
speech. 


TAXABLE  MEN  OF  THEBERTON  75 

plainants  beg  a  writ  of  subpcena  to  be  directed  to 
the  Justices  of  the  Peace  in  the  county  of  Suffolk, 
commanding  them  to  send  up  to  the  Star  Chamber  all 
the  said  indictments  against  the  said  misdoers ;  and  to 
summon  the  said  Abbot,  Thomas  Browne,  Thomas  Perce 
(Pryce),  Robert  Fyske,  and  William  Crispe,  to  appear 
there  and  answer  in  person. 

The  abbot,  by  his  answer,  denied  the  truth  of  the 
complaint,  and  said  that  such  matter  would  be  determin- 
able at  common  law.  Moreover,  that  he  and  his 
predecessors,  time  out  of  mind,  had  been  seised  of  the 
marshes  and  grounds  named  in  the  bill,  in  right  of  their 
monastery,  and  that  the  complainants  never  had  rights 
of  common  there. 

Concerning  the  merits  of  this  dispute  we  cannot  form 
an  opinion,  there  is  no  evidence  ;  but  it  does  not  seem 
probable  that  costly  proceedings  would  ever  have  been 
promoted  on  behalf  of  these  poor  people,  unless  upon 
advice  that  they  had  a  case  good  enough  to  give  hope 
of  success. 

Mischievous  was  the  precedent  set  by  Abbot  Clement 
for  this  his  latest  successor.  George  Carleton's  chair 
was  shaking  under  him,  yet  he  could  not  refrain  from 
violence.  To  make  an  "  assault  and  grievous  affray," 
with  a  force  of  twenty-three  men — three  tonsured  canons 
among  them — armed  with  swords  and  bucklers,  daggers, 
and  quarter  staves,  could  not  be  deemed  seemly  for  a 
father  of  religious. 

It  is  not  without  interest  to  trace  the  social  position 
of  the  men  who  took  part  for  and  against  Abbot 
Carleton.  A  subsidy  return,  which  had  been  made  in 
1524,  enables  us  in  that  respect ;  for  each  parish,  it  gives 
the  names  of  all  taxable  men,  and  the  amounts  of  their 
incomes,  in  either  land  or  goods,  whichever  was  highest. 


76  A  GREAT  CHANGE  IMPENDING 

All  those  to  be  mentioned  were  taxed  for  goods : 
Among  the  Abbot's  men  Henry  Kechyn  of  Leyston  had 
;^3  a  year,  Robert  Shanke  of  Aldringham  £6,  Robert 
Wyllet  of  Middleton  £6,  and  William  Trusse  of 
Peasenale  £2.  The  petitioners,  against  the  Abbot, 
John  Byrd,  John  Grosse,  Thomas  Fraunceys,  John  Fryer, 
Richard  Pecok,  John  Gierke,  had  from  £\,  to,  in  one 
case  that  of  Fryer,  ;^4  a  year,  Alexander  Norman, 
William  Ulfif,  Thomas  Pauston,  and  John  Grey  earned 
£\  a  year  in  wages.  All  these  belonged  to  Theberton. 
Another  John  Grosse  was  richest  of  all  with  £\2  of 
income  ;  he  belonged  to  Kelsale. 

Some  indication  of  their  relative  positions  is  afforded 
by  comparing  these  incomes  with  that  of  "John 
Jenney  Esquyer  "  set  down  in  the  Return  at  £26.  13J.  4^. 
"  in  goods." 

I  wish  we  had  better  knowledge  of  the  topography. 
I  confess  I  cannot,  with  accurate  finger,  point  out  the 
four  marsh  land  and  hard  land  grounds  then  called  the 
Fryth — the  name  is  unknown  now — nor  can  I  describe 
the  7CX)  acres. 

The  decrees  of  the  court  of  Star  Chamber  are  all 
missing,  and  we  could  never  have  known  what  was 
decided,  but  for  a  later  suit  in  Edward  VI.'s  time,  with 
which  we  shall  deal  later  on. 

Abbot  Carleton  had  been  defending  his  claims  by 
armed  force.  Only  three  years  were  to  elapse,  before 
his  power,  himself,  and  his  abbey,  were  to  be  over- 
whelmed together  by  a  final  catastrophe.  The  great  house, 
a  thing  of  always,  rooted  in  men's  imagination  as  an 
immemorial  oak,  was  to  be  uprooted. 

A  revolutionary  change  for  Theberton  !  The  familiar 
figures  of  the  canons  would  be  seen  no  longer  about  the 
lanes  and  paths  of  the  parish  ;  the  abbey  church  would 


"POVERTY  THEIR   CAPTAIN"  77 

no  more  re-echo  their  chants  and  litanies  ;  the  poor 
and  needy  would  lose  the  brethren's  never-failing  alms  ; 
the  sick  would  no  more  benefit  by  the  medical  skill 
and  chanty  of  monkish  leeches ;  children  would  no 
longer  be  taught  ;  and  tenants  would  lose  their  good 
old  landlords,  who  had  so  often  stood  "  between  poor 
men  and  the  devil " — it  always  had  been  "  good  living 
under  the  crook."  There  was  ground  for  fear  that  their 
lay  successors  would  raise  the  rents  of  farms,  even  of 
cottages. 

True  it  is,  that  the  fate  of  the  monasteries  v/as 
inevitable — envied  owners  of  one-fifth  to  one-third,  so 
say  the  authorities,  of  all  the  land  of  the  country,  and 
patrons,  appropriators,  of  countless  rectories. 

Langland,  in  Piers  Plowman,  had  in  the  fourteenth 
century  foretold  the  fall  of  religious  houses  at  the 
hand  of  a  king ;  and  Erasmus  seeing  the  shrine  of  St. 
Thomas  a  Becket,  had  declared  that  those  who  had 
heaped  up  such  a  mass  of  treasure,  would  one  day  be 
plundered.  The  air  had  long  been  full  of  mutterings 
presaging  storms  to  come.  Moreover,  with  this  tempting 
wealth  under  his  feet,  Henry  VHI.  was  now  in  sore 
straits  for  money ;  his  wars  with  both  France  and 
Scotland,  and  his  reckless  extravagance,  had  exhausted 
the  hoards  his  thrifty  father  had  laid  up  for  him. 

He  had  had  already  to  resort  to  unpopular  expedients  ; 
in  1524,  all  men  worth  ^40  had  been  required  to  pay 
in  one  lump  sum  a  subsidy  properly  spread  over  four 
years  ;  which  had  proved  so  insupportable,  Speed  says, 
"  to  the  poorer  sort  of  subjects,  that  payment  was,  with 
weepings  and  cursings,  utterly  denied  to  collectors, 
almost  provoking  open  rebellion."  Suffolk  indeed  had 
taken  arms,  making  "poverty  their  captain."  In  1526 
again,  when  commissioners  were  sent  to  levy  the  sixth 


78  AFTER  THE  DISSOLUTION 

part  of  the  goods  of  all  laymen,  and  the  fourth  part  of 
the  clergy's,  the  discontent  was  so  great,  that  the  king 
had  to  disavow  the  tax,  and  despatch  letters  through 
England,  that  he  would  ask  nothing  but  by  way  of 
benevolence. 

The  blow  no  doubt  had  long  been  impending ;  yet  it 
can  hardly  be,  that  so  fell  an  outrage  upon  the  rights  of 
property  did  not  come  like  an  earthquake  shock  at  last. 

Royal  commissioners,  Sir  Thomas  Russhe,  Richard 
Southwell,  and  Thomas  Myldemay,  had  made  an 
inventory  of  the  plate  and  other  valuables  used  for 
religious  services,  together  with  the  household  goods 
and  farming  stock — all  the  movable  property — of  the 
House  of  Leyston ;  and  had  delivered  these  goods  to  the 
keeping  of  the  abbot,  for  use  and  behoof  of  "  the  lord 
the  King."  That  "  advocate  and  kinsman  of  the  poor  " 
did  not  get  very  much.  Only  goods  appraised  (we  have 
the  inventory)  at  £^2.  \6s.  3</.,  equivalent  to  say  ;^420 
of  our  money,  was  secured  for  His  Majesty  from  the 
clutches  of  lesser  robbers. 

The  first  result  of  the  Dissolution  in  country  parishes 
was  an  outbreak  of  lawless  violence.  The  honoured 
fabrics  were  given  up  to  pillage.  The  King's  command 
was,  in  all  cases,  to  "  pull  down  to  the  ground  the  walls 
of  the  churches,  steeples,  cloisters,  frateries,  dorters, 
(common  sleeping  rooms),  chapter  houses,  and  all  other 
houses,  saving  those  necessary  for  farmers  ;  "  and  faith- 
fully, too  faithfully,  alas,  was  it  obeyed.  I  have  no 
evidence  concerning  Leiston  in  particular,  but  we  read 
that,  throughout  England,  the  mean  folk  gathered 
greedily  about  their  prey,  and  that,  so  long  as  "  door 
window  iron  or  glass  or  lead,  remained  to  be  plundered, 
raingeing  rabblements  of  rascals "  could  hardly  be 
driven  away.     One  can  imagine  the  spoilers  tearing  up 


JOHN  GRENE  THE  HERMIT  79 

"  the  seats  in  the  choir,  and  melting  the  lead  therewithal!, 
till  all  things  of  value  were  spoiled,  carried  away  and 
defaced  to  the  uttermost." 

The  poor  rector  of  Theberton,  Robert  Folkelyn  had 
good  reason,  we  cannot  doubt,  to  blush  with  shame  for 
his  parishioners. 

Not  much  of  either  the  original  abbey  which  Glanvil 
built,  nor  of  the  third  abbey,  seems  to  have  been  thought 
"  necessary  for  farmers,"  for  little  was  preserved. 
Glanvil's  old  house,  before  (not  long  before)  the  Suppres- 
sion had  been  deserted  by  the  brethren  ;  it  only  sheltered 
a  hermit,  a  former  abbot  of  Leyston,  John  Grene,  who 
in  1 53 1  "of  his  own  will  relinquishing  his  Abbacy,  was 
consecrated  a  hermit  at  the  chapel  of  St.  Mary  in  the 
old  convent  near  the  sea,"  And  there  tradition  says  he 
died  and  was  buried.  And  of  the  third  abbey  little  was 
saved,  besides  its  walls,  which  for  generations  after 
served  as  a  mine  for  highway  surveyors. 

Of  the  later  life  of  Robert  Folkelyn  we  know  little. 
In  1549,  I  find  that  he  held  land  of  the  manor  of 
Middleton-Fordley.  In  1553,  the  year  of  Mary's  acces- 
sion, a  mandate  was  issued  for  the  induction  of  one 
William  Stephenson.  Stephenson  ought  to  have  been  first 
instituted,  but  I  cannot  find  that  he  ever  was,  in  fact,  either 
instituted  or  inducted.  Folkelyn  seems  to  have  resigned 
his  living,  or,  possibly  having  married  under  the  Act 
of  1548  was  ejected  in  1553  or  1554.  In  the  Diocesan 
Registry  of  Visitations,  marked  in  pencil  "  1 554-1 566" 
we  find  his  name  with  the  description  "presbiter," 
under  that  of  his  successor  Johannes  Maysteman  de- 
scribed as  "  Rector,"  Perhaps,  after  vacating  his  living 
he  stayed  on  at  Theberton,  as  I  find  his  name  as  a  land- 
owner of  the  parish  in  1561.  This  is  the  last  we  know 
of  him,  his  death  is  not  recorded  in  the  register. 


80  THE  PARAPHRASE  OF  ERASMUS 

Great  alterations  in  churches  and  church  worship  were 
brought  about  during  the  brief  reign  of  Edward  VI. 
Henry  VHI.  had  prohibited  all  under  the  degree  of 
gentleman  and  gentlewoman  from  reading  the  Scrip- 
tures. Edward  VI.  ordered  the  bible  of  the  largest 
volume  in  English,  and  the  Paraphrase  of  Erasmus 
upon  the  gospels — in  translating  which  it  is  noteworthy 
that  both  Queen  Katharine  and  the  Lady  Mary  had 
assisted — to  be  placed  in  churches,  so  that  the  parishioners 
might  resort  thither  and  read  them.  Happily  our 
church's  copy  of  the  Paraphrase  is  preserved  still. 
From  time  beyond  men's  memories  there  had  stood  a 
stone  altar  at  the  east  end  of  Theberton  Church  ;  no 
doubt  the  order  to  demolish  it  had  been  obeyed,  and  a 
wooden  table,  which  the  communicants  sat  round,  was 
placed  in  the  middle  of  the  nave.  All  images  were 
defaced  under  an  Act  of  Parliament.  The  use  of  the 
Protestant  liturgy,  and  attendance  at  the  new  services, 
were  enforced  by  law.  The  holy  Sacrament  was  to 
be  ministered  to  the  people  in  both  kinds,  bread  and 
wine ;  this  "  being  more  comformable,"  as  the  Act  ex- 
pressed it,  "  to  the  common  use  and  practice  of  the 
Apostles  and  primitive  church  by  the  space  of  five 
hundred  years  after  Christ's  Ascension." 

Confusion  and  irregularities  were  general  for  a  long 
time,  of  which  parishes  adjacent  to  Theberton  supply 
some  evidence.  In  1597,  one  Deyntery  the  curate  of 
Leyston,  not  appearing  at  a  bishop's  visitation,  was 
excommunicated,  because  "he  weareth  not  the  surplis, 
he  doth  not  catechize  the  youth,  he  hath  not  walked  the 
perambulations."  In  the  same  year,  at  Middleton,  a 
"  meere  laye-man  readcth  Divine  service."  At  Kelshall 
(now  corruptly  called  Kelsale),  they  "had  not  moneth 
(month)  sermondes,"     The  rector — Brood   by   name — 


WALKING  THE  PERAMBULATION  81 

"  doth  not  catechize  the  yowth,  he  went  not  the  peram- 
bulations." Brood  said  he  was  ready  to  catechize,  "  but 
for  that  they  come  not  to  him  "  ;  he  was  warned  to 
amend  his  faults.  At  Westleton,  Elizabeth  Bedingfield 
widow  and  Master  Francis  Bedingfield,  not  having 
received  the  communion  there  for  twelve  months,  were 
excommunicated ;  and  may  be  were  prosecuted  afterwards 
as  recusants. 

It  was  then  a  parson's  duty  to  "  walk  the  perambu- 
lation." The  Rogation  Day's  processions,  with  banners, 
bells,  lights  and  so  forth,  had  been  discontinued  at  the 
Reformation,  but  parish  perambulations  were  now 
required  by  law.  Elizabeth  had  enjoined  the  people, 
once  in  the  year,  with  the  curate  to  walk  round  their 
parish  as  they  were  accustomed,  and  at  their  return  to  the 
church,  to  make  there  their  common  prayers.  And  the 
curate  was,  at  certain  convenient  places,  to  admonish  the 
people,  and  give  thanks  to  God,  as  they  beheld  His  bene- 
fits, and  for  the  increase  and  abundance  of  the  fruits  of 
the  earth.  The  104th  Psalm  had  to  be  said,  and  the 
minister  was  to  inculcate  such  sentences  as :  "  Cursed  be  he 
which  translateth  the  bounds  and  dolles  of  his  neighbour." 

1554,  John  Masterman,  or  Maysteman,  or  Mayster- 
man,  was  instituted  to  the  Rectory  of  Theberton ; 
Robert  Browne,  described  as  one  of  the  barons  of  the 
Lady  Queen,  having  presented  him.  How  Browne 
acquired  the  right  is  rather  interesting.  It  seems  that 
George  Carleton  last  abbot  of  Leyston  had  granted  his 
next  presentation  to  one  John  Compton  ;  Compton  had 
died  leaving  Thomas  Whight  his  executor,  and  Browne 
had  acquired  this  presentation  from  Whight.  It  may 
be  that  with  the  break  up  of  his  House  in  prospect, 
Carleton,  during  the  last  years  of  his  abbacy,  had  made 
friends  of  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness,  and  sold  the 


82  THE  SOKE  OF  LEYSTON 

next  presentation  to  John  Compton,  and  that  the  crown 
had  recognised  that  sale,  and  was  content  to  take  subject 
to  it.  At  all  events,  the  title,  neither  of  Browne  nor  of 
Masterman,  was  ever,  so  far  as  we  know,  brought  in 
question.  Browne  was  a  lessee  from  the  Crown  of  the 
site  of  the  ancient  abbey  by  the  sea,  of  a  warren  of 
conies  of  two  miles'  compass,  and  of  five  hundred  acres 
of  marsh  land,  all  late  the  property  of  the  community  ; 
and  he  was  also  owner,  as  purchaser  from  the  Crown, 
of  the  site  and  the  demesne  lands  of  the  great  third 
abbey. 

It  was  against  this  Robert  Browne,  lessee  from  the 
Crown  and  owner  of  Abbey  lands,  that  certain  "  poor 
tenants  of  the  soke  of  Leyston  "  commenced  in  Edward 
VI.'s  time,  the  later  suit  that  has  been  referred  to. 

The  soke  of  Leiston  !  "  Manor  and  lordship  "  are 
familiar  expressions,  but  not  so  familiar  now  is  the  word 
"soke."  Until  its  forced  surrender  to  the  Crown,  the 
abbots  had  been  lords  of  the  manor  or  lordship  of 
Leyston,  and  their  jurisdiction,  for  a  long  time — at  all 
events  from  1327  when  it  was  rated  for  a  subsidy  under 
that  name — had  been  known  also  as  a  soke.  There 
were  and  are  other  Ecclesiastical  jurisdictions  called 
sokes :  great  sokes  for  example  of  Peterborough  and 
Southwell,  and  of  the  Bishops  of  Winchester  and 
London,  and  nearer  home  there  was  one  at  Thetford. 
Peterborough  was  under  no  county  Lord  Lieutenant, 
but  had  its  own  Custos  Rotulorum  and  separate  Com- 
mission of  the  Peace.  To  the  soke  of  Southwell  twenty 
"  touns "  were  subject,  and  the  Archbishops  of  York 
appointed  both  its  Custos  Rotulorum  and  justices. 
Thetford  had,  I  think,  its  own  magistracy  distinct  from 
the  county. 

I  know  of  no  such  special  privileges  of  this  soke  of 


TENANTS  OF  THE  SOKE  VERSUS  BROWNE    83 

Leyston.  The  abbot  as  lord  of  the  soke,  had  his  own 
court  in  which  his  bailiff  presided,  and  his  own  constable, 
his  own  stocks  and  prison,  and  his  own  gallows.  He 
would,  independently  of  the  Hundred  Court  of  Blything, 
appoint  in  his  Court  Leet  an  ale-taster,  who  would  see 
that  the  ale  sold  in  his  Liberty  was  "  fit  for  man's  body," 
and  likewise  that  the  bread  was  of  good  weight.  All 
freeholders  within  the  soke  were  bound  to  attend  the 
Courts  Leet  held  once  a  year,  and  so  also  were  all 
persons  who,  the  term  was,  were  "  commorant," — usually 
sleeping — therein 

The  soke  comprised  one  hundred  and  ninety-one 
tenants  and  tenantries,  besides  the  "  hanborowes  "  ^  who 
had  been  accustomed  to  come  to  the  manorial  courts  ; 
and  it  extended  into  our  parish,  in  which  there  are  still 
many  tenements  holden  of  the  Leyston  manor.  Some 
of  the  "  certain  poor  tenants  "  therefore  must  have  been 
parishioners  of  Theberton.  Among  the  matters  of 
complaint  were  alleged  acts  of  waste  in  woods  of  the 
lordship  described  as  within  a  mile  of  the  sea,  out  of 
which,  in  the  six  or  seven  years  last  past,  it  was  said  that 
over  four  hundred  oaks  meet  for  ship  timber  had  been 
taken.  The  complainants  then  referred  to  the  former 
suit  in  the  Star  Chamber,  concerning  rights  of  pasture, 
over,  it  was  now  said,  five  hundred  acres.  They  stated 
that  it  had  pleased  the  late  King  Henry  VHI.  to  appoint 
certain  gentlemen  to  sit  in  commission,  to  set  an  indif- 
ferent end  upon  the  matter  in  variance  ;  that  the  com- 
mission sat  accordingly,  and  that  it  was  agreed  that  the 
inhabitants  of  "  Feverton  "  should  have  the  use  of  sixty 

*  This  curious  word  "  hanborowes  "  is,  as  Professor  Skeat  has 
kindly  pointed  out  to  me,  a  variant  of  "  handborowes "  ;  fully 
explained  in  the  New  English  Dictionary,  which  has  :  "  lit.  hand- 
pledge  or  security,  a  name  for  one  (or  each)  of  the  nine  sureties 
associated  with  the  '  head-borow '  in  a  frank-pledge." 

G   2 


84  CLAIM  FOR  COMMON  RIGHTS 

acres  only,  whereas  from  time  immemorial  they  had 
enjoyed  a  moiety  of  the  said  five  hundred  acres,  the 
tenants  of  Layston  enjoying  the  other  moiety.  That 
now,  the  tenants  of  Layston  and  Feverton  enjoyed 
between  them  only  about  one  hundred  and  forty  to  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres,  and  that  the  said  Robert 
Browne  kept  the  residue  in  his  own  hands. 

The  answer  of  the  defendant  Robert  Browne  was 
that : —  As  for  the  claim  of  the  tenants  of  Theberton  to 
pasture  over  five  hundred  acres  of  what  had  been  the 
demesne  of  the  Monastery  ;  as  far  as  he  could  learn  they 
had  no  title  in  law,  nor  had  ever  had  any  right.  In  the 
abbot's  time,  the  tenants  were  allowed  to  send  certain 
of  their  cattle  on  to  the  soft  or  marsh  grounds  belonging 
to  the  Abbey,  and  to  take  rushes  from  the  marshes  for 
their  thatch.  If  any  of  the  inhabitants'  beasts  happened 
to  feed  on  the  hard  lands  of  the  Abbey,  the  abbot  used 
to  distrain  for  damage.  Browne  further  stated  that  the 
Commissioners,  Sir  John  Jerningham  knight,  and 
Edmund  Rous  Esqre.,  had  examined  both  the  ground 
and  the  witnesses,  and,  by  agreement,  set  stakes  and 
marks  where  the  inhabitants  should  make  a  ditch  in  the 
said  marsh,  thereby  enclosing  a  parcel  thereof  to  them- 
selves. 

Of  what  happened  further  in  this  matter  we  have  no 
knowledge  ;  but  it  will  be  seen  later  on  that  the  poor 
folk  of  Theberton  exercised  common  rights  in  a  large 
area  of  marsh  and  fen  down  to  a  recent  period. 


CHAPTER  VII 

In  1606,  there  was  a  tragedy  in  the  Browne  family. 
Agnes  the  wife  of  John  Browne  son  or  grandson  of 
Robert  Browne,  murdered  her  husband  ;  and,  Suckling 
says  that  one  Peter  their  servant  was  gibbeted  for  the 
crime.  What  happened  to  Agnes  we  do  not  know ;  we 
have  depositions,  taken  upon  an  enquiry  as  to  the  King's 
right  to  her  goods,  which  shows  that  she  had  been  con- 
demned as  a  felon.  The  gibbet  on  which  Peter  was 
executed  was  the  manorial  gibbet  of  the  manor  of 
Leiston,  the  site  of  which  according  to  a  perambulation 
of  that  manor,  made  in  1620,  may  be  found  : — by  follow- 
ing "  the  brook  between  Thorpe  and  Haslewood  manors, 
until  you  come  unto  Friday  Market  Heath,  and  then, 
leaving  the  water-course,  following  the  hedge  south-west 
until  you  come  next  a  green  way,"  which  will  be 
"beyond  the  gibbet."  I  hope  this  may  make  the 
position  clear  to  my  local  readers.  It  is  not  at  all  clear 
to  me. 

John  Masterman  lived  all  through  Mary's  reign,  that 
bloody  time  of  inhuman  persecution  in  the  desecrated 
name  of  our  holy  religion.  It  was  in  the  first  year 
of  his  incumbency  that,  most  likely  he  as  well  as  others 
from  Theberton,  trudged  the  three  miles  along  the 
"  meadow  lane,"  to  see  the  martyrdom  of  Roger  Coo, 

85 


86  A  MARTYRDOM  AT  YOXFORD 

who,  "  an  aged  father,"  was  "  cruelly  committed  to  the 
fire  at  Yoxford  where  he  most  blessedly  ended  his  years 

in  1555." 

Conceive  it,  now  in  these  good  days  of  religious 
equality  when  all  Englishmen  are  free  to  obey  their 
consciences,  that  Christian  folk  could  have  stood  tamely 
by,  to  see  an  innocent  old  man  burned  to  death  at  the 
stake,  with  horrible  torments ;  only  because  he  refused 
to  admit  the  doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence. 

Whether  Masterman  was  at  heart  a  "  bitter  Papist," 
we  do  not  know,  but  we  know  this,  that  he  read 
the  Liturgy  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  did  not  oppose  the 
again  taking  down  of  images,  and  when  the  oath 
of  supremacy  was  in  the  first  year  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
tendered  to  him,  he  did  not  refuse  to  take  it.  De- 
privation would  have  followed  refusal ;  the  fact  is, 
however,  that  he  held  the  living  until  his  death,  for  in 
1570,  we  find  the  institution  of  his  successor,  Robert 
Page  clerk,  per  mortem  ultimi  Rectoris  sive  Inaimbentis. 
Why  the  last  words  sive  Incumbetttis  were  used,  I  am 
not  able  to  expain. 

It  was  during  Masterman's  time,  that  in  a  letter 
to  Archbishop  Parker,  signed  by  "  Robert  Wingfield, 
Wyllyam  Caundysh,  Wym.  Hopton,  Thomas  Colbyn 
of  Beckles  (who  built  Roos  Hall)  and  Thomas  Playter," 
all  persons  of  eminence  in  Suffolk,  it  was  alleged  that 
there  was  not  one  preacher  (query  licensed  preacher) 
in  a  great  circuit,  viz, :  from  Blythburgh  to  Ipswich  which 
is  twenty  miles  distant  and  ten  miles  in  breadth  along 
the  sea  coast ! 

Thomas  Cromwell  well-named  malleus  monachorum, 
a  blacksmith's  son,  had  succeeded  the  Ipswich  grazier's 
son,  and  was  now  the  King's  Vicar  General.  In  1538, 
he  commanded  that  all  parishes  should  keep  registers 


OUR  EARLIEST  PARISH  REGISTER        87 

of  christenings,  marriages,  and  burials ;  but  not  till 
ten  years  after  was  this  done  at  Theberton.  Our  first 
register  dates  from  1548.  In  1597,  registers  having 
been  kept  carelessly,  Convocation  issued  an  injunction 
confirmed  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  that  copies  into  new 
books  should  be  made  of  the  existing  registers,  and 
that  each  page  of  the  new  books  should  be  attested 
by  the  signatures  of  incumbents  and  of  churchwardens. 

The  first  book  of  our  register,  which  is  a  copy  made 
pursuant  to  the  injunction,  begins  thus : — "  M""  y*  this 
Register  Book  was  maid  in  the  yeare  of  our  Lord  God 
i598,and  y*  Conteyneth  the  Christeninges, marriages,  and 
burialles  from  the  yeare  of  our  Lord  God  1548,  which 
were  in  this  toune  of  Theberton  in  the  Countie  of  Suff." 
And  the  subsequent  pages  were  duly  signed  at  foot  by 
the  then  incumbent  "  Reighnald  Plumer  as  minister 
or  parson  there,"  who  will  be  referred  to  later. 

I  have  myself,  with  help  for  the  oldest  and  most 
crabbed  hand-writings,  read  all  our  parish  registers,  but 
cannot  ask  readers  to  follow  me  through  tedious  lists 
of  names,  to  which  no  possible  interest  attaches.  There 
are  a  few  such  entries  as  : — 

In  1559,  "a  certaine  travellinge  man  which  died 
at  Eastbridge,"  was  buried. 

In  1563  "  Robert  Adams,  son  of  Nycholas  was  drouned 
in  a  pit  and  hurried." 

The  original  book  had  indeed  been  negligently  kept. 
For  some  years  no  entries  at  all  were  made  ;  and  in  the 
copy  is  now  and  again  written  : — Such  a  year  "  is 
wantynge  in  the  ould  Regester  booke." 

In  1574,  occurs  the  first  entry  relating  to  the  Jenney 
family  : —  "  M"^  Anne  Jenney,  the  doughterof  Arthur 
Jenney  Esquier,  bapt.  18  Aprill."  Arthur  Jenney  was 
to  inherit  the  manor  of  Theberton,  and  to  hold  his  first 


88  AN  OLD  THEBERTON  LAWSUIT 

court  in  1 590.  He  had  been  preceded  by  ancestors  of 
whom  some  have  made  their  appearance  already.  Sir 
William,  of  Doonwych's  time,  a  judge  of  the  King's 
Bench,  and  Sir  Edmund  the  donee  of  "  one  buk  "  from 
Framlingham,  will  be  remembered. 

Arthur  Jenney  was  buried  here  in  1604,  and  Christopher 
his  younger  brother  in  1609,  but  no  monuments  of 
either  remain.  The  family  continued  to  hold  the  manor 
till  the  last  years  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

At  this  time,  the  Jenneys  were  an  unhappy  family. 
In  1584,  when  Arthur  Jenney  was  living  at  Theberton, 
his  father  Francis  Jenney  of  Knoddishall  a  parish  three 
miles  off,  was  an  old  man  of  seventy-four.  Against 
him  and  one  Thomas  Okeley  as  co-defendant,  Arthur 
instituted  a  suit  in  Chancery.  He  stated  that  his  father 
was  tenant  for  life,  with  remainder  to  himself,  of  a  certain 
park  and  grounds  adjoining,  called  Theberton  Park,  with 
divers  other  lands  and  tenements  ;  that  his  father  being 
very  aged,  and  the  house  and  buildings  at  Theberton 
very  ruinous  and  in  great  decay,  his  father  induced  him 
to  take  the  premises  on  lease  ;  and  that  he,  upon  hope 
of  the  fatherly  good-will  and  liking  of  his  father,  had 
upon  entreaty  been  content  to  remove  his  dwelling  from 
Norfolk,  and  to  take  the  said  park  and  lands  on  lease  for 
twenty-one  years  should  his  father  so  long  live,  at  a  rent 
of  ;{^220,  the  lease  being  dated  in  1 566.  Arthur,  and  one 
John  Jernegan  (his  wife's  name  had  been  Elye  Jernegan) 
had  become  bound  in  ;C400  for  payment  of  the  rent. 

Francis  Jenney  the  father,  by  his  answer,  said  that  all 
Arthur's  statements  were  most  false  and  untrue,  devised 
only  to  vex  and  trouble  him,  and  thereby  to  shorten  his 
days  if  that  were  possible ;  that  Arthur  advised  by  the 
Duchess  of  Suffolk  and  other  friends,  had  solicited  the 
lease ;  and  that,  though  dissuaded  by  his  own  friends 


CONCERNING  THEBERTON  HALL  89 

as  it  would  be  committing  the  greatest  part  of  his  living 
into  his  son's  hands,  he  did  in  fact  make  the  lease  as 
stated  ;  that  his  son  did  not  pay  the  rent ;  that  he  had 
gently  sought  to  obtain  it,  but  would  not  put  the  matter 
in  controversy  in  his  old  age  ;  and  further,  that  the 
surety  Jernegan  had  fallen  into  great  decay,  and  was  not 
of  ability  to  satisfy  his  bond. 

The  other  defendant  Thomas  Okely  in  his  answer 
alleged  that  the  suit  had  been  devised  by  Arthur  and 
his  father  on  purpose  to  put  him  to  vexation  ;  and  that 
they  also  had  "  set  towards  him  Christopher  Jenney,"  the 
younger  brother,  "  a  very  malicious  person." 

Arthur  filed  a  replication,  stating  that  for  eleven  or 
twelve  years  he  had  endeavoured  to  get  the  matter 
peaceably  settled  by  reference  to  friends ;  that  he  had, 
since  his  years  of  discretion,  always  been  as  dutiful  to  his 
father  as  any  son  he  had — which  was  not  saying  much,  for 
he  added  that  the  extremities  he  endured  at  the  hands 
of  his  father  came  not  of  his  father  himself,  but  by  evil 
counsel,  lewd  advice,  and  practices,  of  Christopher  his 
own  younger  brother. 

I  find  other  references  of  about  the  same  date  to  the 

old  park,  and  mention  of  the  hall,  of  Theberton.     In  a 

Particular  of  the  Manor,  is  described  "  the  Seate  of  the 

Manor  called  Thebarton  Halle  with  the  Parke  lying  in 

Theberton    and    Fordlye,^   beinge  well   builded,  with  a 

gardine,  orchard,  meadowes,  pastures,  and  earable  (arable) 

lands,  woods,   timbers,  and  underwoods."     Besides  the 

"  halle  "  there  is  mentioned,  among  other  lands  occupied 

by  the  lord  of  the  manor  on  the  farm  then  called  Park 

Closes,  "  one  close  called  Whinney  Close  containing  20 

*  Can  this  be  the  park  in  Fordley,  before  referred  to  as  described 
on  the  rolls  of  that  Manor  ?  There  is  presumptive  evidence  that 
at  this  time  the  Theberton  park  contained  no  deer,  but  was  under 
tillage. 


90  PARISH  TOPOGRAPHY 

acres,"  also  "  one  Mansion  House  with  a  brickell  (brick 
kiln)  and  house,  with  the  close  called  More  Close."  The 
road  now  the  "  hall  road,"  was  then  known  as  More  or 
Moor  Lane.  It  is  probable  that  the  wood  now  called 
the  "  Whin  covert  "  occupies  part  of  Whinney  Close,  and 
that  the  "  Mansion  House  with  a  brickell "  stood  on 
the  site  of  the  wood  now  "  Kiln  or  Kell  Grove."  The 
Particular  bears  no  date,  but  it  refers  to  the  reign  of 
Mary  as  seemingly  recent,  and  to  acts  as  lord  of  the 
manor,  of  Francis  Jenney,  who  I  take  it  was  the  Francis 
of  Knodishall  defendant  in  the  Chancery  suit. 

We  read  also  of  a  "  Park  House "  in  Theberton. 
There  is  this  entry  in  our  Register  for  1587:  "John 
Neele,  which  was  slaine  by  ye  cavinge  of  the  grounde 
in  Mr.  Jenney's  well  at  the  parck  house  in  theberton, 
was  buried  the  21  Dale  of  Auguste."  This  Mr.  Jenney 
must  have  been  Arthur,  who  was  living  upon  the  property 
demised  to  him  by  his  father. 

The  Moor  lane  or  Hall  road  had  then  wider  grassy 
margins  than  now,  for  "  the  several  feadings  of  the 
Highways  leading  from  Theberton  Hall  to  the  Kelshall 
closes  and  meadows  "  appertaining  to  the  manor,  were 
put  at  five  acres. 

The  "  rents  of  assize  free  or  bond  of  the  manor,  with 
daies  works,  rente  henns,  and  other  services  by  the 
yeare "  were  set  at  £^.  is.  lod.  The  present  lord  of 
the  manor  has  never  received  either  the  days'  works, 
rent  hens,  or  other  services,  or  any  part  of  the  ;^3.  is.  lod.^ 
and  fears  that  they  are  gone  beyond  recovery. 

In  1574,  Robert  Page  then  rector,  quaintly  described 
as  "old  parson  of  Theberton,"  and  Margaret  Hooe  were 
married  the  last  day  of  March.  Page's  successor  Reignald 
Plummer,  the  copyist  of  this  part  of  the  register,  must 
lie  under  suspicion  of  having  added  the  "  old." 


THE  INGHAM  FAMILY  91 

In  1578,  we  find  the  first  mention  of  the  Inghams — 
inhabitants  of  Theberton  for  centuries — "  Katharaine 
Ingam  the  doughter  of  Thomas  was  baptized  ye  2nd 
of  March."  In  later  years,  both  this  name  and  the  old 
name  of  Jenney  recurs  in  the  register  too  often  to  be 
repeated. 

In  1584,  "Thomas  Smith  curate  of  Theberton  was 
buried."  Either  he  was  a  curate  of  Robert  Page,  or, 
which  I  think  more  probable,  was,  on  the  death  of  Page, 
the  date  of  which  I  do  not  know,  serving  the  cure  pend- 
ing a  new  appointment  to  the  Rectory. 

In  1585,  Reignald  orReighnald  or  Reginald  Plummer, 
M.A.,  was  instituted  to  the  parish  church,  vacant  by  the 
death  of  the  last  rector. 

About  this  incumbent  I  have  gleaned  a  few  notices. 

At  the  Easter  visitation  of  1597,  the  outgoing  wardens, 
whose  names  are  in  the  register,  Robert  Beare  and 
Roger  Clemence,  presented  that  "  the  parsonage  howses 
are  somewhat  decayed "  adding,  however,  that  "  he 
(Plummer)  preacheth  everye  Sondaye."  Plummer  ap- 
peared, and  objected  that  the  houses  had  been  repaired 
in  part,  adding,  rather  superfluously,  one  might  think, 
that  he  was  a  master  of  arts  !  ^  One  Thwayte  swore 
that  all  the  "  decayes "  had  been  repaired  by  him,  but 
there  had  been  some  "  decayes  "  since,  by  reason  of  a 
"  tempest  and  bigg  wynde." 

The  churchwardens   were   themselves   presented,  for 

^  He  evidently  desired  to  make  it  clear  that  he  was  not  what 
Fuller  called  a  "  mean  minister."  Mr.  Ditchfield,  in  his  "  Old 
Time  Parson,"  says  that  in  the  Archdeaconry  of  St.  Alban's, 
ministers  not  preachers  (I  think  he  means  licensed  preachers)  or 
masters  of  arts,  had  to  be  examined  periodically  as  to  their 
competence  by  the  archdeacon,  or  the  judge  of  his  Court.  One 
.vicar  was  dull  and  "  not  competent,"  but  he  afterwards  improved, 
obtained  a  licence,  and  was  reported  to  be  preaching  "  painfully 
and  diligently  in  his  parish." 


n         COMMUNICANTS  AND  RECUSANTS 

that  a  silver  cover  for  the  communion  cup  was  a-wanting  ; 
and  they,  not  appearing,  were  then  and  there  excom- 
municated.  Beare  appeared  afterwards,  and  was  ordered 
to  provide  a  cover  before  Christmas,  and  that  was  done. 
The  church  still  possesses  a  chalice,  said  to  date  from 

1574- 

In  1603,  the  Bishop  (Jegon)  of  Norwich,  in  pursuance 
of  directions  from  the  Archbishop,  required  a  return 
from  each  parish  in  his  diocese,  of  the  number  of  com- 
municants, the  number  of  recusants  and  non-receivers  of 
communion,  and  as  to  any  other  benefice  held  by  the 
incumbent.  According  to  Plummer's  return,  there  were 
one  hundred  and  twenty  communicants,  no  recusants, 
no  non-receivers  of  communion  in  Theberton  ;  and  he 
added  that  he  served  an  impropriation — another  cure,  at 
the  stipend  of  ;Cio  a-year. 

As  communion  was  compulsory,  the  return  proves 
that  one  hundred  and  twenty  was  then  about  the  adult 
population  of  our  parish. 

It  was  the  impropriate  church  of  Middleton  that 
Plummer,  certainly  from  1603  to  1606,  and  I  think 
during  other  years,  was  serving  as  curate.  In  1606,  he 
was  presented  for  baptizing  the  child  of  a  woman,  a 
stranger  in  that  parish,  which  he  denied  (why  should  not 
he  have  baptized  it),  and  was  warned  for  not  "  catechizing 
on  Sondaye." 

Good  Parson  Plummer  need  not  have  indulged  in 
sarcasm  on  his  predecessor  for  marrying — Reighnold 
himself  and  his  wife  Issabel  had  seventeen  children 
whose  names  are  in  the  register.  Fortunately  for  them 
agriculture  and  all  the  country  trades  which  feed  upon  and 
are  fed  by  that  great  mother  of  industries,  were  just  then 
prosperous  ;  for  though  out  of  the  seventeen  only  seven 
survived,  those  seven  had  to  be  clothed  and  educated 


AGRICULTURAL  PROSPERITY  93 

and  put  out  in  the  world.  Thomas  Tusser,  who  farmed 
for  a  time  at  Cattawade  on  the  Essex  edge  of  our  county, 
though  a  professor  of  detail,  and  as  a  Solomon  to  teach 
others,  and  careful  and  prudent  withal,  found  that  his 
own  sad  lot  was  as  he  wrote 

In  Suffolk  soil 

For  hope  of  pelf  like  worldly  elf 

To  moil  and  toil 
To  cark  and  care  and  even  bare 
With  loss  of  pain  to  little  gain. 

He  failed — perhaps  too  much  the  gentleman,  but  the 
home-bred  farmers,  sons  of  the  soil,  were  generally- 
prosperous.  It  is  the  fact  that  rents  had  risen  ;  but 
still  Harrison  says  that  whereas  "  they  were  scarce 
able  in  former  times  to  live  and  pay  their  rent  without 
selling  of  a  cow  or  a  horse  or  more,"  now,  although  "  four 
pound  of  old  rent  be  improved  to  forty  or  fifty  pound, 
yet  will  the  farmer  think  his  gain  very  small  toward  the 
midst  of  his  term,  if  he  have  not  six  or  seven  years  rent 
lying  by  him  therewith  to  purchase  a  new  lease." 

Striking  too  was  the  improvement  about  this  date  in 
the  standard  of  living.  "  So  common,"  we  read,  "  were 
all  sorts  of  treene  (wooden)  vessels  in  old  time,  that  a 
man  should  hardly  find  four  pieces  of  pewter  in  a  good 
farmer's  house";  whereas,  in  this  his  own  time,  Harrison 
tells  us,  the  farmer  would  have  "  a  fair  garnish  of  pewter 
on  his  cowboard  (cupboard),  three  or  four  feather  beds, 
so  many  coverlets  and  carpets  of  tapestry,  a  silver  salte, 
a  bowle  for  wine — if  not  a  whole  nest — and  a  dosen  of 
spoons,  to  furnish  up  the  sute." 

Here  is  an  actual  list  of  all  the  belongings — furniture 
implements  and  stock — left  by  a  small  farmer  of  our 
parish  of  Theberton  in  1582,  with  the  value  set  upon 
every  article. 


94  AN  ELIZABETHAN  FARMER'S  BELONGINGS 

"AnSDml  1582 

"  An  Invetorye  of  the  goods  and  chattals  of  Wyllam 
Geads  of  ffeaberton  in  the  Countye  of  Suff.  husbondman  deciseassed, 
made  the  thirde  daye  of  november  in  the  yere  of  the  Raigne  of  our 
Soveraigne  Ladye  Elyzabethe  Queene  of  Inglond  ffraunce  and 
Irelond  Defendor  of  the  faythe  &c,  24th.  prised  by  us  Thomas 
Syer,  Robertt  ffrenche,  Robert  Baker,  Henry  Hill,  and  Thomas 
Base. 

In  primis  his  aprell 

I  tin  one  payer  of  tongs,  two  cobirons,  a  gridiron,  a 

fierpane,  and  two  hayles  (a) 

Itfh  fower  chaiers,  one  dresser  and  forme,  and  a  little 

stole     

Itra  one  table  planke  (i>) 

I  tin  m  pewter  15  peces,  fyve  saults,  one  morter  and  a 

pestle,  two  canstacks  (c)  and  a  grater 

Itiri  6  chossens  {d) 

Itiii  in  brase  7  kettles,  one  pott,  towe  skelletts  (e)  a  frien 

pane,  a  skomer  (e)  and  a  spiett  (e) 

Itin  one  flock  bed  as  it  stand  ther,  one  covering  with 

hangings  therto 

Itiri  two  ould  Koffers 

Itin  another  flockbed  as  it  stand  w***  a  coveringe  and 

hangings  therto 

Itfn  6  pillows 

Itiii  2  Koffers 

Itin  in  ale  vessells  thre,  two  potts,  treninge  (/)  dysshes, 

treninge     spones,     and    treninge    platters,    and 

trenchers 20 

Itin  one  featherbed  as  it  stand  in  the  chamber,  wth  the 

hangings  therto  belonging  and  two  coverings     .    .  25     8 

Itin  in  chese  thre  qrters 20    o 

Itin  14  payer  of  shetts  6  pillowberes  (;?•),  fower  table 

clothes,  fower  table  napkings,  wth  the  rest  of  the 

other  Linninge       40    o 

Itin  half  a  come  (A)  of  Wheat 40 

Itin  40  pound  wole 50 

Itin  8  li.  hempe o  16 

(a)  An  iron  contrivance  to  hang  a  pot  over  the  fire,  from  the 
Dan.  ^le  originally  a  tail — see  Eng.  Dialect  Dictionary. 
(d)  For  trestles. 

(c)  Candlesticks. 

(d)  Cushions. 

(e)  Small  kettles  or  boilers.     Skimmer.    Spit. 
(/)  \yooden. 

(V)  Pillow  cases. 
(n)  Coomb. 


s. 

d. 

13 

4 

3 

0 

2 

0 

2 

0 

10 

0 

0 

20 

26 

0 

10 

0 

2 

0 

10 

0 

6 

8 

2 

6 

THE  CHURCH  FARM  95 

s.  d. 

Itm  2  potts  of  buttur 20 

Itm  in  mathocks,  sides,  pick  forks,  hoks,  hatchetts, 

and  wimbles  (/),  wth  other  iron 6    8 

Itm  one  chese  prese,  9  bowles,  4  kelers  {j),  one  charne 

{k),  thre  fatts,  and  a  tube 20    o 

Itm  two  fanes,  two  skepes 30 

Itin  a  payer  of  querns,  one  towcome  (/),  a  passhell  im) 

and  thre  payles , 3     4 

Itm  in  gysse,  duxe  and  henes 80 

Itm  the  corne  in  the  Barne,  with  the  Haye  ther     ...  10    o    o 

Itin  one  haye  stake 134 

Itin  the  wheat  one  the  ground 30    o 

Itm  one  cartte,  one  plough e,  the  carte  trayse  {n)  wth 

counters  and  sheres  therto,  collers  and  Dudfens  {o\ 

two  panejls,  one  cart  sadle,  one  bridle,  and  a  payer 

ofharrous 20    o 

Itiri  the  hempe  unpilled 50 

Itrn  two  sythes,  one  iron  Rake 40 

Itiri  thre  of  the  best  mylche  neat  (/),  the  w'^''  are  gyven 

to  the  children 500 

Itiri  fyve  other  mylche  neat 613     8 

Itiri  two  buds  {q) • 30    o 

Itin  one  kalf 50 

Itin  thre  mares         400 

Itin  thre  Lambs 7    o 

Itin  two  hogs,  one  sowe,  and  sijxe  Shotts  (r)     .    •  ,   .  33    4 

li.    s.  d. 
Some  totalis  44  126. 

Possibly  Wyllyam  Geads  lived  at  the  Church  Farm 
house,  the  greater  part  of  which  certainly  dates  from 
Tudor  days.  The  old  messuage  is  yet  little  altered,  nor 
can  there  be  much  alteration  in  its  surroundings.  It  stands 
just  off  the  road  ;  and  from  its  windows,  perhaps  in  Geads' 

(?)  Augers. 

{j)  Shallow  wooden  tubs  for  washing  up.  A  word  still  used  in 
Suffolk. 

{k)  Churn.     Spelling  characteristic  of  Suffolk  pronunciation. 

(/)  For  combing  or  dressing  tow. 

\m)  Query  pestle. 

{n)  Cart  harness,  the  expression  still  used. 

\d)  Cart-horse  bridle,  word  still  in  use. 

\p)  Milch  cows.    A  cow  stable  is  still  called  a  neat-house. 

{q)  Young  bullocks  about  a  year  old. 

(r)  Young  pigs. 


96  STATE  OF  HIGHWAYS  a.d.  1555 

time  latticed  with  thin  strips  of  wood  like  dairy  windows 
now,  or  filled  with  oiled  linen,  for  glass  was  expensive, 
overlooks  the  three  cottages  across  the  road,  as  old 
possibly  as  itself;  and  is  looked  down  upon  by  the 
ancient  round  tower  of  the  church. 

The  now  good  road  from  Leiston  to  Yoxford,  was 
then  a  "  wikkede  wey,"  deserving  the  statement  in  the 
Act  of  1555  whereby  the  first  surveyors  had  been 
appointed,  that  highways  generally  were  "both  very 
noisome,  tedious  to  travel,  and  dangerous  to  passengers 
and  carriages." 

By  carriages,  of  course  was  meant  wheeled  vehicles  of 
every  kind,  farm  carts  for  example  ;  private  carriages 
had  but  just  come  into  use,  and  there  were  few  of  them. 
The  Earl  of  Arundell  is  said  to  have  owned  the  first  coach 
two  years  before  Geads'  death  in  1580. 

In  the  village  street  southward  of  the  church, no  very  old 
houses  remain.  Most  prominent  is  the  modern  inn,  the 
Lion.  I  find  no  record  of  an  older  inn  on  the  same  site  ; 
but  the  register  for  1589  mentions  an  Eastbridge  inn  : 
— "  Duncane  Agnisse,  a  saylor  of  Southold  which  died 
at  Eastbridge  Inne,  was  buried  the  22  of  Marche." 
As  this  was  the  year  following  the  Spanish  Armada, 
and  as  Southwold  had  fitted  out  thirteen  armed  ships  to 
fight  the  invaders,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  poor  Duncane 
Agnisse  had  fought  for  his  country  in  one  of  them. 

With  our  parish  accounts,  as  with  our  manor  rolls,  we 
are  unfortunate.  Had  early  accounts  ^  been  preserved, 
we  should  have  found,  no  doubt,  entries  of  charges  for 
food  and  clothes  and  arms  for  soldiers  ;  even  with- 
out evidence,  however,  we  may  assume  that  men  were 

*  All  the  parish  accounts,  not  lost  stolen  or  strayed,  have  lately 
been  sorted,  repaired,  and  bound  in  books,  and  are  now  in  custody 
of  the  Parish  Council. 


THE  EASTBRIDGE  INN,  a.d.  1589  97 

trained  here,  as  we  know  they  were  in  neighbouring 
villages.  Suffolk  did  what  it  could.  One  hundred  and 
thirty-one  Suffolk  gentlemen  contributed  ;^3625.  From 
Kelsale,  one  Lambert  Nolloth  subscribed  £2$,  and 
Thomas  Rivett  of  Brockford,  an  ancestor  of  mine,  gave  a 
like  sum.  No  money  was,  so  far  as  we  know,  sent  from 
Theberton  ;  but  when,  some  years  later,  1599,  "  authority 
called  footmen  and  horsemen  out  of  the  shire  into  the 
parts  of  Essex  near  London  for  defence  of  the  court 
against  secret  purposes  intended,"  we  find  our  acquain- 
tance Arthur  Jenney  contributing  one  horse  for  service 
of  Her  Majesty. 

I  wonder  whether  the  old  Eastbridge  inn  displayed  a 
sign  in  the  fifteen  hundreds  ;  and,  if  so,  how  the  painter 
depicted  a  thing  so  strange  as  an  eel's  foot,  which 
the  present  beer-house  is  named  after.  In  those  days, 
when  an  inn-holder  brewed  the  liquor  he  sold,  surely 
the  sign  of  an  eel's  foot  in  it  would  have  been  too 
significant  of  adulteration. 

To  adulterate  the  Englishman's  barley  wine — the 
"  ryght  goode  ale  which  God  sent  us,  a  myghty  drynke 
for  the  commune  people,"  has  always  been  held  as  sinful 
as  sacrilege  ;  and  has  ever  been  punished  by  publicity. 
At  the  present  day,  an  offender's  name,  upon  a  second 
conviction,  is  printed  in  the  newspapers.  In  mediaeval 
times,  publicity  was  secured  by  means  as  effectual  and 
more  nasty.  A  brewer  who  tampered  with  ale,  we 
had  no  hops  then  and  no  beer,  was  made  a  shameful 
spectacle — driven  about  public  places  in  a  dung  cart. 
So  far  back  as  the  thirteenth  century  this  had  been  the 
practice,  and  it  followed  a  yet  more  ancient  precedent. 
The  law  was  in  the  Conqueror's  time,  that  Malam 
cerevisiam  faciens  ift  cathedrd  ponebatur  stercoris. 

The  earliest  but  one  of  our  former  church  bells  was 

H 


98  OUR  OLD  CHURCH  BELLS 

dated  1594,  and  bore  the  arms  of  France  and  of 
England,  the  royal  initials  E.  R.,  and  the  words  nos 
sumus  instructi  ad  laudem  Domifii.  The  late  Dr.  Raven 
told  me  that  there  had  been  an  earlier  bell  dated  1553  ; 
and  he  records  the  dates  of  three  others,  two  of  1614  and 
one  1663  by  John  Darbie. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Good  old  Tusser,  who  got  no  pelf  from  his  Suffolk 
farming,  has  yet  left  us  debtors  for  the  treasures  of  his 
experience.  His  notable  old  saws,  in  doggerel  rhyme  to 
hold  the  memory,  afford  a  life-like  view  of  Elizabethan 
husbandry  and  housewifery.  We  see  not  only  the  year's 
work  of  such  a  husbandman  as  Wyllyam  Geads,  but 
also  the  wise  indoor  management  of  such  a  housewife 
as  we  may  believe  was  Mistress  Geads.  Let  me  refer 
my  readers  to  the  book  itself — the  famous  "  Five 
Hundred  Points  of  Good  Husbandry,"  of  which  the 
best  edition  is  the  reprint  of  1812.  A  few  slight 
quotations  must  suffice  here. 

Among  the  goods  in  Geads'  inventory,  as  in  most  in- 
ventories of  the  time,  was  a  parcel  of  hemp.  In  1533,  it 
had  been  enacted  by  Parliament,  that  all  persons  occu- 
pying sixty  acres  of  arable  land,  should  grow  a  quarter 
acre  of  hemp  or  flax  every  year.  Under  this  Act,  to  all 
the  larger  holdings  were  attached  "  hemp  lands  "  ;  and 
the  word  survives  still  as  a  field  name,  though  its  origin 
is  almost,  if  not  quite,  forgotten,  v 

Flax  was  harvested  in  July,  for  which  month  Tusser 
advises : 

Now  pluck  up  the  flax  for  the  maidens  to  spin  ;  * 

^  According  to  Brother  Bartholomew,  who  wrote  in  the  twelfth 
or  thirteenth  century,  there  was  much  and  "divers  work  and 

99  H   2 


100  CHRISTMAS  FESTIVITIES 

And  the  "  fimble  "  or  female  hemp  at  the  same  time : 

Wife  pluck  fro'  thy  seed  hemp,  the  fimble  hemp  clean, 
This  looketh  more  yellow,  the  other  more  green, 
Use  t'one  for  thy  spinning,  leave  Michell  the  t'other, 
For  shoe  thread,  and  halter,  for  rope,  and  such  other. 

The  "  carle "  or  male  hemp  was  not  harvested  till 
Michell  (Michaelmas),  when  we  are  told  : — 

Now  pluck  up  thy  hemp,  and  go  beat  out  the  seed, 
And  afterward  water  it  as  ye  see  need  ; 
But  not  in  the  river  where  cattle  should  drink, 
For  poisoning  them  and  the  people  with  stink. 

With  the  last  lines,  no  person  who  has  tied  up  his 
boat  in  a  Friesch  canal,  to  leeward  of  retting  hemp,  can 
fail  to  sympathise. 

Often,  a  Suffolk  field  bears  the  name  "  camping  close," 
from  a  rough  kind  of  football  once  played  there — a 
game  quite  obsolete  now  in  these  parts.  The  more 
grass  is  trampled  in  winter  the  better.  Tusser  accord- 
ingly advised  : 

Get  campers  a  ball 
To  camp  therewithal. 

And, 

In  meadow  and  pasture — to  grow  the  more  fine, 
Let  campers  be  camping  in  any  of  thine. 

How  such  people  as  Master  Geads  and  his  jolly  neigh- 
bours feasted  at  Christmastide  is  told  with  great  gusto ; 
those  old-fashioned  yeomen  did  indeed  enjoy  high 
feeding : 

Good  bread  and  good  drink,  a  good  fire  in  the  hall, 
Brawn  pudding  and  souse,  and  good  mustard  withall, 
Beef,  mutton,  and  pork,  shred  (mince)  pies  of  the  best. 
Pig,  veal,  goose,  and  capon,  and  turkey  well  drest. 
Cheese,  apples,  and  nuts,  joly  carols  to  hear, 
As  then  in  the  country  is  counted  good  cheer. 

travail,"  before  the  flax  reached  the  maidens'  hands.  After  being 
taken  out  of  the  water  and  dried  in  the  sun,  it  was  "  knocked, 
beaten,  and  brayed  and  carfled,  rodded,  and  gnodded,  ribbed  and 
heckled — and  at  the  last  spun." 


HOLLOAING  LARGESSE  KH 

The  roasting  spit  was  then  turned  by  a  dog,  a  turn- 
spit or  turnbroche, 

Good  diligent  turnbroche  and  trusty  withall 
Is  sometimes  as  needful!  as  some  in  the  hall. 

Field  sports  for  farmers,  Tusser,  rather  to  one's 
surprise,  did  not  approve  of;  fowling-pieces  had  not 
been  invented,  and  hawking  was  a  sport  considered  meet 
only  for  "  gentlemen  and  persons  of  quality."  Our 
sage's  reflection  is  : — 

Though  some  have  a  pleasure  with  hawk  upon  hand, 
Good  husbands  get  treasure  to  purchase  their  land. 

And  though  we  read  elsewhere  that,  about  that  time, 
"the  cheife  sport  of  the  yeomanry  most  delightful  for 
their  chace "  was  hare  hunting,  Tusser  does  not  allude 
to  it. 

Saffron,  used  for  bleaching  linen,  and  for  cooking,  was 
commonly  grown  in  Suffolk,  particularly  in  the  Wood- 
bridge  district.     In  August : 

When  harvest  is  gone, 
Then  saffron  comes  on  ; 
A  little  of  ground 
Brings  saffron  a  pound. 

We  still,  in  remote  places,  call  the  leading  man  in 
the  harvest  field,  the  "  lord  "  ;  and  the  ancient  custom  of 
"  holloaing  largesse  "  is  not  yet  forgotten ;  I  have  heard 
it  myself  It  was  the  same  in  Tusser's  time,  as  Tusser 
himself  witnesses  : 

Grant  harvest-lord  more  by  a  penny  or  two, 
To  call  on  his  fellows  the  better  to  do, 
Give  gloves  to  thy  reapers  a  largess  to  cry. 
And  daily  to  loiterers  have  a  good  eye. 

The  wonderful  machines,  which  are  the  reapers  now, 
do  not  need  gloves. 

Turnips  and  mangold  were  then  unknown  in  England, 


102  SUFFOLK  FAIR  MAIDS 

and  when  hay  ran  short  in  winter,  there  were  hard  times 
for  sheep  and  for  cattle  : 

If  snow  do  continue,  sheep  hardly  that  fare 
Crave  mistle  and  ivy  for  them  for  to  spare. 

Young  people  now  have  found  more  interesting  uses 
for  mistletoe.  Were  not  the  maids  of  Suffolk  always 
fair  ?  Old  Fuller  certainly  thought  so,  when  he  wrote 
"  The  God  of  Nature  hath  been  bountiful,  in  giving  them 
beautiful  complexions." 

For  cattle,  the  old  farmers  cut  down  boughs  of 
trees : 

From  every  tree,  the  superfluous  boughs 

Now  prune  for  thy  neat,  thereupon  to  go  browse. 

Suffolk  has  always  been  famous  for  its  butter,  which, 
as  Fuller  again  oddly  observed,  was  half  our  Saviour's 
fare  in  infancy — "  butter  and  honey  shall  He  eat "  ;  and 
likewise  for  its  cheese,  which  Camden  accounted  good 
as  that  of  Parma ;  but  which,  made  by  more  modern 
methods,  of  skimmed-milk,  has  been  ofttimes  flung  into 
the  hog  trough,  and  there,  our  Suffolk  ploughboy  poet 
says,  it  long  remained,  defying  even  the  pigs'  teeth : 

in  perfect  spite 

Too  big  to  swallow  and  too  hard  to  bite. 

Tusser  says  that  "Good  dairy  doth  pleasure";  can 
we  not  fancy  our  smiling  "  fair  maids "  in  the  dairy, 
their  faces  bright  with  health  and  happiness  ;  or  again, 
with  their  sleeves  turned  up,  their  dimpled  arms  in 
the  wash  tub,  singing  his  quaint  old  rhyme  : 

Dry  Sun  Dry  Wind 
Safe  Bind  Safe  Find. 

Go  wash  well  saith  Summer,  with  Sun  I  will  dry. 
Go  wring  well  saith  Winter,  with  Wind  so  shall  I. 


THEBERTON  CHRISTIAN   NAMES         103 

Ewes  were  milked  in  those  days  for  the  dairy,  as  they 
milk  them  now  in  Holland,  and  it  seems,  produced  more 
for  the  grass  they  consumed  than  cows. 

Five  ewes  to  a  cow,  make  a  proof  by  a  score. 
Shall  double  thy  dairy  or  trust  me  no  more. 

Davy  gives  another  extract  from  the  lost  Manor  Rolls 
of  Theberton,  which  must  have  been  lost  therefore  since 
his  time.  It  bears  date  in  the  42nd  year  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  I  venture  to  transcribe  the  clerk's  jumbled 
Latin  :  Curia  cum  leta  tenia  14  Oct.  42  Eliz.  capitales 
plegii  super  sacramentum  dicunt  quod  Inhabitantes  ville 
Theberton  non  utunt  piliis  —  Anglice  doe  not  were 
capps  —  secundum  forman  statuti  in  hujusmodi  casu 
provisi.  Ideo  villata  de  Theberton  penatur  ad  6d.  ad 
reformandum. 

This,  perhaps,  purported  to  be  under  a  statute  of  1 3 
Elizabeth,  which  provided  that  all  persons  above  the 
age  of  seven  years  (some  of  worship  and  quality  excepted) 
should  wear  upon  Sabbaths  and  holidays  caps  of  wool, 
knit  thicked  and  dressed  in  England,  upon  pain  to  forfeit 
ten  groats  for  the  omission  thereof.^  The  instance  is 
remarkable,  of  a  Manor  Court  retaining  its  magisterial 
jurisdiction  down  to  so  late  a  date. 

Returning  to  our  i6th  century  registers  ;  there  is  little 
more  worth  quoting :  but  some  old  Christian  names  may 
be  available  for  future  Theberton  babies.  Parents,  tired 
of  Gladys,  Phyllis,  and  such  like,  might  do  worse  than 

^  The  clerk  was  probably  not  aware  that  the  Act  had,  in  fact, 
been  repealed  three  years  before,  in  39  Elizabeth.  The  industry, 
designed  to  be  protected  thereby  and  by  the  previous  Acts  of 
Edward  IV.  and  Henry  VIII.,  was  of  importance,  maintaining 
before  the  invention  of  fulling  mills,  fifteen  distinct  callings  of 
handicraftsmen.  The  best  caps  were  made  at  Monmouth. 
"  Wearing  leeks  in  their  Monmouth  caps,"  said  Fluellen  of  the 
Welshmen,  in  K.  Henry  V. 


104  OLD  THEBERTON   SURNAMES 

call  their  girls — Beteriss,  Damaris,  Annice,  Amyce, 
Ancilla,  Faith,  Fyonet,  Mirable,  Sythe,  Finet,  Apphia, 
Tryphena  or  Jeronomye — names  all  borne  by  their 
female  predecessors  in  our  parish. 

Among  the  surnames  in  the  register,  few  are  familiar 
now, — Syle,  Smyle,  Slith,  Sylbarte,  Semicraft,  Hellouse, 
Erys,  Boutatout,  Wagylgoose,  are  among  them.  Bouta- 
tout  reads  like  a  Huguenot  name.  One  comes  across  it, 
too,  in  naval  history.  John  "Buteturt"  was  by  King 
Edward  II.  appointed  "Admiral  captain  of  sailors  and 
marines  "  (of  the  East  coast)  and  also  "  of  our  knights  and 
other  faithful  subjects  who  are  about  to  proceed  with  the 
same  John  against  our  Scottish  enemies  and  rebels  " — 
this  in  131 5.  Some  of  the  late  surnames  are  pretty, 
Marjoram  we  have  still,  and  there  was  Flowerdew. 

Early  in  the  17th  century,  matters  of  social  interest  to 
country  folk  seem  to  have  been  much  in  the  air.  In 
Queen  Elizabeth's  last  Parliament  we  find  such  subjects 
debated  in  both  houses.  In  1601,  a  bill  was  brought 
into  the  Commons  House  against  profane  swearing ;  it 
never  matured  into  an  Act ;  but  it  interests  us,  because, 
in  the  course  of  debate  one  member  took  occasion  to  in- 
veigh against  holders  of  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
which  even  then  was  respectable  for  antiquity.  So  far 
back  as  1332,  it  was,  that  the  "lords  and  great  men" 
had  advised  King  Edward  III.  "that  he  should  ordain 
Justices  in  every  County  for  the  conservation  of  the 
peace,  with  power  to  repress  and  punish  offenders." 

The  member,  one  Mr.  Glascocke,  related  to  the  House 
this  tale  about  a  Justice  whom  he  knew : — A  poor  neigh- 
bour coming  to  him,  said. 

Sir,  I  am  very  highly  rated  in  the  Subsidy  Book. 

I  know  thee  not,  said  the  Justice. 

Not  me  Sir,  quoth  the  country  man,  why  your  worship 


ELIZABETHAN  MAGISTRATES  105 

had  my  team  and  my  oxen  such  a  day,  and  I  have  ever 
been  at  your  worship's  service. 

Have  you  so  Sir,  quoth  the  Justice,  I  never  remem- 
bered I  had  any  such  matter,  no,  not  a  sheep's  tail : 

"  So,"  continued  Mr.  Glascocke,  "  unless  you  offer 
sacrifice  of  sheep  and  oxen  to  the  idol  Justices  they 
know  you  not " — and  so  forth. 

In  defence  of  the  Justices,  Sir  Francis  Hastings  said  : 
"  I  never  in  my  life  heard  Justices  of  the  Peace  taxed 
before  in  this  sort.  For  aught  I  know.  Justices  of  the 
Peace  be  men  of  quality,  honesty,  experience,  and 
justice."  And  again,  another  speaker : — "  I  much  marvel 
that  men  will  dare  accuse  Justices  of  the  Peace,  Ministers 
to  Her  Majesty,  without  whom  the  Commonwealth 
cannot  be." 

There  were  about  this  time,  particularly  in  parts  of 
London,  numbers  of  corrupt  magistrates,  for  whom  no 
good  word  can  be  said.  Glascocke,  later,  pretended  by 
way  of  apology,  that  his  diatribes  had  been  aimed 
against  that  class  alone,  men  then  commonly  known  as 
Basket  Justices. 

Parliament  had  always  been  anxious  that  Justices  of 
the  Peace  should  be  above  suspicion.  In  1439,  it  had 
been  enacted  that  County  Justices  must  possess  land 
worth  ;£'20  a  year — equivalent  to  some  ;^300  now  ;  and 
the  reason  assigned  was  that  some  persons  had  been 
appointed,  who,  "on  account  of  their  meanness  and 
incapacity  could  not  govern  or  direct  the  people." 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  independent  position,  a 
liberal  education,  and  some  enabling  acquaintance  with 
law,  must  be  more  solid  grounds  for  confidence  in  the 
dispensers  of  justice,  than  the  wearing  of  badges  of 
political  parties,  whatever  their  colour. 

In  the  same  Parliament,  the  House  of  Lords  also  had 


106     POACHERS  AND  GAME  PRESERVATION 

social  legislation  before  them.  They  passed  a  bill 
intituled  "  Against  Drunkards  and  common  haunters  of 
Alehouses  and  Taverns."  Drunkenness  was  then 
prevalent,  as  it  always  had  been,  the  statements  of 
Camden  and  of  Fuller  notwithstanding.  Camden's 
opinion  was  that  the  vice  had  recently  been  brought 
to  England  out  of  the  Netherlands;  that  before  1581, 
of  all  Northern  nations,  the  English  had  been  the  most 
moderate,  and  were  much  commended  for  their  sobriety; 
and  that  our  soldiery  had  only  learned  in  the  recent 
Dutch  wars  "  to  drown  themselves  in  strong  liquors,  and 
by  drinking  others'  healths  to  impair  their  own."  Fuller 
quotes  Camden  and  asserts  that  "before  the  midst  of  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth  there  was  neither  general  practice  nor 
legal  punishment  of  that  vice  in  this  kingdom,"  and  goes 
on  to  say : — "  We  must  sadly  confess  that  since  that  time, 
many  English  souls  have  taken  a  cup  too  much  of  Belgic 
wine,  whereby  their  heads  have  not  only  grown  dizzy  in 
matters  of  less  moment,  but  their  whole  bodies  stagger 
in  the  fundamentals  of  their  religion." 

A  bill  was  also  introduced  into  the  Lords  which 
attained  a  second  reading,  for  preservation  of  pheasants 
and  partridges.  It  was,  in  due  course,  referred  to  a 
special  committee,  on  which  sat  very  grave  and  reverend 
Signiors : — an  archbishop,  four  bishops,  three  learned 
judges. 

Poaching  had  for  centuries  been  a  subject  of  legisla- 
tion. More  than  two  hundred  years  before,  in  1389,  a 
statute  had  made  illegal  the  use  of  "  rabbit  nets,  heyes 
and  hare  pipes."  In  1536,  a  proclamation  was  made  by 
Henry  VHI.  prohibiting  the  slaughter  of  partridges, 
pheasants,  and  herons,  from — how  strange  it  sounds 
now — the  Palace  of  Westminster  to  St.  Giles'  in  the 
Fields,  and  thence  to  Islington,  Hampstead  and  Hornsey 


PAYMENT  OF  MEMBERS  OF  PARLIAMENT  107 

Park.  I  think,  however,  that  this  debate  in  the  House 
of  Lords  was  the  first  time  that  not  only  poaching,  but 
actual  preservation  was  under  discussion  in  Parliament. 
That  pheasants,  so  "fair  in  feather  and  dainty  in  the 
flesh,"  were,  not  long  after  this,  even  hand-reared,  I  infer 
from  Fuller,  who  writes,  "  whether  these  tame,  be  as  good 
as  the  wild  pheasants,  I  leave  palate  men  to  decide," 

In  those  days,  constituencies  paid  their  Parliament- 
men,  whose  "  wages,"  since  Edward  I.,  had  been  levied 
by  the  sheriffs  on  the  counties.  The  "  wages "  of 
knights  of  the  shire  were  4s.  a  day — equivalent  to,  say, 
jC^  now — and  of  the  burgesses,  borough  members,  half 
that  at  least ;  with  besides,  in  both  cases,  charges  of  going 
and  coming,  fees  for  writs,  and  so  forth.  And  to  make 
sure  of  fair  work  for  fair  pay,  it  was  ordered  that,  when 
absent  without  the  Speaker's  leave,  the  legislators  should 
lose  their  wages. 

Plummer's  work,  in  his  later  years,  seems  to  have  been 
many  sided.  We  know  he  preached  "  everye  Sondaye  " 
at  Theberton,  and  that  he  also  served  the  cure  of 
Middleton  ;  and,  besides  this  ministerial  work,  an  Act  of 
Parliament  had  thrust  other  strange  duties  upon  him  : 
he  was  to  be  present  to  aid  the  constable  when  rogues 
were  whipped,  and  register  the  same,  on  pain  of  five 
shillings  for  every  default ;  he  had  also  to  register  the 
testimonials  of  servants  leaving  their  places,  for  which 
last  duty,  a  munificent  two  pence  was  to  be  allowed 
him. 

The  two  old  bells,  impressed  with  the  date  1614,  were 
hung  it  is  likely  in  Plummer's  time. 

1625  saw  the  close  of  our  parson's  life.  That  year,  the 
register  records  "  Reighnald  Plummer  minister  of  this 
Towne  was  buryed  the  30th  of  Aug." 


108        A  THEBERTON  PARSON'S  WILL 

Plummer  had  lost  his  first  wife  Issabel  in  1617,  and 
had  married  again.  During  his  last  illness,  he  made  his 
will  which  is  not  without  interest,  as  suggesting  the 
plenishing  of  a  country  parsonage  of  the  period. 

After  bequests  to  the  poor  of  Leiston,  Westleton, 
Middleton  and  Fordley  (the  parishes  of  Middleton  and 
Fordley  were  not  united  till  1657)  of  Ss.  to  each  parish, 
he  gave  "  his  loving  wife  Ann  ;^20,  a  bedstead  2  bolsters 
2  pillowes  2  blanketts  i  coverlett,  as  it  standeth  in  the 
parlour  (beds  stood  in  parlours  then  of  even  great  houses^) 
with  the  cartings,  and  sixe  payre  of  sheetes  the  best  att 
her  choyce,  all  her  apparell  lynnyng  and  wollen,  all  her 
ridinge  geare  with  her  syde  sadle  and  other  furniture 
(Ann  seems  to  have  been  an  equestrienne)  one  letherein 
trunck,  one  joyned  box,  another  little  painted  boxe,  one 
dossend  (dozen)  of  table  napkins,  all  the  hempe,  towe, 
and  (illegible),  her  gould  rings,  her  bible,  her  boxe  of 
banketting  dishes,  my  bearinge  clothe,  fower  greate 
peaces  of  pewther  the  best  att  her  choyce,  sixe  pewther 
porringers,  one  bosen  (basin),  one  joyned  chayre,  her 
lookinge  glasse."  Also  he  gave  her  £6  i^s.  ^d.,  on 
condition  she  should  make  no  claim  to  thirds  in  his 
free  lands,  but  should  release,  "according  to  lawe  in 
that  case  provided,  att  the  chardges  in  Lawe  of  John 
Ingham  of  Theberton  yeoman,  soe  as  she  bee  not  driven 
to  travell  further  then  the  cittie  of  Norwich."  To  the 
said  John  Ingham  and  his  heirs,  he  left  all  his  free  lands 
in  Theberton  (he  had  bought  lands  of  Robert  Barnes  in 
1610,  and  had  sold  lands  called  Harts  to  John  Ingham 
for  ;^230  but  had  not  conveyed  the  freehold  portion  of 
them),  but — the  will  continued — if  his  wife  should  refuse 
to  release  her  dower  in  them,  then  he  gave  the  said 

1  Vide  inventory  of  Sir  John  Rous,  at  Henham,  1603,  set  out 
in  Suckling's  Suffolk. 


PRESENTATION  OF  WILLIAM  FENN      109 

£6  I3i-.  4^.  to  said  John  Ingham,  towards  the  com- 
pounding with  her  for  her  thirds.  To  Mary  his  daughter 
;^20,  Dorithie  his  daughter  £i^,  Ambrose  his  son  ;^20, 
WilHam  his  son  ;£^20,  Elizabeth  his  daughter  ;^20,  Jaine 
his  daughter  ;£"20,  at  2i.  All  residue  of  goods  and 
chattels  he  gave  unto  Tymothie  and  John  his  two  sons 
towards  payment  of  their  portions,  and  he  appointed 
them  his  executors.  The  will  was  witnessed  by  Zacharie 
Starke  and  Robert  Beare. 

Neither  in  church  nor  in  churchyard  is  found  any 
memorial  of  this  worthy  rector ;  for  three  hundred 
years  his  name  has  been  forgotten.  That  these  words, 
written  during  his  lifetime,  may  be  applied  to  him, 
it  will  not  hurt  us  to  believe : —  "  The  Lord  hath  vouch- 
safed many  singular  benefitts,  as  proper  to  this  country 
(Suffolk),  among  which  this  one  is  nott  the  least,  the 
great  number  of  religious,  grave,  reverend,  and  learned 
ministers  of  God's  Holy  Word,  which  are  planted  in  this 
shire,  travelling  (travailing)  in  the  Lord's  harvest, 
with  sound  doctrine  and  upright  life." 

The  good  man  was  succeeded  by  one  William  Fenn, 
who  was  presented  by  Charles  I.,  one  of  the  earliest  acts 
of  his  reign.  Our  register  has  this  entry: — "1626, 
memoranda  that  Wille  ffenn  Gierke,  uppon  the 
seconde  day  of  Aprill,  in  the  yere  of  our  Lorde  1626, 
beinge  lately  inducted  into  the  church  of  Theberton  in 
Suff.,  did  then  and  there  in  the  tyme  of  Divine  service 
openly  reade  the  forty  articles  ^  intituled  Articles 
agreed  Upon  by  the  Archbishops  and  Byshops  in  the 
Convocacon  holden  at  London,  Anno  Domini  1562, 
without  eyther  addinge  or  detractinge,  and  with  the 
declaracon   of  his   unfeined   assent   and   consent   unto 

^  An  evident  mistake.  The  real  number  of  articles  was  the  same 
then  as  now — thirty-nine. 


110  TROUBLOUS  TIMES 

the  same  and  every  of  them,  in  the  presence  of  us  whose 
names  be  here  under  written  : — Thomas  London,  John 
Ingame,  Thos.  Bradstreet,  Edmond  Whincopp,  Robert 
Backler,  Robert  Beare,  Godfrey  Trelonde,  Robert 
Coding,  John  (illegible),  and  many  others. 


CHAPTER   IX 

Fenn's  tenure  of  his  benefice  nearly  coincided  with 
his  royal  patron's  tenure  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  no  time 
more  troublous  and  distracted  has  ever  been  known  in 
England. 

It  is  not  for  a  local  chronicler  to  launch  out  from 
his  backwater  into  tempestuous  seas ;  the  nation's 
history  too  high  for  him,  he  does  not  dare  to  touch 
in  these  pages,  save,  when  needs  must,  to  explain  the 
story  of  his  parish.  Differences  had  long  agitated  the 
minds  of  Englishmen,  and  clefts  were  opening  now  in 
many  directions ;  firstly,  in  the  domain  of  religion ; 
and  secondly,  in  the  realm  of  society  and  politics.  In 
religion  it  was,  that  the  earthquake  was  most  severely 
felt  in  our  little  community.  There  were,  no  doubt,  both 
Puritan  and  Roman  Catholic  sympathizers  in  Theberton. 
The  restoration  of  Communion  Tables  to  the  east  end 
of  churches,  the  calling  them  altars,  indeed  all  the 
church  ceremonial  and  discipline  inculcated  by  Laud, 
had  scandalized  the  Puritans  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
to  the  eyes  of  high  church  people,  the  Puritans  were 
hypocritical  bigots,  dour  and  sour  themselves,  and  set 
upon  denying  enjoyment  to  all  others,  Sundays, 
formerly   happy    holy    days,    were    to    be    as    Jewish 


112    THE  BOOK  OF  SPORTS— BULL-BAITING 

sabbaths.  "  The  vanityes  of  the  Gentiles,  which  were 
comprehended  in  a  Maypole,  were  to  be  battered  down," 
and  indeed,  all  recreations,  however  innocent,  were 
reprobated,  and  if  possible  repressed. 

James  I.  saw  that  the  common  people  clung  to  the 
old,  more  cheerful  religion ;  and  turned  his  astute 
mind  to  win  their  affections  for  the  reformed  Church 
of  England.  He  issued  the  Declaration  we  call  the 
Book  of  Sports,  and  thereby  notified  his  pleasure  to 
his  good  people,  that  after  the  end  of  Divine  Service 
they  should  not  be  letted  from  any  such  lawful  recrea- 
tions as  dancing  either  men  or  women,  archery,  leaping, 
vaulting,  nor  from  having  May  games,  Whitsun  ales  and 
Morris  dances,  and  the  setting  up  of  Maypoles ;  and 
that  women  should  have  leave  to  carry  rushes  for  the 
"  decoring  "  of  churches  according  to  their  old  custom.^ 
And  the  professor  of  kingcraft  laid  a  bait  for  noncon- 
formists by  providing  that  to  those  only  who  attended 
church  were  the  sports  to  be  permitted. 

His  Majesty's  efforts  notwithstanding,  religious  bicker- 
ings and  civil  dissensions  raged  throughout  Fenn's 
incumbency. 

Our  churchwardens  were  presented  in  1627,  because 
they  had  not,  as  the  law  required,  "  Bishopp  Jewell's 
Apologie " ;  Mr.  Bradstreet,  a  witness  to  Fenn's 
reading    in,   appeared,    and    promised    to    supply    the 

'  The  ancient  sport  of  bull-baiting  was  expressly  excepted  from 
the  king's  list  of  lawful  Sunday  recreations.  The  brutal  amuse- 
ment had  been  enjoyed  by  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  during  Puritan  times 
it  was  prohibited  altogether,  but  it  revived  with  the  Restoration  ; 
Pepys  says  of  the  good  sport  he  saw  at  the  Paris  garden  :  "  the 
bulls  tossed  the  dogs  into  the  very  boxes."  Long  afterwards  in 
William  III.'s  reign,  it  was  still  a  fashionable  amusement,  as  a 
French  witness  M.  Misson  wrote,  indulged  in  by  "butchers  and 
gentlemen."  In  1802,  a  Parliamentary  majority  refused  to  put 
it  down  :  and  not  till  1835  was  a  law  enacted  to  make  it  illegal. 


BETWIXT  THE  TWO  BUNDLES  OF  HAY    113 

same.  The  Bradstreet  family  had  for  some  time  been 
resident  in  the  parish ;  the  name  occurring  in  the 
register  in  1594.  It  may  be,  that  the  Rev  William 
Bradstreet,  our  rector  from  1865  to  188 1,  descended  from 
this  old  Theberton  stock. 

In  1633,  the  Book  of  Sports  not  having  been  widely 
promulgated,  Charles  I.  had  it  republished  ;  and  strictly 
commanded  that  it  should  be  read  in  churches  by  the 
clergy.  Parson  Fenn,  we  shall  see,  read  it  in  his 
Theberton  church,  and  no  doubt  with  unction,  as 
also  without  doubt,  to  the  disgust  of  Puritans  in  his  con- 
gregation. 

Some  parsons,  like  Buridan's  ass,  halted  betwixt 
two  opinions  ;  one  minister  of  a  church  in  London, 
after  reading  the  King's  Declaration,  immediately  went 
on  with  the  Ten  Commandments,  adding  : — "  Dearly 
Beloved,  you  have  heard  the  Commandments  of  God, 
and  of  man,  now  obey  which  you  please." 

The  bulk  of  the  people  of  Theberton  must,  I  think, 
have  been  Puritans,  detesting  the  high  church  and 
royalist  proclivities  of  Fenn,  and  bitterly  opposed  to 
any  such  changes  as  should  "  put  on  their  church  the 
shape  and  face  of  Popery." 

In  1639-40,  writs  had  come  down  into  Suffolk  to 
collect  "  ship  money  "  ;  and  the  overseers  and  the  con- 
stable had  to  assess  the  charge  upon  the  ratepayers  of 
Theberton.  Throughout  Suffolk,  feeling  against  this 
fateful  tax  rose  very  high,  "people  abounding,"  so  we 
read,  **  in  remissness  and  obstinacy."  "  Innumerable 
groans  and  sighs,"  the  sheriff  reported,  "  were  daily 
returns,  instead  of  payment."  It  is  significant  of  the 
remissness  and  obstinacy  of  our  stiff-necked  parish, 
that,  though  neighbouring  "  towns,"  Middleton  and 
Kelsale,  were   certainly   rated,  and   we   must   suppose 

I 


114  THE  GREAT  PROTESTATION 

paid     their     rates,     no     return     was     obtained     from 
Theberton. 

The  folk  of  Theberton,  as  those  of  other  parishes,  had 
in  1 64 1  to  become  parties  to  the  great  Protestation. 
The  form  was  : — 

"  I,  A.  B.  do  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God, 
promise,  vow,  and  protest,  to  maintain  and  defend  as 
far  as  lawfully  I  may,  the  true  reformed  Protestant 
religion  expressed  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of 
England,  against  all  Popery  and  Popish  innovations 
within  this  realm." 

It  seems  that  this  was  not  signed  in  each  separate 
village.  From  Bennington  for  example,  the  minister 
and  churchwardens  and  constable  went  to  Laxfield 
to  sign. 

Fenn  still  clung  to  his  rectory,  although  his  position 
must  have  been  perplexing  to  say  the  least  of  it.  One 
day,  parsons  were  commanded  by  Parliament  to  read 
certain  Proclamations  to  their  people.  Next  came  a 
King's  Proclamation,  enjoining  them  on  their  allegiance, 
not  to  read  the  proclamations  issued  by  Parliament 
And  then  again,  from  Parliament  came  injunctions, 
forbidding  them  to  read  what  had  been  sent  them  by 
the  King. 

In  1642,  under  two  Acts  of  Parliament  a  sum  of 
£20y6og.  17s.  was  charged  upon  Suffolk,  of  which  Theber- 
ton was  assessed  at  ;^20.  8j.  4d.  We  have,  for  our  parish, 
the  names  of  all  the  persons  charged,  with  the  amount 
each  had  to  pay  :  the  list  contains  sixty-nine  names, 
some  of  which  are  mentioned  later. 

In  December  of  the  same  year,  the  Commons  passed 
an  Ordinance,  to  set  on  foot  the  famous  Eastern 
Association.      Suffolk  and  the   other  eastern   counties 


THE  EASTERN  ASSOCIATION  115 

accepted  it  warmly.  At  first,  contributions  poured  in  of 
arms  and  of  money ;  but  before  long,  free  gifts  having 
been  exhausted,  loans  had  to  be  asked  for,  to  be 
secured  by  the  "  Propositions  for  the  defence  of  Parlia- 
ment," and  bearing  interest  at  the  abnormal  rate  of  ten 
per  cent.  How  Theberton  took  up  the  loan  we  have  no 
evidence.  In  Bennington,  we  find  that  two  inhabitants, 
Bartholomew  and  Edward  Rafe,  lent  ;^io  "upon  the 
Propositions."  Cratfield  contributed  money  and  plate 
and  also  two  nags  and  a  mare,  and  these  were  sent  in 
for  collection  to  Yoxford,  as  probably  were  any  loans 
from  Theberton. 

Happily  brother  had  not  to  fight  with  brother  here 
in  Suffolk  ;  but  such  entries  as  these  in  the  Bennington 
books,  help  us  to  realise  how  civil  war  afflicted  other 
districts  of  England  : 

"  26  Jan.  1643,  Given  to  a  poor  distressed  man  and  his  wife  and 
children,  being  plundered  by  the  King's  forces  of  all  their  estate 

5/-." 

"  1644  Laid  out  to  young  Lionel  Nickolls  being  maimed  in  the 
Parliament's  service  17/-." 

"  Given  by  consent  of  the  town  to  two  maimed  souldiers,  the  one 
having  his  leg  shot  off,  and  the  other  shot  in  the  arm,  4/-." 

In  1643  again,  an  Ordinance  was  made  by  Parliament, 
directing,  among  other  things,  that  altar  rails  were  to  be 
taken  down,  and  communion  tables  moved  from  the 
east  ends  into  the  bodies  of  churches.  Under  this 
Ordinance,  crucifixes,  images,  and  pictures  of  saints,  and 
superstitious  inscriptions,  were  also  to  be  removed  and 
done  away  with  ;  and  from  it  originated  the  commission 
of  the  iconoclast  Bowsing. 

In  some  venerable  German  churches — Hildesheim  may 
serve  for  an  example — not  only  the  fabrics  themselves 
in   their    integrity,   but    likewise    the    ancient    church 

I  2 


116    THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND  COVENANT 

furnishings,  and  precious  objects  treasured  in  their 
sacristies,  have  been  preserved,  as  witnesses  from  age  to 
age  of  a  hoary  antiquity.  In  England,  on  the  other 
hand.  Dowsing  or  barbarous  soldiers,  ignorant  incum- 
bents or  modern  architects,  have  worked  their  wicked 
wills,  and  stripped  most  of  our  churches  bare  of  things 
historical,  and  vulgarized  others  with  machine-made 
sham  Gothic  ornaments. 

In  our  own  parish  church,  almost  nothing  remains  to 
carry  our  minds  back  to  past  ages.  True,  the  old  walls 
yet  stand  ;  but  there  is  little  else,  to  suggest  the  scenes 
which,  within  those  walls,  have  during  long  ages 
succeeded  each  other. 

Not  the  least  striking  of  such  scenes  was  enacted  in 
1643  or  1644.  Members  having  themselves  sub- 
scribed the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  Parliament 
directed  it  to  be  sent  to  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  and 
other  men  of  influence  in  all  parishes  of  England,  and  to 
be  taken  in  churches  by  all  congregations.  The 
minister  was,  upon  a  Sunday,  to  read  the  entire  Covenant 
from  the  pulpit ;  and  during  the  reading,  the  congrega- 
tion were  to  uncover  (men  wore  their  hats  then  in 
churches);  and,  at  the  end  of  the  reading,  all  were  to 
stand,  and,  holding  up  their  bare  right  hands,  to  promise 
that  they  would  sincerely,  really,  and  constantly,  through 
the  grace  of  God,  endeavour  in  their  several  places  and 
callings  the  preservation  of  the  reformed  religion. 
-Afterwards,  all  had  to  subscribe  the  Covenant,  by  affix- 
ing their  names  or  marks  to  a  roll  of  parchment,  which 
was  to  be  preserved  as  a  record  in  the  parish. 

No  parchment  roll  has  been  preserved  in  our  parish 
of  Theberton ;  but  probably,  most  of  the  residents 
named  in  the  assessment  list  of  1642  signed  it,  for 
instance:  Sir  Arthur  Jenney,  "Mr.  Claxton,"  Thomas 


SCANDALOUS   MINISTERS  117 

Ingham,  Daniel  Hygate,  Robert  Beare,  and  John 
London.  Parson  Fenn  too,  described  as  "  William  Fenne 
Curate  for  tithes  and  Glebe,"  appears  in  the  assessment 
list.  He  was  still  the  parson  of  Theberton ;  but 
whether  he  obeyed  the  Parliament  by  reading  and 
signing  the  Covenant,  or  obeyed  his  own  conscience 
and  refused,  thereby  giving  his  enemies  cause  to  blas- 
pheme, we  have  no  evidence. 

Just  at  that  time.  Parliament  was  passing  an  Ordinance, 
whereby,  after  reciting  that  complaints  had  been  made 
by  the  well-affected  inhabitants  of  Suffolk  among  other 
counties,  that  the  service  of  Parliament  was  retarded, 
the  enemy  strengthened,  peoples'  souls  starved,  and 
their  minds  diverted  from  the  care  of  God's  cause,  by 
their  idle  ill-affected  and  scandalous  clergy  ;  it  was 
ordained  that  the  Earl  of  Manchester  should  appoint 
county  committees  ;  of  whom  any  five  members  were  to 
sit  in  any  place  selected  by  the  Earl,  and  were  to  call 
before  them  ministers  that  were  scandalous  in  their 
lives,  ill-affected  to  the  Parliament,  or  fomenters  of  the 
unnatural  war  then  raging,  or  that  should  wilfully  refuse 
to  obey  the  Ordinances  of  Parliament,  with  power  to 
send  for  witnesses  and  examine  them  upon  oath. 

A  Suffolk  committee  was  appointed  pursuant  to  this 
Ordinance  comprising :  Alexander  Bence  M.P.,  and 
Squire  Bence,  William  Bloyse  M.P.,  Francis  Brewster. 
Robert  Brewster  of  Wrentham  M.P.  for  Dunwich,  Sir 
Edward  Duke,  William  Heveningham,  Sir  William 
Playter,  Edward  Read,  William  Rivet,  and  Sir  John 
Rous,  each  of  whom  was  paid  5^.  per  diem  for  his 
services. 

The  Ordinance  was  soon  to  be  applied  to  our  parish. 
On  Christmas  Day  1644,  a  warrant  was  issued  directed 
to  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Theberton,  or  any  two 


118  PARSON  FENN  SUMMONED 

of  them,  requiring  them  to  summon  William  Fenn 
parson  of  the  parish,  and  three  witnesses  who  were 
named  in  the  warrant,  to  appear  at  Beccles  on 
Wednesday  the  17th  day  of  January,  "att  the  signe 
of  the  Kings  Heade,"  to  make  proof  of  the  articles 
exhibited  against  the  said  minister ;  .  .  .  .  and  that  the 
said  Mr.  Fenn  should  be  given  notice,  that  he  should 
come  prepared  to  give  in  his  answer  in  writing,  and  to 
produce  any  witnesses  who  might  conduce  to  the  clearing 
of  himself,  on  the  dismal  charge  of  the  witnesses  that 
should  testify  against  him.  This  warrant  was  signed 
by  a  sub-committee  of  five :  Sir  Robert  Brooke,  knight, 
William  Hyningeham  and  Robert  Brewster,  esquires, 
and  Edward  Reade  and  Francis  Brewster,  gents,  who 
described  themselves  as  Deputy  Lieutenants  and  Com- 
mittee of  Parliament. 

The  case  was  heard  by  the  sub-committee,  and,  in  the 
result,  the  Articles  were  held  proved.  The  evidence  for 
the  prosecution  was  to  the  effect,  among  other  things : 
that  Fenn  was  a  common  frequenter  of  alehouses  as  a 
common  drunkard,  that  he  was  a  common  swearer,  that 
he  was  grossly  and  shamelessly  immoral,  that  he  had 
given  out  in  speeches  that  he  had  a  licence  from  the 
devil  to  send  souls  to  hell,  and  power  to  save  whom  he 
would,  and  that  he  had  threatened  to  murder  one  of  the 
witnesses.  And  furthermore,  it  was  in  evidence:  that  he 
was  a  great  enemy  against  the  proceedings  of  Parliament, 
and  had  frequently  drunk  healths  to  Prince  Rupert, 
and  rejoiced  that  the  great  parliament-man  Sir  William 
Waller  had  been  routed,  that  he  did  not  observe  Sabbaths 
and  Fast  days  as  commanded  by  Parliament,  that  he  had 
frequently  bowed  towards  the  font  and  communion  table, 
and  had  read  the  books  of  liberty  for  Recreation  on  the 
Sabbath  day — meaning  the  Book  of  Sports. 


SEQUESTRATION  OF  THE  RECTORY      119 

Among  the  witnesses  to  prove  the  articles  were 
the  three  who  had  been  summoned,  viz.,  Daniell  Hygate 
gent,  Gabriell  Battman  and  Richard  Worledge,  and  also 
thirty-three  others,  all  of  Theberton,  thirteen  of  whose 
names  appear  in  the  assessment  list  of  1642  ;  among 
them,  Robert  Beare  and  his  wife,  John  London,  and 
William  Dowseing. 

In  February  1644,  the  report  of  the  sub-committee 
having  been  sent  up  to  the  Commons'  Committee  of 
Plundered  Ministers ;  that  Committee  ordered  that  the 
Rectory  of  Theberton  be  forthwith  sequestered  from 
William  Fenn  for  great  misdemeanours,  and  that  some 
godly  and  orthodox  divine  be  recommended  to  the 
Assembly  of  Divines,  to  examine  his  fitness  to  have  the 
said  sequestration ;  and  that  John  London,  Thomas 
Ingham,  Robert  Beare,  and  one  John  Fasset  whose 
name  I  do  not  find  elsewhere,  were  to  take  care  and 
provide  for  the  service  of  the  said  cure,  till  this  Committee 
should  take  further  order  in  the  premises,  and  the  said 
William  Fenn  was  thereby  commanded  to  forbear  to  cut, 
fell,  or  carry  away,  any  of  the  timber  or  other  trees,  or 
wood,  standing,  or  growing  upon  the  glebe  of  the 
Rectory.  ^ 

What  judgment  should  be  passed  by  us  on  parson 
Fenn.  It  is  notorious  that  the  judicial  honesty  of 
the  Plundered  Ministers'  Committee,  and  likewise 
of  county  committees,  is  open  to  the  gravest  suspi- 
cion. The  bias  of  the  class  which  supplied  their 
members,  is  betrayed  by  the  use  of  such  epithets  as 
"  scandalous,"  "  malignant,"  "  delinquent,"  to  designate 
men,  whose  greatest  offence,  perhaps,  was  disagreement 
with  the  views  political  and  religious  of  the  faction  in 

^  This  information  was  taken  by  Mr.  Davy  from  papers  which 
were  in  the  possession  of  my  grandfather  in  1810. 


120  FENVS  CASE  CONSIDERED 

power.  "  White's  Century "  written  by  a  member  of 
Parliament  was  a  much  esteemed  work  ;  "  Scandalous 
Malignant  Priests"  were  among  the  first  words  of  its 
lengthy  title.  The  County  Committees  in  general  were 
thus  described  by  an  eye  and  ear  witness  cited  in 
Walker's  "  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy  "  : — "  Mine  ears  still 
tingle  at  the  loud  clamours  and  shoutings  there  made 
....  in  derision  of  grave  and  reverend  divines,  by  that 
rabble  of  sectaries,  which  daily  flocked  thither  to  see 
their  new  pastime ;  where  the  committee  members,  out 
of  their  vast  privilege  to  abuse  any  men  though  their 
betters,  without  control,  have  been  pleased  to  call  the 
ministers  of  Christ  brought  before  them  by  jailors  and 
pursuivants  and  placed  like  heinous  malefactors  without 
the  bar,  saucy  jacks,  base  fellows,  brazen-faced  fellows  " 
— and  so  forth.  Walker  says  that  so  notorious  were  the 
dealings  of  these  committees,  that  it  long  remained  a 
common  saying  in  Suffolk,  that  Mr.  Playters  of 
Uggeshall  was  deprived  for  "  eating  custard  after  a 
scandalous  manner,"  he  being  known  to  keep  a  good 
table. 

Moreover,  in  favour  of  Fenn,  one  cannot  but  observe 
how  many  of  the  charges  against  him  bore  a  political 
colour ;  such  as  being  an  enemy  to  proceedings  of 
Parliament ;  rejoicing  at  Waller's  defeat ;  not  observing 
Sabbaths  and  fasts  as  commanded  by  Parliament ;  read- 
ing the  Book  of  Sports — it  had  been  his  plain  duty  to 
read  it,  in  obedience  to  a  lawful  government — and  the 
like. 

We  have  not  before  us  the  evidence — if  any  was 
adduced — for  Fenn's  defence.  Whether  he  put  in  a 
written  answer,  or  tendered  witnesses,  we  do  not  know. 
It  is  possible  that  answer  and  evidence  have  been 
suppressed.     And  there  is  this   further   observation : — 


DEATH   OF  PARSON  FENN  121 

out  of  five  hundred  beneficed  clergy  in  Suffolk,  it  is 
stated,  and  I  do  not  doubt  the  statement,  that  one 
hundred  and  twenty-nine  were  at  this  same  time 
sequestered.  Is  it  at  all  likely  that  of  ministers  of 
religion  so  large  a  proportion,  more  than  one-fourth, 
could  have  been  guilty  of  such  moral  or  ecclesiastical 
offences,  as  merited  this  severe  punishment  ? 

Against  Fenn  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
his  judges  were  not  ignorant  men,  of  a  low  class  such  as, 
according  to  Walker,  composed  the  committees  in  general, 
but  on  the  contrary,  that  they  bore  names  highly  respected 
in  Suffolk  ;  and  there  is  the  testimony  concerning 
his  moral  conduct,  of  no  less  than  thirty-six  witnesses 
out  of  his  own  parish,  to  the  effect  that  Fenn  was  not  fit 
to  live  with  decent  people,  and  was  a  disgrace  to  his 
sacred  profession.  Whether  their  evidence  was  tested 
by  cross-examination  we  do  not  know — probably  not. 

One  of  Fenn's  last  ministerial  acts,  was  to  baptize 
"  Elizabeth  Jenney  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Jenney  and 
Elizabeth  his  lady,  on  25  January  1644." 

After  his  deprivation,  Fenn  does  not  seem  to  have  left 
Theberton  ;  for  there  is  an  entry  in  the  parish  register : 
165 1,  "Willyam  Fenne,  Minister  of  Theberton,  deceased 
this  liffe  Apelle  the  28."  Some  friend  of  Fenn's,  the  parish 
clerk  perhaps,  not  willing  to  admit  his  successor's  title, 
may  have  thus  described  him.  In  point  of  fact,  John 
Gary  was  the  minister  of  Theberton  in  actual  possession 
of  the  benefice. 

Even  our  "  rusticals  "  must  have  heard  of  that  star  of 
the  first  magnitude,  George  Villiers  then  Marquess  of 
Buckingham.  He  was  now  to  become  of  special  interest 
to  our  parish  and  neighbourhood.  That  grotesque 
sovereign,  his  dear  "  Dad  and  Gossip,"  had  been  loading 
the  "dogge  Steenie"  with  extravagant  gifts.     One   of 


122  COMMISSIONERS  SITTING  AT  EASTBRIDGE 

them  was  the  lordship  of  Leyston  manor,  then  valued  at 
£114.  ys.  I  i{d.  a  year.i 

In  1620,  the  Marquess  held  his  first  court  for  Leyston 
at  which,  on  the  homage,  sat  Robert  Beare  and  Thomas 
London  both  of  Theberton. 

Also,  a  perambulation  was  made  of  the  manor,  which 
marches  on  one  side  with  the  manor  of  Theberton.  By 
words  alone  without  a  map,  the  boundary  can  hardly  be 
followed,  and  no  ancient  map  is  in  existence.  My 
readers,  however,  may  recognise  a  few  place  names,  such 
as  "the  West  House,"  and  "the  Harrow" — whence  I 
suppose  comes  Harrow  Lane ;  and  possibly  Higbones, 
Heme's  Grove,  and  Hangman's  Close,  might  be  identified. 

Buckingham  sold  the  manor  to  Richard  Miller  a 
mercer  in  Cheapside ;  and,  in  1633,  we  find  an  action  in 
the  court  of  Exchequer  commenced  between  Miller  and 
others  co-plaintiffs,  and  John  Claxton,  Esqr.,  whose 
name  we  know,  as  defendant. 

The  court  sent  down  commissioners ;  and  they — 
Henry  Coke,  and  Edmund  Harvey  Esquires  and  John 
Cary  and  Francis  Burwell,  gents,  sat  at  Eastbridge,  may 
be  at  the  redoubtable  Eel's  Foot,  to  take  the  evidence. 
Claxton  was  a  copyhold  tenant  of  Leyston  manor,  and 
traced  his  title  on  the  rolls,  from  a  surrender  made  in 
Edward  IV.'s  reign,  by  John  Sturmyn.  This  John 
Sturmyn  was  probably  the  man,  or  a  like-named  son 
of  the  man,  who  in  1445,  as  will  be  remembered, 
withstood  the  irruption  of  the  Abbot  Clement, 

The  question  now  litigated  was  the  right,  whose  it 
was,  to  fell  timber  upon  the  copyholds.  Among  the 
witnesses  were  John  I  ngam(  Ingham)  who  ten  years  before 
had  witnessed  the  reading  in  of  parson  Fenn,  Henry 

^  In  the  Lords  Journals,  Proceeding  on  the  impeachment  of 
Buckingham  in  1626,  Leyston  is  spelt  Lagston. 


A  WRECK   OFF  "THE   SLUICE''         123 

Rackham,  and  John  Baker  of  Theberton,  Sir  Hurstone 
Smith  a  knight  of  Huntingfield,  and  William  Buckenham 
who  had  once  been  bailiff  of  the  manor  of  Theberton. 
The  land,  on  which  grew  the  trees  in  controversy,  was 
thirty-five  acres,  described  as  situate  in  Moorfield. 
Claxton  owned  other  copyholds  also,  among  them  eight 
acres  in  Theberton,  and  also  freehold  land  adjacent  to 
lands  of  Arthur  Jenney.  The  timber  was  valued  at  £i  50 
or  thereabouts. 

In  the  same  year  1633  we  meet  with  Miller's  name 
again,  this  time  more  closely  associated  with  that  of 
John  Ingham  of  Theberton.  A  small  craft,  called 
a  "pink,"  had  been  wrecked  off  the  mouth  of  the 
Minsmere  river  near  what  we  call  the  Sluice ;  and, 
while  on  a  sand  bank,  where  only  boats  could  get 
to  her,  had  been  seized  for  the  King.  It  seems,  she 
afterwards  drove  up  on  the  foreshore,  and  cargo 
was  there  taken  out  of  her,  and  laid  upon  the  beach. 
Miller  then  claimed  the  property,  in  his  capacity  of 
the  lord  of  Leyston  manor,  and  owner  of  the  soil  on 
which  the  wreck  and  the  goods  lay.  Ingham  was  the 
bailiff  of  the  manor,  and  was  zealous  to  enforce  Miller's 
rights.  No  doubt  swarms  of  would-be  wreckers  had 
been  attracted  to  the  beach,  Leyston  copyhold  tenants 
among  them,  and  it  was  said  that  at  Ingham's  instiga- 
tion, the  tenants  would  not  suffer  the  Admiralty  Marshal 
to  see  the  goods.  Thereupon,  complaint  against  Ingham 
was  made  to  Mr.  Secretary  Coke,  and  a  warrant  was 
issued  from  the  Admiralty,  to  bring  him  up  from 
Theberton,  to  answer  in  London  such  matters  as  should 
be  objected  against  him  on  behalf  of  his  Majesty. 

Our  present  pulpit  was  erected  in  Fenn's  time — 1628, 
The  sermons  preached  by  him  are,  perhaps  happily, 
unremembered  ;  and  thousands  more  emitted  from  the 


124  FENNPS  "HERBIDGE  BOOK'' 

same  platform  of  eloquence — some  good  seed,  fruit  of 
reverent  study,  to  grow  in  the  hearts  of  devout  congre- 
gations ;  some  pithless  thistledown,  listlessly  blown 
about,  while  sleep  crept  round  from  pew  to  pew — are 
all  alike  utterly  forgotten, 

Fenn  kept  what  he  was  pleased  to  call  a  "  herbidge 
book" — tithe  book,  in  which,  in  1634,  he  entered  "the 
customes  belonging  to  the  Towne  of  Theberton."  They 
are  not  too  long  to  transcribe : 

Meadowe  the  acre 4</. 

Cow  with  calf.     Lactage 3</. 

Cow  calfe  paid  Lactage 2d. 

Agastbeast \d. 

A  cohs  fall id. 

So  many  odd  lambs — so  many id. 

So  many  odd  geese — so  many id. 

or  to  be  accompted  next  yeare. 

So  many  odd  piggs — so  many ,   .   .  id. 

or  to  be  reckoned  the  next  fall. 

We  have  also:  "Anno  1635,  a  terrier  contayning  the 
Edifices  and  Lands  belonging  to  the  Church  and  Rectory 
of  Theberton,  made  by  the  Rector  and  Churchwardens 
there." 

There  was  then  : — "  Imprimis,  a  Mansion  House 
contayneing  a  Hall,  Parlor,  and  Kitching,  with  a 
Backehouse,  a  Barne,  stable,  and  Gate  house  "  ;  which 
was,  I  take  it,  the  rectory  house,  much  as  it  was 
before  the  modern  addition  in  Mr.  Bradstreet's  time. 
Then,  there  was : — "  One  oartch  yarde  (orchard),  two 
gardens  with  other  yards  enclosed,  and  one  Hempland 
conteyneing  by  estimation  half  an  acre."  This  is  repre- 
sented by  the  lawn  and  garden  between  the  house  and 
the  high  road.  "  Item  one  peece  of  land  an  acre  and  a 
halfe  lyeing  between  the  lands  of  Mr.  Jermyn  (Query 
Jenney)  towards  the  north,  and  ye  way  leading  from 
Theberton   church   into    Moor    Lane    towards    ye    S." 


THE  RECTORY  IN  1635  125 

This  is  evidently  the  field  between  the  shrubbery 
called  the  church  walk  appertaining  to  the  Hall,  and  the 
Hall  road,  then  called  Moor  Lane. 

A  description  of  the  rest  of  the  glebe  follows,  but 
there  is  no  further  matter  of  interest.  It  seems  to 
have  been  assumed  that  there  were  loa.  2r.  6p.  in  all, 
besides  the  site  of  the  "  mansion "  orchard,  yards, 
and  gardens.  The  terrier  is  signed  by  Willm.  Fenn, 
rector,  and  Thomas  Whitcock,  and  Wm.  Dowseing, 
the  churchwardens. 

Once  more,  we  find  John  Ingham's  name  ;  and  upon 
the  same  document,  that  of  a  member  of  the  Jenney 
family.  They  both  were  witnesses  of  the  will,  made 
in  1636,  of  Jeromomye  Ingham  who  died  in  1639.  This 
Christian  name  seems  to  have  been  a  favourite  one  in  the 
Ingham  family  ;  a  daughter  and  a  grand-daughter  bore 
the  name  after  her. 

John  Ingham  died  in  1639,  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven. 
By  his  will,  he  devised  to  his  son  Thomas,  "the 
messuage  in  which  he  dwelt,  being  on  the  north  west 
part  of  the  common  way  leading  from  the  parsonage 
of  Theberton  towards  a  place  or  hill  called  Stone  Hill, 
and  all  his  barns  and  stables  on  the  south  east  part." 
This  dwelling  was  the  present  Hall  Farm  house,  of  which 
the  plastered  walls  and  long  thatched  roof  now  look, 
I  think,  much  as  they  looked  then.  The  farm  buildings 
are  more  modern  ;  Ingham's  barn  and  stables  stood  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  lane,  in  the  meadow  now  known 
as  the  paddock. 

Fenn's  living  had  been  sequestered,  as  we  have 
seen,  in  February  1644.  Messrs.  London,  Ingham, 
Beare,  and  Fasset,  had  to  find  casual  preachers ; 
till,  in  the  month  of  May,  1645,  John  Cary  or 
Carey,  B.A.,  was  referred  to  the  "  committee  of  Divines 


126  A  FLOOD   OF  SUPERSTITION 

for  the  ordination  of  ministers,"  and  was  by  them  duly- 
ordained,  as  a  godly  and  orthodox  divine,  to  the  living 
of  Theberton.  Fenn  had  been  twice  married  ;  his  first 
wife's  name  was  Dorithie,  and  the  second  Elizabeth, 
Elizabeth  had  died  before  the  ejection  of  her  husband, 
so  Gary  came  into  possession  of  the  benefice,  free  from 
the  deduction  of  one-fifth  of  the  profits,  which  the  wives 
of  sequestered  ministers  could  claim.  He  was  the 
incumbent,  in  whose  time,  notice  was  entered  upon  the 
register  of  the  death  of  ex-parson  Fenn,  by  the 
strange  description  "  minister  of  Theberton." 

John  Gary  held  the  benefice  all  through,  and  beyond, 
the  Gommonwealth  period.  It  is  recorded  in  our 
registers  that  on  "13  Feb.  1666,  John  Garey  the 
rector  of  ffebruarie  (sic)  was  buried." 


CHAPTER   X 

I  WONDER  whether  Gary  allowed  bells  to  ring 
or  the  passing  or  soul  bell  to  be  tolled,  during  his 
time.  In  some  places  we  know  they  were  silenced. 
At  Newcastle,  for  example,  it  was  ordered  by  the 
Vestry  in  1655,  that  the  church  bells  be  used  again, 
"  we  having  had,"  the  vestry  minuted,  "  the  judgment 
of  our  minister  concerning  any  superstition  that  might 
be  in  it " — by  "  it  "  meaning  the  passing  bell. 

It  is  strange  as  true,  that  the  high  tide  of  Puritan 
ascendency  brought  with  it  an  access  of  gross  supersti- 
tion. Trials  and  killings  for  witchcraft  had  grown 
frequent  and  more  frequent,  during  James  I.'s  reign  : 
till  at  length,  a  frenzy  of  injustice  and  cruelty  swept 
through  the  land.  It  was  not  doubted  by  ministers, 
or  even  judges,  that  witches  committed  crimes  by  help 
of  Satan.  Could  then  beings  so  depraved  be  suffered 
to  live  among  mankind  ?  It  followed  that  hundreds, 
aye  thousands,  of  forlorn  creatures  were  done  to  death 
under  sanction  of  religion  and  law. 

Persons  put  to  death  for  witchcraft  in  the  one  year 
1645,  were  more  numerous  than  the  Protestants 
martyred  in  any  year  of  the  bloody  reign  of  Mary. 

As  I  have  said  elsewhere  all  that  I  had  to  say  on  this 

127 


128  WITCHES   HANGED   AT  ALDBOROUGH 

subject,^    I    now   only   transcribe,   with   the   compiler's 

permission,^  an  account  culled  from  the  books  of  our 

neighbour  town  of  Aldborough  : — 

l  5.  d. 
1645.  To  Goody  Phillips  for  her  pains  in  searching  out 

witches 100 

„      To  Widow  Phillips  the  search  woman  for  giving 

evidence i     50 

„      To  John  Paine  for  hanging  seven  witches    ...  no 

„      To  William  Dannell  for  the  gallows  and  setting 

them  up • 100 

„      For  a  post  to  set  by  the  grave  of  the  dead  bodies 

that  were  hanged  and  for  burying  of  them   .  6    o 

„      Received  of  Mr.  Newgate  in  part  for  trying  a 

witch 400 

„      Received  of  Mr.  Richard  Browne  by  the  hands 

of  Mr.  Bailiff  Johnson  in  part  for  trying  a 

witch 400 

„     To  Mr.  Hopkyns  in  the  town  for  finding  out 

witches 200 

This  Hopkyns  or  Hopkins,  a  sordid  wretch,  was  the 
self-appointed  "  witch  finder  general,"  who  it  is  said,  I 
hope  with  truth,  was  at  last  swum  himself,  having,  as 
related  in  Hudribras  : — 

Proved  himself  at  length  a  witch 
And  made  a  rod  for  his  own  breech. 

It  was  in  the  same  year  1645,  that  the  magistrates  of 
the  adjoining  county  of  Essex,  sentenced  eighteen 
women  "poore  mellencholie,  envious,  mischevous,  ill 
disposed,  ill  dieted,  atrabilus  constitutions,"  to  be  hanged 
for  witchcraft. 

Superstition  is  not  wholly  extinct  even  now  in 
our  neighbourhood. 

A  medical  man  of  eminence  in  Suffolk  has  told  me 

*  "  Witchcraft  and  Christianity,"  Blackwood^s  Magazine^ 
March,  1898. 

*  I  have  here  again,  and  for  much  besides,  to  thank  Mr,  Red- 
stone. 


SUPERSTITION  AT  THEBERTON         129 

that  patients  often  ask  him  to  "  take  it  off  them."  A 
farmer's  wife,  about  ten  years  ago,  said  she  knew  who  the 
woman  was,  who  had  put  it  on  herself  and  her  son. 
They  had  heard,  when  in  bed,  a  "  whiff,  whiff,  whiff," 
above  them,  and  then  it  was  being  put  on.  My  friend 
always  told  his  patients  that  though  he  could  not  take 
witches'  spells  off,  he  could  no  doubt  put  them  through 
them — with  a  dose  of  medicine.  Such  superstitions,  he 
believes,  are  much  more  common  than  we  know,  ignorant 
people  being  ashamed  to  disclose  them. 

I  have  myself  come  across,  in  our  own  parish,  a  more 
than  commonly  interesting  superstition.  The  wife  of  a 
labouring  man  had  a  child  ill.  She  consulted 
a  wise  woman,  who  advised  her  to  put  milk  into  a 
saucer,  and  "  stand  it  out  abroad  "  at  night.  Should  a 
weasel  drink  of  the  milk,  she  was  to  give  what  it  left  as 
medicine  to  the  child. 

The  interest  is  that  weasel  superstitions  derive  from 
remote  antiquity ;  and  are  found  to  this  day  with 
few  variations  in  countries  far  removed  from  each 
other,  indeed  wherever  almost  in  the  world  there 
are  weasels.  The  matter,  I  hope,  justifies  a  moment's 
digression. 

To  go  back  to  antiquity : — The  Romans  thought 
it  was  unlucky  to  meet  a  weasel,  and  had  a  common 
expression  Mustelam  habes — you  have  a  weasel  in 
your  house,  applicable  to  an  unfortunate,  whom  luck 
seemed  always  to  pass  by. 

In  the  time  of  Constantius,  it  is  clear  that  there  were 
poor  folk  to  whom  the  cry  of  a  weasel  presaged  evil ;  we 
know  that  such  persons  were  hunted  down,  and  con- 
demned for  holding  heathen  superstitions. 

In  a  Penitential  of  Theodore  :  "If  food  had  been 
contaminated   by   a   mouse   or   a   weasel  having  been 

K 


130       A    DIGRESSION    ABOUT  WEASELS 

drowned  in  it ;  should  there  be  a  small  quantity,  it 
must  be  thrown  away  ;  but  if  there  be  much,  it  would  be 
enough  to  sprinkle  it  with  Holy  Water." 

And  by  a  Confessional  of  Egbert  whoever  should 
give  to  another  liquor  in  which  a  mouse  or  a  weasel 
had  been  drowned  was,  if  a  secular,  to  fast  three  days, 
if  a  monk,  to  chant  three  hundred  psalms. 

In  mediaeval  days,  "the  weasel  which  constantly 
changes  its  place,"  was  taken  for  "a  type  of  the  man, 
estranged  from  the  word  of  God,  who  findeth  no  rest." 
And  it  was  also  associated  with  that  mythical  serpent, 
hatched  from  a  cock's  egg — the  cockatrice.  Brother 
Bartholomew  described  the  cockatrice,  as  "of  so  great 
venom  and  perilous,  that  he  slayeth  and  wasteth  him 
that  nigheth  him  without  tarrying ;  and  yet  the  weasel 
overcometh  him,  for  the  biting  of  the  weasel  is  death 
to  the  cockatrice." 

And  now,  for  the  present  day,  in  lands  widely  parted 
"  by  shadows  of  mountains,  and  roaring  of  the  sea." 

Lady  Wilde  says  of  the  west  of  Ireland,  that  weasels 
are  held  to  be  spiteful  and  malignant,  and  that  old 
witches  sometimes  take  this  form.  It  is  extremely 
unlucky  to  meet  a  weasel  the  first  thing  in  the  morning: 
still  it  would  be  hazardous  to  kill  it,  for  it  might  be  a 
witch  and  take  revenge. 

In  the  north-east  of  Ireland,  whitteritts,  as  weasels 
are  called,  are  considered  eerie. 

In  modern  Greece,  the  legend  is  that  the  weasel,  once 
on  a  time  was  a  bride,  and  is  now  envious  of  brides, 
showing  her  envy  by  making  havoc  among  wedding 
gifts  and  provisions.  Therefore,  sweetmeats  and  honey, 
called  "the  necesssary  spoonfuls,"  are  put  out  to  appease 
her,  and  a  song  is  sung,  inviting  the  weasel  to  partake 
and  to  spare  the  wedding  array. 


THE  DIRECTORY  131 

In  North  America,  an  aboriginal  legend  relates  how 
two  sister  demons  commonly  take  the  forms  of  two 
weasels. 

In  the  central  parts  of  Asia — the  forbidden  land  of 
Thibet — we  read  of  a  temple  where,  amongst  the  images 
behind  the  grating,  the  yellow  king  of  the  genii  of  riches 
carries  a  weasel  in  his  hand. 

Yet  farther  east,  the  Manchus  regard  a  stoat  or  weasel 
as  a  mischievous  elf,  but  yet  of  great  power  of  healing ; 
and  with  the  Jupitatze  tribe  who  are  fond  of  the  chase, 
three  spirits — of  the  stag,  the  fox,  and  the  weasel,  stand 
highest  in  public  estimation. 

And  lastly,  in  the  farthest  East,  the  Japanese  have  a 
demon  called  the  Sickle  Weasel.  When  a  man's  clogs 
slip  from  under  his  feet,  and  he  falls  and  cuts  his  face 
upon  the  gravel,  the  wound  is  referred  to  the  malignant 
invisible  weasel,  and  his  sharp  sickle. 

I  fear  digression  has  been  tedious ;  let  us  settle  on 
our  line  again  : 

In  1645,  appeared  under  the  title  of  "  Directory  for 
the  Public  Worship  of  God  "  directions  for  the  conduct 
of  Divine  Service,  together  with  an  Ordinance  of  Parlia- 
ment for  the  taking  away  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 
And  later  in  the  year,  a  second  Ordinance  making  the 
use  of  the  Prayer  Book  by  clergy  or  by  laity  penal. 
First  and  second  offences  were  punishable  by  fine ;  for 
the  third,  one  whole  year's  imprisonment  without  bail 
or  mainprize  ;  all  prayer  books  had  to  be  delivered  up  ; 
and  a  fine  was  imposed  on  persons  writing  or  preaching 
against  the  Directory,  of  which  a  copy  was  supplied  to 
every  parish  constable. 

In  1646,  there  was  ordered  to  be  set  up  in  all  parish 
churches,  "  A  Declaration  of  the  Commons  of  England 

K  2 


132  THE  ENGAGEMENT 

assembled  in  Parliament,  of  their  true  intentions 
concerning  the  antient  and  Fundamental  Government 
of  the  Kingdom;  the  Government  of  the  church  ;  the 
Present  Peace ;  Securing  the  People  against  all 
Arbitrary  Government." 

No  doubt  it  was  set  up  in  our  own  church  by  the  then 
churchwardens,  but  so  long  and  verbose  was  it,  that  per- 
haps few,  even  of  those  able  to  read,  ever  got  to  the  end 
of  it 

In  1649,  after  that  direful  tragedy  the  execution  of 
the  King,  parson  Carey  received  notice  of  an  order  of 
Parliament,  which  he  could  no  doubt  conscientiously 
obey :  He  was  not  to  preach  or  to  pray  against  the 
Parliament.  In  preaching  or  praying,  he  was  not  to 
make  mention  of  Charles  Stuart  or  of  James  Stuart 
the  sons  of  the  late  King,  otherwise  than  as  enemies 
of  the  Commonwealth.  He  was  to  observe  the  days 
of  public  humiliation  or  thanksgiving  appointed  by 
Parliament,  and  publish  the  Acts,  Orders,  and  Declara- 
tions thereof.  All  this,  on  pain  of  being  adjudged  a 
delinquent  within  the  orders  and  acts  touching  sequestra- 
tion of  benefices  and  stipends. 

A  statute  of  the  same  year  enacted  that  all  men  over 
eighteen  years  were  to  take  and  subscribe  "  The 
Engagement " : — "  I  do  declare  and  promise  that  I 
will  be  true  and  faithful  to  the  Commonwealth  of 
England  as  it  is  now  established  without  a  King 
or  a   House   of    Lords."     The    Act  was    repealed   in 

1653. 

In  1650,  the  King's  arms,  which  had  adorned  our 
church,  were  taken  down,  and  the  State's  arms 
substituted. 

Parliament  set  its  austere  face  against  profane  swear- 
ing ;  and  made    the   habit   expensive,  by  enacting   in 


PROFANITY  EXPENSIVE  133 

1650,  that  every  person  styling  himself  Duke,  Marquis, 
Earl,  Viscount,  or  Baron,  should  for  the  first  offence 
forfeit  30J'.;  a  Baronet  or  Knight  20s.;  an  Esquire  10s.;  a 
Gentleman  6s.  8d.;  and  all  inferior  persons  3^-.  4^.  A 
double  fine  was  payable  for  every  succeeding  offence  up 
to  the  ninth ;  and  for  the  tenth,  offenders  were  to  be 
bound  to  good  behaviour.  One  is  forced  to  infer 
that  ladies  were  suspected  of  swearing ;  for  the  Act 
provided,  that  wives  and  widows  were  to  pay  according 
to  the  quality  of  their  husbands,  single  women  of 
their  fathers.  Penalties  were  to  be  recovered  by  distress  ; 
and,  in  default  thereof  the  party  if  above  twelve  years 
of  age,  to  be  set  in  the  stocks,  or  if  under  that  age  to  be 
publicly  whipped.  And  the  Act  was  to  be  published,  on 
the  first  market  day  in  every  market  town  after  receipt 
thereof  Broad,  no  doubt,  were  the  grins  of  our  jolly 
farmers  as  they  read  this  precious  statute  at  Saxmund- 
ham  market. 

A  name,  now  connected  by  property  with  Theberton, 
occurs  about  this  period.  One  Edmund  Peckover,  from 
1646  to  1655  served  as  a  "  solger  "  in  a  troop  of  Colonel 
Fleetwood's  regiment ;  and  after  his  nine  years'  service, 
"  during  which  he  behaved  himselve  fathfulley  and 
honesly  as  becoms  a  solger,"  went  into  retail  trade.  His 
descendants,  now  represented  by  Lord  Peckover,  have 
long  owned  the  Grange  farm  in  our  parish. 

The  rolls  we  have  of  the  manor  of  Theberton  begin 
in  1 64 1,  with  the  first  Court  Baron  of  Sir  Arthur 
Jenney.  Among  the  homage  are  familiar  names : 
Robert  Beare,  John  Backler,  Thomas  Ingham,  George 
London  and  Gabriel  Reve.  One,  Thomas  Cory, 
is  described  as  Esquire — Armiger  ;  and  three,  John 
Bishopp,  George  Fermor  and  Thomas  Screvenor,  as 
Gentlemen. 


134  THE  ROLLS   OF  THE   MANOR 

The  customs  of  the  manor  are  stated: — The  youngest 
son  is  heir  ;  the  eldest  brother  is  heir — inheritance  thus 
following  in  the  case  of  sons,  but  not  of  brothers,  the 
custom  of  Borough  English,  of  which  the  very  name 
bespeaks  Saxon  antiquity.  Widows,  are  entitled  by  the 
custom,  to  one-third  for  dower. 

Out  of  the  manor  books  little  of  present  interest  is  to 
be  gleaned.  A  few  place-names  which  I  cannot 
identify,  others  may  recognise,  such  as  "  Cottingham 
Field  "  ;  "  Cottingham  Green  " — these  somewhere  near 
Stonehill ;  "  Overwakers  " ;  "  Harveys  att  Fen  "  ;  "  Leff 
Fen  "  ;  "  Church  Meer  " — meer  in  the  sense  of  boundary ; 
**  a  certain  stagnum  called  Hartes  Pond." 

I  find  in  165 1  the  first  mention  of  a  windmill  in 
our  parish.  In  that  year,  Richard  Usher  made  his  will, 
entered  upon  the  rolls,  whereby  he  disposed  of  his  lands 
in  Theberton,  and  his  "  windmill,  and  the  stones,  going 
gare  (gear),  furniture,  and  appurtenances  whatsoever 
thereto  belonging." 

In  August  1653,  was  passed  an  Act  of  Parliament 
concerning  marriages.  A  "  Register,"  whose  office  was 
created  by  the  Act,  had  to  publish  at  the  close  of 
the  morning  exercise  in  church,  or,  should  the 
parties  so  desire,  in  the  next  market  place,  on  three 
successive  market  days,  the  names  and  places  of  abode 
of  both  parties,  and  of  their  parents  or  guardians  or 
overseers.  The  parties  next  had  to  present  themselves 
to  a  "  Justice  of  Peace,"  and  the  ceremony  was  to  pro- 
ceed thus :  The  man,  taking  the  woman  by  the  hand, 
should  distinctly  pronounce  these  words  : 

"  I,  A.  B.  do  here  in  the  presence  of  God  the 
searcher  of  all  hearts,  take  thee  (C.  D.)  for  my 
wedded  wife ;  and  do  also  in  the  presence  of  God, 


MARRIAGE   BY  MAGISTRATES  135 

and  before  these  witnesses,  promise  to  be  unto 
thee  a  loving  and  faithful  husband." 

And  then,  the  woman  taking  the  man  by  the  hand, 
should  also  distinctly  pronounce  these  words  : 

"  I,  C.  D.  do  here  in  the  presence  of  God  the 
searcher  of  all  hearts,  take  thee  (A.  B.)  for  my 
wedded  husband  ;  and  do  also  in  the  presence  of 
God  and  before  these  witnesses,  promise  to  be  unto 
thee  a  loving  faithful  and  obedient  wife." 

And  thereupon,  the  Justice  was  to  declare  them  to  be 
husband  and  wife.  The  Act  moreover  provided  that 
no  other  form  of  marriage  should  be  valid. 

Pursuant  to  this  Act,  in  October  1653,  "Thomas 
Ingham  was  chosen  Register  for  ye  towne  of  Theberton, 
and  sworn  in  before  Justices  R.  Brewster  and  Sam. 
ffa  wether." 

Little  more  than  a  year  after,  it  became  the  duty  of 
Thomas  Ingham  to  publish  a  marriage  between  Henry 
Burford  of  Theberton  "  singill  man,"  and  Mirable  Ingham 
of  the  same  place  *' singillwoman."  It  was  published 
"  ye  26  daye  of  November,  and  on  the  third  and  tenth 
dayes  of  December  1654,  by  and  with  the  consent  off 
Margery  the  wiffe  of  Wm.  Hadenham  (who  had  been  the 
widow  of  John  Ingham)  mother  of  her  ye  sad  Mirabell 
and  overseere  for  her  the  said  Mirabell.  And  the  said 
Henery  and  Mirabell  weare  married  by  and  with  the 
consent  of  the  aforesaid  Margery,  on  the  one  and 
twentieth  day  of  December  aforesaid,  by  Samewell 
ffaierwether  Esquire." 

In  another  case,  the  publication  of  an  intended 
marriage  was  "  att  Halesworth  markett." 

In  1657,  the  mode  of  publication  remaining  the  same, 


136  OUR  PARISH   SOLDIER 

marriages  were  no  longer  solemnised  by  Justices  of 
Peace ;  but,  for  instance  in  Theberton,  by  John  Gary 
"  rector  of  the  parish." 

I  know  nothing  of  Mr.  Fairwether,  whose  signature 
docs  not  suggest  clerkly  accomplishments ;  but  his 
brother  Justice,  Robert  Brewster,  came  of  a  well-known 
Suffolk  family  the  Brewsters  of  Wrentham.  Robert, 
and  likewise  a  brother  of  his,  Francis,  were,  we  have  seen, 
of  the  committee  which  sequestered  parson  Fenn.  In 
1654,  Robert  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Convention 
for  Dunwich,  He  was  member  for  the  county  (and 
Francis  member  for  Dunwich)  in  Cromwell's  second 
Parliament  of  1656,  when  he  voted  for  making  the  Lord 
Protector  a  King  ;  and  in  the  Parliament  of  1658  he 
represented  Dunwich,  We  shall  often  meet  with  the 
name  again. 

Our  Theberton  parish  accounts  speak  from  1661 — two 
hundred  years  later  than  those  of  some  neighbouring 
parishes,  of  Walberswick  for  example,  which  begin  in 
145 1.  The  first  rate  recorded  for  Theberton  was  made  in 
September  1662 — a  churchwardens'  rate  for  ;^4i.  14s. 
Certain  purchases  by  the  churchwardens  indicate  that, 
since  the  Restoration,  the  Puritan  end  of  the  religious 
see-saw  had  come  lowest.  We  find :  "  For  the 
service  book  10/-,"  and  "  To  Master  Maswell  for  the 
Booke  called  Jewell's  appolligie  i/-" — a  High  Church 
publication  disapproved  of  by  the  Puritans.  Again,  "  a 
booke  for  the  keeping  the  King's  birthday." 

We  had  a  parish  soldier  in  those  days ;  Gabriel  London 

underwent  "severall  daies  Traynings,"   for  which   the 

parish  paid  him  ys.  Sd.,  with  allowance  for  "  pouder  "  4s., 

and  "  tinning  of  the  head  peece  "  2s. 

The  repair  of  the   Church   must  of  late  have  been 


THEBERTON  PARISH   ACCOUNTS        137 

neglected,  for  needful  work  that  year  cost  ;^33.  is.  2d. ; 
and  "ye  said  London"  was  paid  £\.  17s.  "  for  serving 
the  thatcher,  plumer,  and  carpenter,"  besides  some- 
thing more  for  "  pulling  the  yvye  of  the  steeple," 
The  account  is  signed  by  "John  Gary  clerk"  and 
others. 

In  1664,  the  overseers  credit  themselves  with  lOi-,  "of 
Daniel  Newson  for  suffering  men's  servants  to  tipple  in 
his  house  contrary  to  the  statute,"  They  had  to  lay  out 
on  account  of  a  poor  boy  :  "  For  a  new  Suite,  Dublett, 
Brittches,  westcote,  cap,  linings,  (linen  underclothes), 
Pocketts,  claspes,  eyes,  and  Buttons,  and  the  making 
and  mendinge  of  all  his  clothes  ;^i,  2,  11,"  And  the 
town  house  (poor  house)  had  to  be  thatched.  This  house 
has  disappeared  ;  but  old  men  can  remember  it,  upon 
the  east  side  of  the  road  between  Gipsy  Lodge  and 
Leiston,  opposite  Buckles  Wood.  John  Gary  clerk 
and  John  Ingham  signed  this  account  and  it  was 
allowed  by  two  Justices  Thomas  Scrivener  and  John 
Bedingfeild.  The  name  of  Scrivener  survives  in  the 
person  of  Commander  Levett-Scrivener  of  Sibton  Abbey ; 
Mr.  John  Bedingfeild,  of  a  younger  branch  of  an  ancient 
family,  then  lived  in  an  old  mansion  in  Halesworth, 
of  which  the  curious  interior  decorations  are  described  in 
Suckling's  "Suffolk." 

In  1664,  we  learn  from  the  Archidiaconal  Act  Book 
that  the  sound  windows  of  the  steeple  were  decayed,  for 
which  the  churchwardens  were  presented.  Also  two 
persons  were  presented  for  absence  from  church,  and  one 
for  not  having  received  the  communion  at  the  previous 
Easter. 

And  not  only  the  steeple  but  the  bells  hung  in  it,  now 
needed  reparation  ;  ;^I2.   15^.  had  to  be  expended  for 


138  THE   PLAGUE   YEAR 

"riming  of  the  bell,"  and  mending  the  "boule"  of  the 
bell.  The  bell  was  sent  to  Darbie  of  Ipswich  (a  famous 
name  of  bell  founders) ;  and  the  "  worke  and  tymber  for 
the  fframe  of  the  bells  "  was  supplied  by  John  Fenn 
son  of  the  deprived  parson  Fenn,  who  was  a  wheel- 
wright in  Theberton.  John  Fenn  signed  the  account 
together  with  John  Gary  and  Thomas  Ingham. 

This  was  the  direful  year  of  the  Plague  of  London. 
It  attacked  Ipswich  and  Yarmouth ;  there  is  no  record 
of  its  having  come  to  Theberton,  but  in  a  neighbouring 
parish  "  A  Book  and  Proclamation  to  keep  a  fast  to 
stay  the  Plague,"  was  purchased  and  paid  for. 

How  Gary  contrived  to  keep  his  living  after  the  Act 
of  Uniformity  we  cannot  say.  Under  that  Act,  passed 
in  1662,  the  thirteenth  year  of  Gharles  II. — his  reign  was 
officially  reckoned,  not  as  from  his  restoration  but  from 
his  father's  death — it  became  law  that  the  then  lately 
revised  Book  of  Gommon  Prayer  should  be  substituted 
for  the  Directory  in  all  parish  churches  ;  that  no  person 
should  thenceforth  be  capable  of  holding  any  ecclesiasti- 
cal promotion  or  of  administering  the  Sacrament  until  he 
should  be  ordained  priest  by  episcopal  ordination  ;  and, 
with  respect  to  ministers  who  then  held  any  benefice, 
that  they,  within  a  prescribed  period,  should  openly  read 
morning  and  evening  service  according  to  the  Prayer 
Book,  and  declare  before  the  congregation  their  unfeigned 
assent  and  consent  to  the  use  of  all  things  therein  con- 
tained, on  pain  of  being  ipso-facto  deprived  of  their 
spiritual  promotions.  The  Act  was  to  come  into  force 
on  the  24th  of  August,  the  day  of  St.  Bartholomew. 

Gary  may  already  have  been  an  ordained  priest — we 
find  him  described  "  clerk,"  and  he  was  as  we  know  a 
University  graduate.  I  suppose  that  he  must  have  used 
the  Prayer  Book ;  but  the  presumption  is,  as  no  record 


BARTHOLOMEW   CONFESSORS  139 

of  it  is  entered  in  the  register,  that  he  never  made  the 
Declaration  the  Act  required.  No  less  than  two  thousand 
beneficed  ministers  were  driven  to  resign,  or  else  were 
ejected,  for  conscience'  sake.^  Cary,  however,  did  not 
march  in  that  army  of  "Bartholomew  Confessors," 
The  then  Bishop  of  Norwich  was  the  good  and  wise 
Dr.  Reynolds,  who  had  himself  professed  Presbyterian 
views  ;  and  it  may  be,  that  holding  Cary  to  be  a  worthy 
pastor,  he  shrank  from  taking  extreme  measures  against 
him. 

Up  to  this  time,  the  Puritans  had  been  able  to  continue 
within  the  fold  of  the  Church  of  England ;  this  maleficent 
Act  drove  them  (now  to  be  styled  Nonconformists),  out 
of  the  Church ;  and  there,  unhappily,  remain  their 
successors. 

In  1665,  a  rate  of  £2.  2s.  lod.  was  collected  in 
Theberton  towards  the  payment  of  inferior  oflficers,  and 
for  furnishing  and  other  necessaries,  for  the  use  of  the 
Militia.  Thomas  and  Gabriel  Ingham's  share  was 
gd.  lob.  \qr. 

In  1668,  one  Underwood,  in  office  as  an  overseer  that 
year,  had  to  pay  £\  to  the  churchwardens,  "  for  drawinge 
of  beere  without  licence  "  ;  and  the  fine  was  distributed 
among  the  poor.  The  overseers'  account  was  allowed 
by  Sir  Robert  Kemp.  Sir  Robert  was  then  living  at 
Ubbeston  Hall,  the  home  of  his  second  wife  Mary,  nee 
Sone,  whose  daughter  Mary  married  Sir  Charles  Blois  of 
Cockfield  Hall. 

For     "  carryinge     (the    orders    for)    three    hewinge 

cryes"    the    churchwardens    paid  18^.     This  hutesium 

et  clamor^   to   use  the  old   law  term,  was  the  ancient 

1  Theberton  was  perhaps  fortunate  in  retaining  its  minister. 
In  the  Middleton  registers,  I  find  that  in  1665,  one  Harry 
Dummett  had  to  be  buried  without  a  minister,  by  his  wife  and 
son. 


140        HUE   AND   CRY  AT  THEBERTON 

process  of  pursuing  felons  with  horn  and  voice.  Any 
person  joining  a  hue  and  cry,  could  apprehend  the 
fugitive  without  warrant,  and  even  break  open  a  door, 
should  he  have  run  into  a  house. 

From  John  Gary's  death  till  his  successor  was 
inducted,  the  living  was  under  sequestration,  as  is  shown 
by  4s.  having  been  collected  "  of  the  Rector  or  Seques- 
trator, for  six  months'  collection  ended  at  Our  Lady, 
1668." 


CHAPTER   XI 

In  1668,  one  John  Racket  clerk,  petitioned  the  King, 
that  he  might  be  presented  to  the  Rectory  of  Theberton. 
He  had,  he  said,  served  during  the  late  wars,  as  chaplain 
in  the  Yarmouth^  and  in  other  ships.  He  stated  that 
the  true  value  of  the  benefice  was  not  above  £70 
a  year. 

His  petition  was  successful,  for  in  December  1668, 
we  find  that  he  was  instituted  to  the  Rectory,  "  on  the 
death  of  John  Gary  clerk  last  incumbent." 

In  January  following,  he  complied  with  the  Act  of 
Uniformity  ;  there  is  this  entry  in  our  register  : — 

"  Memorando  that  John  Hacket  clerke.  Rector  of  the 
church  and  Parish  of  Theberton,  being  inducted  into 
the  same  church  and  Rectorie,  the  fiveteenth  day  of 
Januarie  anno  Dom.  1668  (it  was  1668  till  Easter 
1669)  on  Sunday  declared  his  unfeigned  assent  and 
consent  &c.,  and  produced  a  certificate,  under  the  hand 
and  seal  of  the  Lord  Bishopp  of  Norwitch,  by  which 
it  appeared  that,  before  his  institution  into  the  said 
Rectorie,  he  had  subscribed  to  the  declaration  .... 
that  it  is  not  lawfull  upon  any  pretence  whatsoever 
to  take  armes  against  the  King." 

On  Sunday  the  14th  of  February,  Hacket  read  the 

141 


142  OUR  MAN-OF-WAR  PARSON 

thirty-nine  Articles  agreed  upon  by  Convocation 
in  1562,  and  declared  his  assent  and  consent  to  the 
same ;  and  on  the  next  Sunday,  in  the  church  at  the 
time  of  prayers,  he  declared  his  assent  and  consent 
to  the  use  of  all  things  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer. 

In  1668,  was  proved  the  will  of  Sir  Arthur  Jenney, 
by  which  he  disposed  of  the  manor  of  Theberton,  with 
the  mansion  house  called  "  the  Parke  House." 

I  find  in  1669  the  first  mention  of  "Tylers  Green,"  a 
property  then  evidently  belonging  to  the  parish ;  the 
churchwardens  received  ioj.  rent  for  it. 

This  year,  a  "  Regester  of  Breiffs "  is  first  noticed. 
One  brief,  on  which  money  was  collected  in  Theberton, 
was  "toward  the  ransome  of  captives  in  Algier  and 
Sally,"  the  nests  of  wasps  known  as  Sallee  Rovers, 
whose  existence  then  disgraced  Christian  Europe. 

In  1670,  fen  reeves  were  appointed.  About  these 
parish  officers  we  shall  have  more  to  say  later. 

And  that  year,  for  a  girl,  two  yards  and  three  quarters 
of  red  cotton  had  to  be  bought,  "  for  to  apparrell  her," 
and  "  a  payre  of  uppbodyes  "  whatever  they  might  have 
been,  were  added. 

In  1672,  it  may  be  that  Hacket,  rector  of  Theberton, 
was  for  a  time  serving  again  as  a  naval  chaplain ;  for 
against  his  name  at  the  Easter  Visitation  that  year,  we 
find  in  the  Archdeacon's  book,  the  note,  "  apud  mare  " 
— at  sea  ;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  he  took  part  in 
the  great  fight  of  May  28th.  Hume  gives  a  good  account 
of  the  battle,  which  from  the  shore  may  have  been  seen 
by  many  folk  of  Theberton.  Two  great  fleets  lay  at 
anchor  in  Sole  (Southwold)  Bay,  the  French  under  the 
Mareschal  d'Etr^es,  the  English  under  H.R.H.  the  Duke 
of  York  and  the  Earl  of  Sandwich. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  SOLE  BAY  143 

They  were  lying  in  a  negligent  formation,  and  a 
great  Dutch  fleet  commanded  by  the  gallant  de 
Ruyter,  and  with  Cornelius  de  Wit  on  board,  had  come 
out  to  seek  them.  Sandwich  warned  the  Duke  of  the 
danger  of  his  position,  but  received  a  reply  which  he 
deemed  a  reflection  upon  his  courage.  Leading  the  van, 
he  sailed  out  of  the  bay  to  meet  the  enemy.  The 
Hollands  Admiral,  Baron  van  Gendt,  was  killed,^  his 
flagship  beaten  off,  another  ship  which  had  ventured  to 
lay  Sandwich  aboard  was  sunk,  and  also  three  Dutch  fire- 
ships.  Though  his  own  ship  was  torn  in  pieces  with  shot, 
and  out  of  a  thousand  men  near  six  hundred  were  laid 
dead  on  the  deck,  Sandwich  continued  still  to  thunder 
with  his  artillery  in  the  midst  of  the  enemy.  Another  fire- 
ship  laid  hold  on  him,  and  the  end  was  imminent ;  but, 
though  warned  by  his  flag  captain  Sir  Edward  Haddock, 
he  refused  to  escape,  and  bravely  embraced  death  as  a 
shelter  from  that  ignominy  which  the  rash  expression  of 
the  Duke  had,  he  thought,  thrown  upon  him.  De  Ruyter 
attacked  the  Duke  of  York,  and  engaged  him  with 
such  fury  for  about  two  hours,  that,  of  two  and  thirty 
actions  in  which  he  had  been  engaged,  he  declared 
this  combat  to  be  the  most  obstinately  disputed.  The 
Duke's  ^ship  was  so  shattered  that  he  was  obliged  to 
shift  his  flag  to  another.  In  the  event,  the  action 
having  continued  till  night,  the  Dutch  retired.  The 
French  our  nominal  allies,  had  sailed  away,  having 
taken  small  part  in  this  great  sea  battle. 

The  thunder  of  great  guns  must  have  set  all  windows 

*  His  monument  I  have  seen  in  the  cathedral  of  Utrecht.  An 
effigy  in  complete  armour  lies  on  a  sarcophagus  ;  in  front  below, 
a  sea  fight  is  carved  in  full  relief;  and  a  long  Latin  inscription 
commemorates  this  :  "Vir  strenuus  prudens  invictus  Hostium  mari 
terraque  tremor  et  terror  celeberrima  in  Thamesin  expeditione  per 
totam  Europam." 


144      NOISE  OF  BATTLE  AT  THEBERTON 

shaking  at  Theberton,   and   made   many   timid   hearts 
quail. 

There  h'es  now  before  me  a  time-stained  document 
written  with  faded  ink,  in  a  cramped  and  difficult  hand 
— probably  of  John  Fenn.  It  is  endorsed  "  A  rate  to 
make  rates  by,  at  the  highest  proportion  or  valuation  " 
.  .  .  rate  made  at  ob :  qr.  in  the  £.  and  2d.  in  the  score  ; 
and  it  is  headed  "  Theberton,  a  rate  made  the  13th.  day 
of  April  1672  by  John  Fenn  Churchwarden  "  etc.  I 
subjoin  a  few  lines  to  show  the  form  of  it : — 

Evidently 
rental  value. 

£,    s.    d.  s.  d.  ob.  qr. 

600     Mr.  Hall's  or  Hull's  manor 00  00 

60    o    o    John  Hackett  for  Rectory 00  00 

60    o    o    Richard  Hall  Esqre.  for  Park  House 

farm 39  00 

24    o    o    Benn  Jenney  Gent  for  Gardiner's  farm  16  00 

600    John  Fenn  for  his  farm 04  ob.  o 

70    o    o    Thos  Bellward 4    4  ob.  o 

26    o    o    Thos  Ingham's  two  farms 17  ob.   o 

700    John  Bedingfeild 05  o  qr. 

300    Zachary  Fella 02  o  qr. 

Out-dwellers. 

8    o    o     Sir   Daniel   Harvey    Knt.   for    Bushy 

grove 06  00 

Underneath  is  written  : — 

Value  of  the  town  at  this  valuation  is  ;^i022,  besides  the 
Parsonage  and  Mr.  Hall's  manor,  which  are  to  be  added. 

The  rate  aforesaid  is  \d.  in  the  £,  which  comes  unto  altogether 
£,1.  13J.  bd.  ob.  qr. 

i  s.  d. 
at  \d.  in  the  £,  it  comes  unto  311  4. 
z.x\d.  in  the  2  »  »  »  i  I5  8. 
at  \d.  m  the  £,  „       „         „         17  10. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  a  Mr.  Hall,  not  a  Jenney, 
was  then  rated  for  the  manor.  Sir  Arthur  Jenney 
had   died   in    1667,   leaving   widowed   his   fourth   wife, 


OBOLI  AND  QUADRANTES  145 

whose  maiden  name  had  been  Hall,  It  will  be  noticed 
too,  that  at  that  time  Mr.  Hall  occupied  "  the  Park 
House  Farm." 

Sir  Daniel  Harvey  then  lord  of  Leiston  manor,  was 
the  person  referred  to  by  John  Evelyn,  who  in  June 
1666  wrote  in  his  Diary:  "Came  Sir  Dan  Harvey  from 
the  generall,  and  related  the  dreadfull  encounter,  on 
which  His  Majesty  commanded  me  to  dispatch  an  extra- 
ordinary physitian  and  more  chirugeons."  This  was 
the  great  four  days'  battle  with  the  Dutch  fleet,  when 
the  event  was  "  rather  deliverance  than  triumph,"  in  the 
Straits  of  Dover. 

The  four  columns  of  figures  in  the  rate  account  wear 
an  odd  appearance,  shillings^  pence^  oboliy  and  quadrantes. 
As  late  as  1707,  I  find  the  accounts  of  rates  drawn  in 
this  fashion,  oboli  and  quadrantes  associated  with  Arabic 
numerals.  After  1707,  fractional  parts  of  a  penny  are 
written  half  pence  and  farthings,  in  the  way  we  are 
now  accustomed  to. 

We  find  that  in  1672,  the  overseers  paid  Francis 
Connop  £1.  ^s.  "  for  setting  Robert  Thompson's  bones," 
— had  he  broken  many  .? — and  18  pecks  of  rye  were 
given  to  Thompson.  Rye  seems  to  have  been  largely 
grown,  rye  bread  is  good  for  food,  and  rye  straw  the 
best  for  thatching.  There  had  been  so  much  rye  and  so 
much  buckwheat  too  produced  in  1627  and  1634,  that 
the  farmers  about  Woodbridge  petitioned  for  leave  to 
export  both  grains. 

At  the  Archdeacon's  visitation  (known  as  the 
"  Generals  ")  of  1673,  at  which  John  Hacket  attended, 
much  fault  was  found  with  the  repair  of  both  the  chancel 
and  the  body  of  the  church.  It  was  required  to  "  repaire 
the  roofe  of  the  chancell ;  to  playster  and  white  the 
same ;  to  repaire  the  seates  in  chancell ;  to  provide  a 

L 


146  CUSTOMS  OP  TITHING 

white  cloth  for  the  communion  table  ;  to  mende  the 
butteries  (buttresses)  about  the  church  ;  to  destroyc  the 
Ivy  about  the  church  steeple ;  to  lyne  the  pulpit  and 
reading  deske;  to  mende  the  seates  about  the  churche;  to 
mende  the  chancell  doore ;  to  remove  the  rubbish  out  of  the 
church  yardc.    These  to  be  certified  at  the  next  Generals." 

At  the  Generals  in  1674,  Hacket  appeared,  but  John 
Fenn  and  Robert  Usher  the  churchwardens  were  ex- 
communicated for  non-appearance.  The  court  required 
that  these  things  among  others  should  be  done :  "  to 
provide  a  hoode  ^ ;  to  repaire  the  chancell  in  ye  thatch- 
ing ;  to  white  the  same  where  it  is  decayed  ;  to  provide 
locks  and  keys  for  the  great  church  chest ;  to  white  the 
south  ile  of  the  church." 

In  that  year  1674,  an  agreement  was  made  between 
John  Hacket  the  Rector,  and  his  parishoners,  that  the 
customs  should  be  settled  as  under : 

"  For  every  acre  of  mowing  meadow  being  made  into  hay  or 
mowen,  ^d. 

For  the  lactage  of  every  cowe  by  the  yeare,  2d. 

For  every  gast  (barren)  beast,  and  every  yearling  bud  (calf),  and 
foal  falling,  id. 

For  every  gast  cow  giving  milk  yearly,  2d. 

For  calves  and  lambes  under  seven,  id.  Then  to  have  a  tenth 
calf  or  lamb,  id. 

Every  tenth  or  seventh  pig. 

For  scumming  (roughly  mowing)  of  pasture  grounds,  2d.  yearly. 

If  any  crop  of  turnips  shall  be  drawn  to  sell  or  to  feed  fat 
cattle,  tithe  in  kind  ;  but  if  spent  only  in  feeding  milch  cows, 
nothing." 

This  very  early  mention  of  turnip  culture  as  a  farm 
crop  is  noteworthy.  It  has  been  said  by  good  authority, 
that  the  root  was  first  used  for  winter  sheep  feed,  ten 
years  later. 

*  Now,  I  suppose  graduate  clergy  themselves  supply  the  hoods 
proper  to  their  degree  and  University ;  and  Literates  their  fancy 
tippets. 


ATTENDING  THE   GENERALS  147 

We  have  the  names  of  the  parishioners  who  were 
assessed  for  hearth  tax  in  1674.  The  largest  payers 
were  William  Mitchells  for  thirteen  hearths,  a  "  Mr. 
Tompson  "  for  ten  hearths  ;  Thomas  Ingham  had  four, 
Gabriel  Ingham  five,  and  John  Fenn  only  three.  In 
which  houses  these  persons  lived,  we  have  no  means  now 
of  ascertaining. 

In  1675,  for  a  poor  funeral,  a  cheerful  charge  was 
made  "  for  beer,  cakes,  and  a  winding  sheet,  ^s." 

That  year,  both  Racket  and  his  churchwardens  were 
again  admonished  ;  the  ivy  about  the  steeple  was  to  be 
forthwith  cut ;  the  Bible  had  two  or  three  leaves  loose  ; 
the  register  book  was  to  be  kept  in  the  church  chest ; 
the  chancel  thatch  was  exceedingly  decayed,  in  so  much 
that  it  lay  open  to  the  weather  in  a  great  part  thereof, 
and  the  vermin  thereby  got  in  and  very  much  "  annoyed 
the  church  and  chancel " ;  and  the  walls  thereof  were 
exceeding  green  and  foul  ;  the  seats  were  decayed  ;  the 
windows  were  decayed  ;  there  was  a  linen  communion 
cloth,  but,  it  was  added,  Mr.  Hackett  kept  it  from  the 
churchwardens. 

Racket  did  not  attend  the  Generals  in  1676.  The 
monitions  of  the  year  before  had  not  been  obeyed  yet ; 
they  were  now  repeated  with  additions,  among  which  was 
an  order  to  "  cleere  ye  churchyard  of  bryers,  brakes, 
and  thornes,  and  to  certifie  the  Court  after  Christmas." 

In  1677,  a  rate  was  made  at  Theberton,  under  an 
Act  of  Parliament,  for  the  building  of  thirty  ships  of  war 
for  the  defence  and  honour  of  His  Majesty  and  his 
kingdom.  In  that  year  too,  a  fee  was  paid  to  Mr. 
Bedingfeild  for  advice  about  a  pauper,  "  Mr.  Beding- 
feild's  Worship's  "  home  was  at  Benhall. 

On  the  9th  of  October  1677,  two  men  were  chosen 
for  constables,  "at  Ris  Matis  Courte  Leete  kept  for  the 

L   2 


148         THE  VIEW  OF  FRANK  PLEDGE 

Soake  of  Laiston  for  the  yeare  to  end  at  St.  Michael 
1678."  We  have  seen  that  a  yearly  Court  Leet  had 
been  held  by  the  Abbots  as  lords  of  the  Soke  ;  but 
these  old  English  tribunals  date  back  to  ages  before 
abbots  or  abbey.  Another  name  of  the  same  ancient 
Court  was  the  "  View  of  Frank  Pledge " ;  it  being 
its  province  to  view  the  Frank  Pledges,  that  is  the 
freemen  of  a  Liberty,  who  under  the  Laws  of  Alfred 
the  Great  were  pledges  for  each  other's  behaviour. 
From  the  parish  of  Theberton,  a  "  soake  fee  "  has  been 
paid  down  to  quite  recent  times.  It  ceased  however 
before  living  memory  ;  the  present  steward  of  Leiston 
manor  knows  nothing  about  it. 

In  1666,  an  Act  had  been  passed  which,  with  a  view 
to  encourage  the  manufacture  of  woollen,  enacted  that 
all  dead  bodies  should  be  wrapped  in  woollen  only ;  and 
by  a  later  Act  of  1678,  the  clergy  were  required  to  enter 
in  the  register  the  receipt  by  them  of  affidavits  that  the 
law  had  been  complied  with. 

The  first  entry  we  find  under  the  latter  Act  is  as 
follows : — For  the  year  1678  :  "  John  ffenne  wheele- 
wright  was  buryed  24  Octobris  in  woollen  in  Theberton 
Churchyard.  Jane  Thompson  widdow,  and  Margaret 
the  wife  of  Henrie  Bruce  being  both  of  the  Parish  of 
Theberton,  on  the  29th  day  of  October,  made  affidavitt 
thereof  before  Thomas  Eliot  Esquire  Justice  of  Peace 
for  Suff,  two  witnesses  being  then  present,  which  by  the 
said  Justice  was  then  accordingly  certified." 

John  Fenn  seems  to  have  been  well  respected  in 
Theberton,  having  served  all  the  parish  offices  :  church- 
warden, overseer,  surveyor,  and  fen  reeve  ;  he  was  buried 
by  the  great  porch  door  of  the  church,  where,  over  his 
brick  tomb  a  flat  covering  stone  bears  this  quaint 
inscription : — 


THE   "STONE  TO  SITT  UPON"  149 

"  HERE  IS  A  STONE  TO  SITT  VPON 
VNDER  WHICH  LIES  IN  HOPES  TO  RISE 
TO  YE  DAY  OF  BLISSE  AND  HAPPINESSE 
HONEST  JOHN  FENN  THE  SONN 
OF  WILLIAM  FENN  CLARKE  AND 
LATE  RECTOR  OF  THIS  PARISH 
BEING  TURNED  OUT  OF  THIS 
LIVEING  AND  SEQVESTRED  FOR 
HIS  LOYALTY  TO  THE  LATE 
KING  CHARLES  THE  FIRST 
HEE  DEPARTED  THIS  LIFE  THE 
22  DAY  OF  OCTOBER  ANNO  DOM. 
1678." 

When  we  had  fair  congregations  at  Theberton,  one 
might,  any  Sunday,  see  men  sitting  upon  the  stone, 
before  the  afternoon  service. 

One  wonders  who  composed  the  inscription — perhaps 
John  Fenn  himself  in  his  lifetime — a  loyal  son  desirous 
of  clearing  his  father's  memory. 

Rates  were  made  in  1680,  for  "ye  disbanding  the 
Army," — that  army  which,  three  years  before,  had  been 
raised  on  pretence  of  war  with  our  contemptible  King's 
secret  patron,  Louis  XIV.  of  France. 

The  overseers  had,  in  168 1,  to  pay  the  widow  Hansell 
IS.  6d.  a  week  for  keeping  the  "  Moather  London," 
elsewhere  called  "  London's  girle."  Suffolk  folk  still 
call  a  girl  a  "  mawther." 

By  an  inventory  of  "  goods  wich  weare  the  widow 
Tompson's" — Mrs.  Tompson  having  died  indebted 
to  the  parish — we  gain  a  peep  into  a  poor  Theberton 
cottage  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

"A  Invtory  of  the  goods  wich  weare  the  widow  Tompson's  who 
departed  this  life  the  15  day  of  June,  Ano  Dominij  1681." 

l.s.    d. 
Imprimis    one   bed  and  bedsteds    mat  and  line  ten 

bousters  3  pilowes  and  a  Couvlet  and  a  blanckett  .        i   16    6 

Ite  one  cubert  and  a  keepe 060 

Ite  fouer  tabels  and  2  formes o  10    6 

Ite  fouer  befott  stewls 020 


150  CONTENTS  OF  A  XVIIth  CENTURY  COTTAGE 

£    s.    d. 

Ite  3  Chayrs  and  3  cushens  and  2  other  stewls  ....  018 
Ite  4  peauter  dishes  3  sausers  and  2  poringers  one 

Candilstick  and  a  saltsiler 029 

Ite  Scales  and  waights o     i     6 

Ite  2  Citels  4  skilets  ^  2  Brasen  candelsticks  and  a  fring 

pan  and  a  warming  pan  and  a  laten  dripping  pan  -  o  12    4 

Ite  2  larne  pots  poot  hoocks  and  leds  (lids) o  10    6 

Ite  a  pair  of  cobandoms  and  a  gridiom  and  a  fire  pan 

and  tongs  and  a  pesell  and  a  ould  Chafing  Dish 

and  2  hacks  a  smelkost  a  box  iron o    3  10 

Ite  3  treving  platers  and  11  dishes  and  one  dusen  of 

trenchers o     1     2 

Ite  2  Earthing  pans  and  a  earthing  sauser 004 

Ite  2  Cuppes  and  a  tunell  (funnel) 002 

Ite  one  Chist  and  a  Cofer  and  a  desk  and  trunck  and 

2  ould  boxes 070 

Ite  one  spise  boxe  and  a  pesell  and  morter 007 

Ite  for  seurall  Boocks 020 

Ite  2  wescots  2  petcots  and  a  hatte 090 

Ite  4  napckins  one  bord  cloth        034 

Ite  for  3  shetts  and  4  pilowbers o  17    o 

Ite  for  2  saupans 022 

Ite  for  ij  neck  hanckirs 060 

Ite  fouer  piners  with  the  rest  of  hir  wearing  lining    .   .  040 

Ite  one  scarfe  and  3  hoods 030 

Ite  for  3  ould  Cors  sheets  one  shifning  2  pilowbers   .   .  040 

Ite  one  loocking  glase 003 

Ite  one  bed  more  bedsteds  and  line on     o 

Ite  2  ould  Gofers  and  one  ould  desk 016 

Ite  one  Courlett  belong  to  this  bed 020 

Sum  of  Totis  £t  ii     1 

Thes  things  weare  prised  by  Thomas  Belward  and  Thomas 
Weller. 

How  the  "  sum  of  totis  "  was  dealt  with  we  have 
no  record,  perhaps  nought  remained  after  reimbursing 
the  parish.  In  another  account,  a  surplus  was  applied 
in  "  redeeming  a  poore  townesman  out  of  prison." 

The  accounts  that  year  were  allowed  by  Justices 
John  Bedingfeild  and  Edmund  Bohun. 

Edmund   Bohun  of  Westhall  Hall  is  an  interesting 

^  Small  kettles  or  boilers. 


EDMUND  BOHUN   OF  WESTHALL        151 

study.  "Bred  a  dissenter  from  the  religion,"  which 
was  established  in  the  Church  of  England  ;  he  grew  to 
be  a  royalist  of  royalists,  a  church-man  of  church-men. 
The  Bohuns  were  an  old  family,  but  Edmund's  fortune 
did  not  match  his  birth.  An  ambitious,  honest,  clever, 
contentious  man ;  sometimes  a  magistrate  delivering 
charges  at  quarter  sessions  ;  twice  if  not  thrice,  left  out 
of  the  commission  ;  a  treasurer  for  maimed  soldiers ;  a 
learned  and  rather  voluminous  author ;  licenser  of  the 
press ;  persecuted  by  political  enemies ;  brought  to  the 
bar  of  the  House  of  Commons ;  a  friend,  then  not  a 
friend,  of  the  non-juring  Archbishop  Bancroft  who  was 
born  and  died  in  the  near  parish  of  Fressingfield.  His 
life  passed  in  eventful  times  ;  and  in  1699  he  died, 
aged  56,  "the  upright  and  free  spoken,  but  persecuted 
and  unfortunate.  Chief  Justice"  of  South  Caro- 
lina. 

To  his  diary,  edited  with  accurate  notes,  by  the  late 
Mr.  Rix  of  Beccles,  I  am  much  indebted.  In  May 
1677,  he  jots  down,  "  I  went  to  our  nearest  gaol — at 
Blythborough — to  give  bail  for  Mr.  John  Hacket, 
a  clergyman  long  and  wretchedly  oppressed  "  ;  and  the 
following  month  he  wrote,  "  with  some  astonishment,  I 
have  seen  and  watched  the  horrible  and  base  conduct  of 
G.  E.  towards  Mr.  John  Hacket  clerk."  Who  G.  E. 
was  we  do  not  know.  Probably  John  Hacket  was  our 
parson  of  Theberton.  If  so,  why  he  was  in  prison 
we  have  now  no  means  of  ascertaining.  There  is 
ground  for  surmise  that  he  was  impecunious,  and 
he  certainly  was  engaged  in  litigation.  The  1675 
parish  accounts  state  that  the  churchwardens  paid  "  for 
ten  journeys,  to  Yoxford  court  and  Halesworth,  about 
Mr.  Hackett's  suits,  &c.,  14$".";  and  again  in  1683,  we 
find :  "  Paid  to  discharge  the  charges  of  suit  commenced 


152  LABOURERS'  WAGES  IN  1682 

by  John  Racket  against  severall  of  the  parishioners 
£2.  15^.  ody 

But  even  were  he  by  his  own  fault  wretchedly 
oppressed,  yet,  if  he  served  in  that  good  fight,  the  battle 
of  Sole  Bay,  we  surely  may  take  pride  in  our  one 
man-of-war  parson  of  Theberton. 

Having  mentioned  for  earlier  times,  the  wages  of 
servants  in  husbandry,  it  may  be  useful,  for  purpose 
of  comparison,  to  state  them  for  the  time  now  under 
consideration. 

Sir  John  Cullum  tells  us  what  the  Bury  quarter  sessions 
(acting  under  a  statute  of  Elizabeth)  settled  in  West 
Suffolk  for  1682,  Wages  for  East  Suffolk  were  no  doubt 
much  the  same. 

The  West  Suffolk  wages  were  as  follows: — 

By  the  year: — 

I  s.    d 

A  bailiff  in  husbandry 600 

A  chief  husbandman  or  carter 500 

A    second  hind  or    husbandman  a  common  servant 

above  18 3  10    o 

A  fourth  under  18 2  10    o 

A  dairymaid  or  cook 2  10    o 

The  best  hired  servant  with  meat  and  drink  for  harvest  120 

An  ordinary  harvest  man • 180 

Wages  by  the  day  : — 

A  man  hay  maker  with  meat  and  drink 5 

A  woman  hay  maker 3 

A  man  reaper  in  harvest 10 

A  woman  reaper 6 

A  common  labourer  at  other  times  : — 

In  summer 6 

In  winter 5 

Women  and  such  persons  weeders 3 

Without  meat  and  drink  their  wages  were  doubled. 

In  our  parish  accounts,  an  ordinary  annual  charge  is 
for  "  Bill  indented."  Bills  indented  were  copies  of  the 
register  for  a  year  past,  handed  in  at  the  "Generals." 


THE   "PARITER"  153 

Another  item  occurring  regularly  is  Christmas  box  for 
the  "  pariter " — apparitor.  In  the  days  of  power  of 
Courts-Christian,  apparitors — "so  called  because  their 
duty  was  to  summon  persons  to  appear,"  their  older 
title  having  been  sompnours  or  summoners — had  been 
substantial  nuisances  ;  they  were  now  little  better  than 
shadows,  seldom  becoming  visible,  unless  in  the  sun  of 
Christmas  boxes. 


CHAPTER  XII 

The  exact  date  of  Racket's  death  I  do  not  know; 
as  in  our  register  there  is  no  entry  of  his  burial,  I 
presume  that  he  did  not  die  at  Theberton  ;  it  may  have 
been  at  sea ;  I  hope  not  in  the  gaol  at  Blythburgh. 

In  1683,  came  his  successor  Robert  Witchingham  or 
Wychingham,  presented  to  the  benefice  by  the  King. 

The  year  after,  we  see  that  the  new  rector  attended 
the  "  Generals  ;  "  when  the  Court,  finding  that  its  former 
monitions  had  not  been  effective,  ordered  that  "the 
wholes  in  the  roofe  of  the  chancell "  be  stopped  ;  a  new 
"  cushing  board  "  for  the  pulpit  be  provided  ;  that  a  hood 
be  provided  ;  that  the  pulpit  and  reading  desk  be  lined  ; 
that  a  green  cloth  be  provided  for  the  communion  table  ; 
and  that  the  churchyard  be  fenced. 

And  two  years  after  that,  the  churchwardens  were 
further  admonished  to  get  a  new  cushion  for  the 
pulpit ;  and  to  "  stopp  the  hole  out  of  the  steeple 
into  the  church,  to  keepe  the  doves  from  annoying 
the  church."! 

*  We  read  in  the  third  Homily  of  the  second  Book,  published  at 
the  accession  of  Elizabeth  "  On  the  repairing  and  keeping  clean 
of  Churches,"  that  "  Churches  were  formerly  defiled  with  sinful 
and  superstitious  filthiness,  but  though  they  had  been  scoured 
and  swept  clean  from  that,  they  were  then  defiled  with  rain  and 
weather,  with  dung  of  doves  and  owls,  stares,  and  choughs,  and 
other  filthiness,  as  it  was  foul  and  lamentable  to  behold." 

154 


REPAIRS  TO  THE   CHURCH  155 

Wychingham  and  the  churchwardens  were  evidently  in 
the  mind  to  be  obedient.  The  monitions  of  1684  had 
been  in  some  part  obeyed  already ;  some  needful  repairs 
had  been  done  ;  the  lift  gate,  by  which  the  churchyard 
was  then  entered,  had  been  put  to  rights  ;  the  pulpit  had 
been  heightened ;  and  both  pulpit  and  reading  desk 
been  bound  and  fringed.  Now,  the  poor  pulpit  of  good 
oak  was  coloured  ;  the  thatch  of  the  church  was  mended 
with  straw ;  and  the  whole  church  whitened  inside — this 
at  a  cost  of  £2.  5^.  od. ;  a  new  cushion  was  bought  for  the 
pulpit  at  ^i.  4.y.  od. ;  and  the  hole  was  stopped  up  in  the 
steeple. 

In  1686,  we  had  another  valuation  of  the  town  of 
Theberton.  The  whole  rental  value  was  set  at  ;^920. 
The  rectory  was  now  again  assessed  at  £(x^ ;  Edmund 
Jenney  had  regained  possession  of  the  manor,  and  for  it 
was  set  down  at  £(>  a  year ;  Thomas  Ingham  for 
Theberton  Hall  at  £60  per  annum.  The  Eastbridge 
inn  must  then  have  been  a  better  hostelry  than  the 
present  cottage,  for  its  value  was  set  down  at  ;^30  a 
year. 

For  1686  also,  we  find  a  deed  of  settlement  of  the 
Jenney  estate  in  Theberton  ;  in  which  it  is  stated  that 
Edmund  Jenney  was  then  seised  in  fee  of  the  manor  or 
lordship  of  Theberton,  and  of  the  capital  messuage, 
Theberton  Hall. 

In  1687,  the  overseers  had  to  pay,  on  behalf  of  a 
poor  person,  a  charge  for  "  hearthmoney."  This  tax, 
imposed  in  Charles  II.'s  time,  has  come  down  to 
our  day  in  the  unwelcome  form  of  Inhabited  House 
Duty. 

A  Justice  who  allowed  the  overseers'  rate  for  this 
year  was — Leman.  The  Christian  name  is  not  legible  in 
his  signature,  but  he  was  Thomas  Leman  of  Wenhaston 


156  FEES  FOR  CHIRURGIONING 

whom  Bohun  describes  in  his  diary.  Bohun  says  that  in 
1677  he  was  "a  young  man  of  very  great  promise,  and 
of  ample  patrimony,  fond  of  learning  and  already  imbued 
with  it,  sedate  and  courteous."  There  is  a  gracefully 
worded  inscription  to  his  memory  in  Wenhaston  Church. 

Our  churchyard  was  paled  round  in  1688,  at  a  total 
cost  of  £2.  I4J'.  6d. 

There  is  no  more  to  tell  about  our  parish  for  that 
year,  but  the  year  was  memorable  in  the  annals  of  the 
kingdom.  On  December  nth,  King  James  II.  fled; 
and  a  few  days  after,  our  Suffolk  diarist,  Bohun,  was 
present  in  London,  when  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  met, 
he  says,  "  with  such  transports  of  joy  as  I  have  never 
seen." 

In  1689,  the  Rectory  was  assessed  at  one-third  of  the 
valuation  of  three  years  before,  viz :  ^^20. 

That  year,  Sir  John  Playters  of  Sotterley  allowed  the 
overseers'  rate.  In  this  account,  occur  charges  for  beer 
and  cake  at  a  poor  woman's  funeral ;  two  racks  of  veal 
for  a  widow ;  and  ys.  lod.  to  one  Mr.  Thorne  "  for 
chirurgioning  a  man's  sore  legs."  Butchers  do  not  cut 
racks  of  veal  now  in  Suffolk,  but  they  are  common  joints 
still  in  Ireland. 

In  1690,  the  church  thatch  had  again  to  be  mended; 
a  "  hurry  "  of  thatch,  broaches  and  binding,  were  charged 
\\s.  A  "hurry"  is,  or  was,  a  local  expression  for  a 
small  load. 

In  1 69 1,  Thomas  Ingham  was  rated  for  the  Hall,  and 
paid  ^.  4d.  churchwarden's  rate. 

One  William  Raine  agreed,  that  year,  with  the 
parishioners  of  Theberton,  that  he  would  "  keep  Robert 
Heasell  with  meat  drinck  apparrell  lodgeing  and 
washing  a  yeare,"  at  30J.  f  The  Justices  who  signed 
that  year  were  "  J  Rous  "  and  "  Thomas  Neale."  The  first 


ASSESSMENT  FOR  POLL  TAX  157 

was  Sir  John  Rous  of  Henham,  a  neighbour  and  friend 
of  Bohun  the  diarist ;  and  the  second,  Thomas  Neale  of 
Bramfield,  the  same,  I  think,  who  dying  in  1701,  left 
money  to  build  Almshouses  still  occupied  in  that  village. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  trustees  of  the  old  Dissenting 
Chapel  founded  at  Lowestoft  in  1695. 

Thomas  Ingham  was  again,  in  1692,  rated  for  "Ye 
Hall."  When,  that  year,  a  warrant  was  issued  to  assess 
a  poll  tax,  there  was  in  it  this  direction:  "you  are  hereby 
further  required  to  give  notice  to  all  such  persons  as  are 
assessed  as  gentlemen  within  yr  town,  that  they  come 
before  some  of  the  Commissioners  before  the  Generall 
day  of  Appeals  be  out,  and  take  the  oathes  to  their 
present  Majesties  (William  and  Mary),  or  otherwise  they 
must  be  assessed  double  according  to  the  Act."  Thomas 
Ingham  was  not  too  proud  to  describe  himself  as 
"  malster." 

At  an  archdeacon's  visitation  in  1693,  Wychingham 
being  incumbent  of  Theberton,  we  learn  that,  of  church 
plate  there  was  a  silver  cup  and  patten,  with  a  pewter 
flagon  ;  that  the  church  then  wanted  thatching  ;  the  ivy 
to  be  cut ;  and  the  chancel  to  be  paved.  The  valuation 
of  the  town  was  stated  to  be  ;6^5oo  per  annum,  the 
Rectory  being  put  at  ;^30  per  annum  communibus  annis, 
one  year  with  another.  There  was  only  one  service  each 
Sunday,  so  it  seems  probable  that  Wychingham  had 
another  living,  and  had  his  residence  elsewhere.  He 
was,  later  at  all  events,  the  rector  also  of  Buxlow. 

That  whoever  lived  at  our  Rectory  was  not  given  to 
hospitality,  the  Archdeacon's  itinerary  bears  witness. 
On  the  fourth  day  of  his  visitation,  the  3rd.  of  August, 
1693,  his  earliest  visit  was  arranged  for  Knoddishall  ; 
thence  on  to  Aldringham,  Leiston,  Theberton,  Middleton 
Darsham,  Westleton,  Dunwich,  ending   with  Walbers- 


158        THE   ARCHDEACON'S  PRANDIUM 

wick.  A  good  day's  work !  The  hours  fixed  for 
Theberton  were  lo  o'clock  to  noon  ;  and  there  the 
dignitary  looked  for  his  dinner ;  for  opposite  that 
appointment,  had  been  written  "  ad  prandium " ;  but 
that  the  prandium  was  not  to  his  liking,  is  shown  by  a 
later  note  against  Theberton  "  not  to  dine  next  time." 

In  1694,  the  warrant  for  Poll  Tax  to  be  sent  up  from 
Theberton,  was  signed  "  C.  Blois,  Geo.  Fleetwood,  Jo. 
Rabett."  Sir  Charles  Blois  was  the  first  baronet,  and 
the  first  of  his  family  to  possess  Cockfield  Hall ;  Geo. 
Fleetwood  was  of  Chediston,  a  younger  son  of  the  Lord 
Deputy  of  Ireland  ;  and  John  Rabett  was,  I  take  it,  a 
member  of  an  ancient  family,  the  Rabetts  of  Bramfield. 

Towards  a  poor  rate  in  1695,  I  find  "  Hangman's 
Acre  "  was  assessed  at  an  obolus.  Where  this  ill-omened 
acre  was,  or  who  had  been  hanged  there,  is  not  known 
to  this  deponent. 

The  silver  coinage  having  been  robbed  by  clipping,  it 
became  necessary  in  1696,  to  provide  for  a  new  coinage 
by  Act  of  Parliament.  Under  that  Act  we  find  that 
Thos.  Wright  and  Thos.  Foulsham  had  to  assess  the 
parish  of  Theberton,  for  duties  "  for  making  good  the 
deficiency  of  cliped  money."  This  involved  a  statement 
of  the  taxed  windows  of  every  house  in  the  parish. 
Not  a  house,  it  appeared,  had  more  lights  than  the 
rectory,  which  had  twenty.  Of  seven  other  houses 
one,  that  of  Edmund  Jenney,  had  twenty  also ;  and  of 
six  remaining,  I  suppose  farm  houses,  one  had  nineteen, 
one  sixteen,  three  had  ten,  one  nine. 

We  get  a  rough  idea  of  the  state  of  education  in 
Theberton  from  a  list  made  that  year  of  men  who  took 
the  oath  to  King  William  III.  The  list  contains  fifty- 
five  names  of  male  inhabitants  of  the  parish  ;  twenty- 
nine  were  marksmen,  and  among  these  illiterates  were 
persons  holding  lands  valued  at  ;^43,  ;^24,  and  .^20  a  year. 


TYLER^S  GREEN  169 

On  Easter  Monday  1697,  the  townsmen  let  to  Richard 
Cheston  "Tylers  Green,"  The  page  of  the  account  is 
very  imperfect,  one  can  only  make  out  that  the  rent 
was  lOi'.,  and  that  the  said  Cheston  was  to  clear  the 
green  of  bushes. 

In  1698,  the  rateable  value  of  the  parish  including 
rectory  and  manor  was  £478.  los. 

Another  assessment  was  made  in  1702,  for  grants  to 
Her  Majesty  by  dues  and  subsidies  and  a  land  tax. 
The  point  of  interest  to  us  is  the  insight  it  gives  into 
the  domesticities  of  some  of  the  persons  of  our  story. 
We  find  that  parson  Wychingham  had  a  wife  and 
three  children  and  two  servants  ;  Edmund  Jenney 
gent,  a  wife  and  likewise  three  children,  with  three 
servants ;  Thomas  Ford,  I  think  a  farmer,  the  same ; 
John  Foulsham  the  same  family  and  number  of  servants 
as  the  rector ;  and  Thomas  Ingham  "  malster  "  had  a 
wife,  four  children  and  three  servants.  Personal  property 
was  then  assessed,  as  in  justice  it  should  be  still,  for  the 
tax  misleadingly  called  land  tax. 

I  find  a  curious  account  concerning  a  parish  pauper. 

The   goods   of    one   John    Haggudday   were   sold    for 

}C^.  ys.  \\d.\  with  which  the  overseers  credit  themselves, 

and   add   the   produce   of  forty   weeks'   collection  £,4. 

Against  this  are  set  these  items  of  charge  : 

£  s.  d. 

Paid  to  Dr.  Peake  for  cutting  of  John  Haggiidday's  leg  500 

To  John  Thome  for  healing  it 5     5     ° 

Item — for  removing  of  his  goods  twice 50 

Item — for  his  nurse 12    o 

Item — for  beere  for  his  doctor  and  the  tounesmen  at 

2  severall  times 5     ^ 

Item — for  a  quart  of  butter  for  him     ....•...:  10 

Item — bread  for  him 23 

Item — For  wooding  legg  for  him 7    o 

Item — His  half  years  rent 13    o 

The  balance  was  of  course  a  charge  upon  the  rates. 
John  Thorne  is  in  the  accounts  described  as  apothecary ; 


160  A  TAX  ON  BACHELORS 

but  in  the  manor  book,  I  find  a  devise  by  one  Philip 
Thorne  of  land  in  the  parish,  to  John  Thorne  of 
Theberton  "  chirurgion," 

When  Dutch  William  was  on  the  throne,  his  Parlia- 
ment spread  such  a  net  for  taxation,  that  no  man 
escaped  its  meshes.  We  all  have  to  be  born,  to  die, 
and  then  to  be  buried,  and  all  men  living  are  either 
bachelors,  or  married,  or  widowers.  An  ingenious  act 
swept  them  all  in.  A  tax  was  imposed  upon  bachelors 
and  widowers,  on  marriages  and  births  ;  dead  men  had 
to  pay  too,  for  there  was  a  tax  upon  burials.  The  rate 
was  on  a  sliding  scale  in  proportion  to  rank — from  is.  to 
;^I2  a  year  for  bachelors  and  widowers,  from  2s.  6d  to 
;^5o  on  marriages,  from  2s.  to  £$o  on  births,  and  one 
could  not  be  buried  under  is.  rising  to  ;^I2.  los.  In  the 
1705  accounts,  I  find  "For  duty  for  Brissingham's  burial 
4s.  6d."  The  tax  only  lasted  five  years.  When  women 
get  their  votes,  will  bachelors  and  widowers  have  to 
suffer  again  ? 

The  19th  of  January  1704  was  at  Theberton  and 
throughout  all  England,  observed,  in  obedience  to 
Queen  Anne's  proclamation,  as  a  day  of  public  fast  and 
humiliation,  for  "  the  terrible  and  dreadful  storms  of 
wind  "  of  26th  and  27th  of  November  1703,  when  it  was 
computed  that  eight  thousand  persons  perished.  The 
loss  in  London  was  said  to  have  been  more  serious  than 
that  caused  by  the  Great  Fire  of  1666.  "  Houses  were 
mostly  stripped  and  appeared  like  so  many  skeletons  ; 
the  lead  which  covered  one  hundred  churches,  and  many 
public  buildings,  was  rolled  up  and  hurled  in  prodigious 
quantities,  to  distances  almost  incredible."  In  Kent 
alone,  one  observer  numbered  seventeen  thousand  trees, 
all  torn  up  by  the  roots.  Most  of  our  men-of-war  were 
safe  at  sea ;  but  fifteen  or  sixteen  were  cast  away,  and 


THE   LAST  JENNEY   OF  THEBERTON     161 

more  than  two  thousand  seamen  perished.  A  squadron 
under  Rear  Admiral  Beaumont  was  then  lying  in  the 
Downs ;  the  flagship  and  several  other  ships  were  wrecked 
on  Goodwin  Sands.  Eddystone  Lighthouse  was  des- 
troyed ;  and  the  architect  Winstanley,  who  was  in  it, 
perished.  Fortunately  for  shipping  at  sea  off  our  East 
Coast  the  gale  was  from  the  westward  ;  the  effects  on 
the  opposite  coast  of  Holland  were  disastrous.  No  note 
remains  of  damage  done  at  Theberton. 

For  1706,  the  overseer's  rate  was  allowed  by  John 
Bence,  Esqre,  owner  from  1700  to  17 19,  of  the  Heven- 
ingham  Hall  of  that  day.  Mr.  Bence  served  in  his  time, 
as  member  for  Dunwich,  and  for  Ipswich. 

Now  was  severed  the  ancient  connection  of  the 
Jenneys  with  Theberton.  Edmund  Jenney  in  1704, 
had  sold  the  manor  and  the  Theberton  Hall  estate 
to  John  Fuller.  Mr.  Fuller  held  his  first  court  in  1705. 
In  the  record,  we  find  mention  of  two  place  names,  Lott 
fen,  and  Golibau  fen,  which  I  cannot  identify. 

The  Ingham  of  the  time  was  the  Thomas  Ingham 
whose  mural  monument  is  in  the  chancel  of  our  church. 
Like  others  of  his  family,  he  seems  to  have  been  an 
active  and  thriving  man.  He  was  steward  of  the  manor 
of  Theberton.  In  1703,  he  hired  the  rectorial  rights  of 
Aldringham.  He  was  also  bailiff  of  the  Leiston  Abbey 
estate,  in  which  capacity  his  accounts  show  that  he 
"paid  for  seven  dayes  workes  of  three  men  to  take 
down  part  of  the  tower  and  cleane  the  bricke."  Among 
our  church  plate  a  flagon  bears  the  words  "  ex  dono 
Thome  Ingham!'  The  mural  monument  is  thus  in- 
scribed : — 

"  In  the  church  yard,  near  this  place,  lye  interred  the 
bodies  of  Thomas  Ingham  gentleman  late  of  this  parish, 
and  Milicent  his  wife.     The  said  Thomas  departed  this 

M 


162  PARISH   APPRENTICES 

life  the  19th  day  of  March  1720,  in  the  seventieth  year 
of  his  age,  and  the  said  MiHcent  departed  this  life  the 
ninth  day  of  June  1708,  in  the  fifty-sixth  of  her  age." 
Upon  it  is  emblazoned  the  arms  of  Ingham,  impaled 
with  those  of  his  wife. 

There  are  three  stones  outside  the  south  aisle  door 
one  inscribed  "  Thomas  Ingham  and  Milicent  his  wife  " 
on  another  can  just  be  deciphered  "  William  Ingham  " 
of  the  third  the  inscription  is  weathered  away,  and  is  now 
undecipherable.     William   is   described   in    the   manor 
book  as  William  Ingham  of  Theberton  "gentleman." 

We  have  the  will  of  Thomas  Ingham.  He  seems  to 
have  lent  money  on  mortgage,  and  foreclosed  mortgages, 
and  picked  up  land  whenever  the  price  suited  him.  He 
devised  land  in  ten  parishes  besides  Theberton,  and 
bequeathed  nearly  ;{J^4000  in  legacies,  some  to  pay 
expenses  for  schools  and  for  universities  and  apprentice- 
ships for  his  grandchildren. 

In  1705,  clothing  was  purchased  by  the  overseers  for 
apprenticing  a  "town  boy."  Persons  to  whom  parish 
apprentices  were  allotted,  were  compellable  to  take 
them,  often  an  unwelcome  duty.  A  few  years  later, 
John  Foulsham  paid  £$  to  our  parish  rather  than  take 
an  apprentice.  Such  bargains  were  formally  recorded. 
For  example  this  from  the  town  book  of  an  adjoining 
parish — **  Whereas  the  parish  of  Middleton  with  Fordley 
have  allotted  Ann  Courtnell  as  an  apprentice  to  me,  I 
hereby  promise  to  pay  to  ye  overseer  of  the  Poor  of  ye 
said  parish  two  pounds  ten  shillings  per  year  for  four 
years,  at  four  quarterly  payments  yearly  and  every  year, 
the  said  parish  excuseing  me  an  apprentice,  till  the  said 
child  be  twenty  one  years  of  age — witness  my  hand, 
Charles  Ingham." 

Posts  and  pales  were,  as  they  are  now,  an  expensive 


"NOYFUL  POWELLS  AND  VERMYN"    163 

sort  of  fencing — boys  will  be  boys.  A  new  fence  of 
that  kind  round  the  churchyard,  cost  £8  in  1705. 

Foxes  were  at  this  time  common  in  our  district.  In 
1708,  was  paid  6s.  for  six  foxes'  heads,  and  such  pay- 
ments for  vermin  become  more  common  later. 

It  had  been  enacted  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  that 
two  honest  and  substantial  persons  in  each  parish,  should 
be  named  "  dystributors  of  the  provision  for  the  destruc- 
tyon  of  noyful  fowells  and  vermyn,"  and  they  were 
authorised  to  pay : 

For  three  crows,  choughs,  pies,  or  rooks  heads id. 

For  every  six  eggs  or  young  birds id. 

For  every  twelve  starlings  eggs  .     • id. 

For  the  heads  of  other  ravenous  byrds  and  vermyn  as  or 

hereafter  in  this  acte  mentioned  that  is  to  say  : — 
For  everye  head  of  martyn,  hawke,  furskett,  mold  kytte, 

busard,  schagge,  cormorant,  ryngtayle 2d. 

For  every  two  eggs  of  theirs id. 

For  everye  yron  (erne)  or  ospre^s  head ^d. 

For  the  head  of  every  woodwall,^  pye,  jay,  raven,  or  kytte  .  id. 

For  the  head  of  everye  byrd  which  is  called  the  kyngfisher  .  id. 
For  the  head  of  everye  bulfynche,  or  other  byrd  that  devour- 

ythe  the  blowthe  or  frute id. 

For  the  head  of  every  fox  or  gray  (badger) 12 d. 

And  for  the  head  of  everye  fytchene,  polcatte,  wesell,  stott, 

fayrebode,  or  wylde  catte id. 

For  the  head  of  everye  otter,  or  hedgehogg 2d. 

And,  for  the  heads  of  three  ratts,  or  twelve  myse id. 

A  small  payment  was  also  to  be  made  for  heads  of 
moles. 

All  owners  of  lands  and  tithes  were  chargeable  for 
these  payments  :  they  were  made  by  the  churchwardens 

^  The  editor  of  Be/Ps  Chaucer  says  that  the  "  woodewale  "  is  the 
oriole  or  golden  ousle,  a  bird  of  the  thrush  kind  ;  and  quotes  from 
the  ballad  of  Robin  Hood  and  Guy  of  Gisbome :  "  The  woodweele 
sang  and  wolde  not  cease,  sitting  upon  the  spraye."  Chaucer  him- 
self writes  of  "  Alpes  fynches  and  wodewales  " — we  call  bullfinches 
"  alpes "  in  Suffolk.  Could  it  have  been  such  a  harmless  bird  as 
this  which  was  doomed  to  destruction  as  a  "  noyful  fowell," 
associated  with  pies,  jays,  ravens,  and  kites  ? 

M   2 


164  CONCERNING  BRIEFS 

out  of  their  rate.  The  scale  appears  to  have  been 
punctiliously  adhered  to. 

In  1708,  an  abstract  of  an  Act  about  Briefs  was  paid 
for  by  the  parish.  What  we  of  Suffolk  now  know  as  a 
brief,  is  a  private  appeal  for  help,  to  compensate  some 
poor  person  for  a  disabling  loss.  These  statutory  briefs 
were  very  different.  Under  the  Act,  to  a  person  desirous 
of  raising  money,  called  the  undertaker,  a  brief  was 
issued  out  of  Chancery.  Copies  were  printed  by  the 
Queen's  printers.  The  undertaker  got  these  stamped, 
and  distributed  to  ministers  and  churchwardens. 
Ministers  read  the  brief  to  their  congregations  next 
before  the  sermon.  The  money  collected  was  handed 
with  the  briefs  to  the  undertaker,  who  had  to  render  an 
account  to  the  master  in  Chancery. 

How  expensive  this  cumbrous  machinery  was,  may  be 
seen  from  this  account  concerning  another  county : 

For  the  parish  church  of  Ravenstondale  : — 

£:  s.  d. 

Lodging  the  certificate  .   .   .  •    .  076 

Fiat  and  signing 19    4    2 

Letters  Patent 21  18    2 

Printing  and  paper 1600 

Teller  and  porter    .......  050 

Stamping 13  12     6 

Copy  of  the  brief 050 

Portage  to  and  from  the  stampers  050 

Matts  &c.  for  packing 040 

Portage  to  the  waggons    ....  040 
Carriage  to  the  undertakers  at 

Stafford in     6 

Postage  of  letters  and  certificate  .  048 

Clerk's  fees 220 


76  3  6 
Salary  for  9986  briefs  at  bd.  each  249  13  o 
Additional  salary  for  London    .   .        500 

ilio  16    6 


THE   MOLL  HOUSE  165 

Collected  on  9986  briefs    614  12    9 
Charges    330  16    6 


Clear  collection    283  16    3 


Collections      9986 
Blanks         503 


Total     10489 


It  is  evident  that  more  than  half  the  receipts  were 
devoured  by  unconscionable  fees  and  piled  up  expenses. 

A  house  called  the  Moll  House  was  assessed  for 
window  duty  in  1710.  If  it  exists,  the  house  is  known 
by  that  name  no  longer. 

In  171 2,  Robert  Wychingham  was  rated  for  twenty- 
nine  windows  in  his  rectory.  One  other  house  in  the 
parish  had  twenty-nine  also,  and  two  were  rated  for 
thirty.  That  year  the  church  was  paved  with  brick,  the 
bushes  were  stubbed  up  in  the  churchyard — they  con- 
stantly had  to  be  stubbed — and  a  new  *'  surpliss  "  was 
purchased  for  the  parson.  The  year  after,  the  church- 
wardens paid  £4.  10s.  for  the  Queen's  arms,  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  Commandments. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Queen  Anne's  reign  lasted  but  little  longer,  she  died 
in  1714  ;  and  then,  our  first  King  "  George,  in  pudding 
time  came  o'er  "  from  Hanover. 

That  year,  the  churchwardens'  account  charged  the 
parish  with  a  proclamation  to  alter  ye  service  book  on 
the  death  of  the  Princess  Sophia  6d.  ;  another  pro- 
clamation on  the  death  of  Queen  Anne  ^d. ;  and  three 
others  for  the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Princess  and  Royal 
Family,  and  for  the  clergy  6d.  each  ;  and  the  ringing  on 
ye  Thanksgiving,  2s. ;  and  a  proclamation  to  prevent 
profaneness. 

In  the  fifth  year  of  Queen  Anne's  reign,  an  Act  had 
been  passed  at  her  instance,  which  conferred  a  great 
boon  upon  the  Church  in  general,  and  on  our  Rectory  in 
particular. 

An  oppressive  burden  upon  benefices  had  been  the 
imposition  known  as  First  Fruits,  of  old  payable  to  the 
Pope,  and  since  the  Reformation  to  the  Crown.  Its 
origin  was  in  this  wise  :  By  ancient  feudal  law,  a  superior 
lord  was,  on  the  death  of  a  tenant-in-chivalry,  entitled  to 
"  primer  seisin  "  :  that  is  to  enter  into  seisin  or  possession 
of  the  tenant's  land,  and  to  enjoy  its  profits,  till  the  heir 
should,  within  a  year  and  a  day,  appear  to  claim  investi- 
ture. Analogously,  the  Popes  claiming  to  be  feudal 
lords    of   the    church,   had   extorted   in   that   usurped 

166 


PRIMITI^    OR   FIRST   FRUITS  167 

capacity  from  English  incumbents  a  year's  profits  of 
their  livings,  as  primiticB  or  First  Fruits.  Now,  by  this 
generous  Act  of  the  Queen,  poor  livings  under  ;^5o  a 
year  were  exempted  and  discharged  from  First  Fruits  ; 
the  bishops  were  to  inform  themselves,  by  the  oaths  of 
witnesses  or  other  lawful  means,  of  the  value  of  all 
livings  whereof  the  clear  proved  annual  value  did  not 
exceed  ;^5o,  and  were  to  certify  the  same  into  the 
exchequer. 

The  Archbishop  of  the  Province,  as  guardian  of  the 
Spiritualities  of  the  See  of  Norwich  then  vacant, 
appointed  commissioners  to  take  evidence.  Mr.  Wyching- 
ham  had  to  appear  before  them,  with  two  or  more 
credible  witnesses,  and  with  his  "terrars,"  books  of 
account,  and  other  needful  documents.  The  com- 
missioners gave  notice  that  voluntary  gifts  and  contribu- 
tions would  not  be  reckoned,  but  only  such  things  as 
were  perpetually  annexed  to  the  living,  and  which  an 
incumbent  could  legally  demand ;  and  on  the  other 
hand  that  taxes,  poor  rates,  repairs,  charge  of  curate, 
would  not  be  allowed.  In  the  result,  the  clear 
improved  yearly  value  of  the  living  of  Theberton  was 
returned  at  ;^3i.  13^".  4^.  ;  and  it  was  accordingly  dis- 
charged from  first  fruits. 

In  1715,  occurred  an  outbreak  of  smallpox,  and 
charges  for  poor  sufferers  swelled  the  overseers'  rate.  It 
was  a  deadly  disease  then,  when  not  even  such  protec- 
tion as  inoculation  could  afford,  was  available. 

The  rate  of  17 16  was  allowed  by  Thomas  Betts,  Esquire, 
of  Yoxford ;  he  was  son  of  the  "  Justice  Betts  "  often 
referred  to  in  our  parish  books,  who  possessed  property 
in  Theberton,  and  to  whose  memory  there  is  a  handsome 
monument  in  Yoxford  church.  He  came  of  a  junior 
branch  of  an  old  Suffolk  family — Betts  of  Wortham. 


168  CORONATION  FESTIVITY 

Miss  Hannah  Fuller,  upon  whom  the  manor  of 
Theberton  had  devolved,  held  her  first  Court  in  17 19. 

In  1720,  the  v;ay  from  Theberton  church  to  "  le 
common  de  Theberton "  is  mentioned  in  the  manor 
book. 

The  rate  of  172 1  was  allowed  by  Robert  Jenney,  Esquire, 
born  like  so  many  of  his  ancestors  in  Theberton,  but  then 
described  as  of  Leiston.  Of  Knoddishall  would  have 
been  his  proper  description. 

In  1722,  William  Bradley  held  his  first  Court  as  lord 
of  the  manor  ;  he  had  married  Hannah  Fuller.  In  the 
overseers'  bill  that  year,  an  entry  of  5j.  for  "  2  Duble 
Cats  "  puzzled  this  investigator,  till  at  last  it  dawned 
upon  him  that  "  2  duplicates  "  of  some  document,  must 
have  been  intended. 

In  1723,  Thomas  Carthew,  Esquire,  allowed  the  rate  ; 
he  was,  I  think,  owner  of  Benacre  Hall  and  Woodbridge 
Abbey,  but  seems  to  have  been  then  resident  at  Leiston. 

Robert  Wychingham  having  resigned  the  living,  his 
son  and  namesake  was  presented  and  instituted  to  succeed 
him  in  1724.  This  younger  Robert  Wychingham  had, 
in  1718  or  1 7 19,  married  Elizabeth  daughter  of  the 
Thomas  Ingham  before  mentioned,  who  left  her  land 
which  he  had  purchased  from  Daniel  Harvey  Esqr.  and 
a  legacy  of  ;^ioo. 

Foxes'  heads  were  still  brought  in,  and  paid  for, 
weasels  too,  and  "  poulcatts  "  and  "  roks  "  ;  one  item  of 
payment  was  for  sixty  five  "roks."  In  1725,  a  man 
who  had  had  his  tongue  cut  out  by  the  Turks  got  2s. 
from  the  parish ;  and,  at  the  bishop's  visitation  at 
Beccles  that  year,  the  churchwardens  paid  "  to  ye  Bishop 
gs.  to  ye  Minister  $s.  and  to  ye  Apparitor  is." 

In  1728,  the  parish  officers  "  spent  at  the  Coronation 
the  sum  of  one  guinnie."     Cannot  one  see  the  convivial 


LINEN  WEAVING  169 

old  fellows  in  those  "  bushes  of  vanity  "  their  wigs,  broad 
skirted  coats,  big-flapped  waistcoats,  their  stockings 
rolled  above  the  knee,  sitting  round  a  table  in  the  cosy- 
parlour  of  the  Lion,  having  hung  their  three-cornered 
hats  on  pegs  about  the  walls,  drinking  King  George's 
health,  with  all  the  more  gusto  that  they  had  not  to  pay 
for  the  liquor.  Wychingham  may  have  been  of  the  party  ; 
but  there  was  difference  betv/een  him  and  the  overseers 
— see  this  entry!in  their  account :  "  lost  by  ye  rate  which 
Mr.  Whittingham  (Wychingham)  paid  short  4^".  4^." 

A  poor  man's  goods  inventoried  that  year,  included 
three  spinning-wheels,  and  "  i  Lomb  "  meaning  I  think  a 
loom.  The  man's  settlement  was  in  Theberton,  but  he 
had  been  living  in  Norfolk  where  the  woollen  manu- 
facture had  its  principal  home.  He  may,  however,  have 
been  a  linen  weaver,  for  this  was  an  industry  of  our 
neighbourhood.  The  reputation  of  Halesworth  market 
ten  miles  from  Theberton,  was  in  1720,  due  chiefly  to 
"  its  plenty  of  linen  yarn  which  the  women  spun,  partly 
for  the  use  of  families  and  partly  for  sale,  which  being 
readily  bought  was  esteemed  a  good  commodity  for 
trade."  1 

In  1729,  a  new  church  window  was  paid  for,  £^.  ^s. ;  it 
was  no  doubt  inserted  in  one  of  the  ancient  openings. 

In  that  year's  overseers'  account,  charges  occur  which 
at  first  glance  do  not  explain  themselves  : — 

£  s.  d. 
"  For  a  lycence  and  marrying  Tho.  Scarlett    170 

Two  orders  and  his  examination 60 

Eating  and  drinking  at  my  house 186 

Expenses  and  carrying  away 46 

Going  to  ye  Justices  about  ye  orders     ...  10" 


^  We  find  a  man  described  as  a  "  linnen  weaver "  on  the  rolls  of 
the  Manor  of  Middleton  Chickering  in  1779.  In  another  inventory 
is  noted  a  powdering  tub. 


170  PARISH   REPUBLICS 

Scarlett,  not  belonging  to  Theberton,  was  persuaded 
to  wed  a  pauper  girl,  and  so  take  a  burden  off  the  parish  ; 
and  paupers  could  not  be  removed  without  a  justice's 
order.  The  parish  was  the  poor  man's  Providence ;  in 
this  case,  it  provided  Scarlett  with  a  wife ;  and  in 
another  we  find  it  paying  a  heavy  doctor's  bill 
— "  Doctor  Manning's  bill  for  ye  cure  of  John  Clarke 

Parishes  were  then  indeed  small  republics,  not  as 
now  mere  geographical  expressions ;  they  made  and 
levied  their  own  rates,  and  expended  their  own  monies, 
they  maintained  the  one  church  in  which  all  the  people 
worshipped,  they  relieved  their  own  poor  and  provided 
their  own  poor  house,  repaired  their  roads,  managed 
their  common  lands.  The  "  occupiers  "  served  each 
parish  office  in  its  turn  ;  of  churchwarden  place  of  most 
dignity,  of  overseer  the  "  father-in-law  of  the  parish,"  of 
surveyor,  of  constable,  and,  in  Theberton,  of  fen-reeve. 
The  duties  of  these  officers  were  more  important  than  is 
often  recognised,  and  were  wholly  unpaid.  But  they 
brought  humble  men  into  relations  with  social  superiors, 
the  bishop,  archdeacon,  parson  and  justices ;  trained  them 
in  independence  of  thought  and  of  action  ;  and  initiated 
them  into,  at  least  the  elements,  of  municipal  law  and  of 
public  business.  The  system  had  of  course  many  draw- 
backs, which  writers  have  held  up  to  ridicule  ;  but  I 
venture  to  think  that  in  these  bureaucratic  days  of 
Boards  and  paid  clerks  and  paid  inspectors,  we  do  not 
hear  enough  of  its  advantages. 

At  Easter  town  meetings,  discussion  would  perhaps 
wax  warm  on  occasion  ;  but,  adjourning  to  the  Lion, 
merry-go-downs  of  sparkling  ale  would  cool  heated 
tempers.  In  1731,  I  find  a  coomb  of  malt  was  "brewed 
against  Easter,"  costing  the  parish  los.  That  year 
perhaps,  a  good   object  justified  the  extravagance,  for 


DUTIES  OF  PARISH  CONSTABLES        171 

the  health  of  a  new  rector  had  to  be  properly 
honoured. 

Robert  Wychi'ngham  the  younger,  after  a  short 
incumbency,  had  died  in  1730,  and  Robert  Hacon  now 
reigned  in  his  stead,  having  become  also  vicar  of 
Westleton.  There  had  been  an  interregnum,  when  the 
"  Rev.  Mr.  Revett "  carried  on  the  duty,  and  the  living 
was  under  sequestration,  for  we  find  that  Mr.  Peter 
Ingham  paid  ys.  6d.  to  the  Chancellor  "in  1730,  for  ye 
sequestration  of  Theberton."  The  Chancellor  then  was 
Dr.  Tanner,  author  of  "Notitia  Monastica"  and  after- 
wards Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  who  presented  his  great 
collection  of  MSS. — how  obtained  no  one  knows — to 
the  Bodleian  Library. 

Mr.  Hacon  lost  no  time  before  beginning  at  his  own 
expense  alterations  to  his  rectorial  property.  What 
"  the  ancient  gate  house  belonging  to  the  parish  of 
Theberton  "  was  like,  I  cannot  tell,  but  he  converted  it 
into  a  threshing  floor,  and  also  enlarged  the  tithe  barn — 
this  in  his  first  year  of  office  ;  and,  the  next  year  he  put 
in  a  new  chancel  door,  and  beautified  and  adorned  his 
chancel  with  sentences  ;  also  he  laid  reed  on  part  of  the 
roof,  and  repaired  the  walls  of  the  chancel.  Both  the 
gatehouse  and  barn  had  been  mentioned  in  the  terrier 
of  1635,  which  has  been  already  referred  to. 

We  now  find  the  first  notice  of  a  "  warrant  to  watch 
and  ward,"  for  which  \s.  was  paid  to  the  constable. 
Blackstone  tells  us  that  men  refusing  to  keep  watch  by 
night  and  ward  by  day,  to  apprehend  robbers  and  rioters 
on  the  highways  when  ordered  by  the  constable,  might 
be  presented  at  Quarter  Sessions. 

The  presentment  of  constables  to  a  court  of  Quarter 
Sessions  in  1736,  shows  the  various  duties  of  such  officers 
succinctly : — "  The  poor  are  provided  for,  the  stocks  and 
whipping    post    in   good   repair,  hues  and   cries   duly 


172  PHABA  BOOTH'S  PENANCE 

pursued,  highways  and  bridges  in  repair,  warrants 
executed,  watch  and  ward  duly  kept,  and  all  things 
belonging  to  my  office  are  in  good  order,  to  the  best  of 
my  knowledge." 

We  have  also  an  item  of  charge  for  "  Marshall  money," 
properly  Marshalsea  money,  a  statutory  tax  then  levied 
upon  parishes  by  High  Constables  of  Hundreds,  for  relief 
of  the  poor  prisoners  in  the  Marshalsea.  Bridge  money 
was  also  among  the  constables'  charges. 

Much  has  been  made  of  parish  officers  expending 
public  money  on  private  festivities.  I  have  not  found  a 
trace  of  dishonest  expenditure  in  Theberton.  The 
brewing  of  a  coomb  of  malt  on  a  rare  occasion  has  been 
noticed  ;  only  one  other  case  I  think  of  like  extravagance 
appears  in  the  parish  accounts ;  it  was  then  for  a 
perambulation. 

In  1732,  a  sum  of  Ss.  was  paid  for  "  Phaba  Booth's 
pennance,"  and  also  a  payment  to  "the  Spiritual  Court, 
for  charges  and  citations  in  order  for  Penance  and  for 
sending  Penance." 

In  an  interesting  account  of  Wenhaston,  a  parish  a  few 
miles  from  Theberton,  we  find  the  schedule  of  a  like 
penance  suffered  in  this  same  year  by  one  Priscilla. 

I  quote  a  part  of  the  schedule  : 

"  The  said  Priscilla.  .  .  .  shall  be  present  in  the 
parish  church  of  Wenhaston  on  some  Sunday  before 
the  first  day  of  December,  standing  penitently  in  the 
middle  alley  before  the  minister's  seat  or  pulpit, 
clothed  in  a  white  sheet,  holding  a  white  rod  or 
wand  in  her  hand,  having  a  paper  pinned  upon  her 
breast  describing  her  fault  or  sin  ;  and  then  and 
there,  in  such  sort,  to  continue  during  the  whole 
time  of  divine  service  and  sermon  j  and  at  the  end 


APPOINTMENT  OP  A  PARISH  CLERK    175 

of  the  same,  before  the  congregation  is  dismissed 
and  the  blessing  given,  shall  upon  her  knees  make 
her  humble  confession,  repeating  every  word  after 
the  minister  as  followeth  "  : 
I  need  go  no  further. 

Poor  Phaba  Booth  !  Like  Priscilla's,  no  doubt,  was  the 
penance  she  underwent  at  Theberton.  How  cruel  and 
how  pitiful ;  heads  craning  from  each  pew  to  stare  at 
her  a  figure  of  degradation  in  her  white  sheet  trying  to 
hide  her  face  in  her  long  hair.  And  this  in  our  own 
familiar  church,  less  than  two  hundred  years  ago.  On  a 
like  occasion  in  another  parish,  it  is  upon  record  that  the 
cries  of  a  poor  penitent  girl  melted  the  hearts  of  the 
congregation,  and  raised  so  great  a  storm,  as  to  put  an 
end,  once  for  all,  to  such  inhuman  spectacles. 

In  1732,  I  find  the  earliest  notice  of  a  name  yet 
surviving  among  us — "  Thomas  Bailey  for  a  weesell  3^." 

In  1733,  a  new  parish  clerk  and  sexton  had  to  be 
appointed.  In  Roman  Catholic  times,  this  inferior 
minister  used  often  to  be  a  clerk  in  orders,  who  "  aquae- 
bajulus  "  as  he  was  called,  ministered  to  the  priest  with 
the  holy  water ;  and  still  he  was  an  official  of  parish 
consequence ;  useful,  and  capable  as  Doctor  Johnson 
said,  "  to  make  a  will,  or  write  a  letter  for  anybody," 
and  a  universal  father  to  give  away  the  brides,  and 
stand  godfather  to  new  born  bantlings. 

In  the  parish  books  I  find  this  memorandum  : 

"Aug.  ye  21,  1733,  Agreed  then  at  a  general 
Towne  Meeting,  holden  in  ye  parish  Church  of 
Theberton  (public  notice  being  first  given  thereof 
in  ye  said  Church  on  ye  Sunday  foregoing)  that 
Thomas  Pask,  Housholder  in  ye  said  parish,  shall 


174  PHABA  MARRIED 

succeed  John  Turner  deceased  in  ye  office  of  parish 
clerk  and  sexton,  till  cause  be  shewed  and  reason 
given  to  the  contrary,  and  that  he  the  said  Thomas 
Pask  shall  have  and  receive  ye  usual  fifees  belonging 
to  the  said  office  according  to  ye  custom  of  ye  said 
parish,  and  further  yt  he  the  said  Thomas  shall  be 
paid  twenty  shillings  per  annum  by  ye  church- 
warden of  ye  parish  aforesaid  for  ye  time  being. 


'  R.  Hacon,  Rector. 
John  Foulsom,  Church- 
warden, 
above  written,  I  Richard  Blomfeild, 

I  Overseer." 


Witness  our  hands 
the   day  and  year 


Mr.  Hacon  always  added  after  his  signature  a  very 
complicated  monogram. 

Poor  Pask,  or  Pasque,  got  later  into  low  water,  and 
had  to  accept  aid  from  the  parish. 

In  1735,  ;^22.  9^.  5^,  was  laid  out  for  new  lead  for  the 
roof  of  the  aisle  ;  and  a  year  after  we  have  it  that  the 
south  side  of  the  porch  was  "  new  cast." 

Phaba  Booth  was  married  in  1735,  and  Mr.  Hacon 
charged  the  parish  i8s.  for  tying  the  knot.  Neither  his 
infliction  of  the  penance,  nor  his  taking  a  fee,  even  from 
the  parish,  for  marrying  the  poor  girl,  inclines  one  to 
credit  this  cleric  with  the  grace  of  charity. 

Hacon  did  not  enjoy  his  living  long.  Upon  his 
death,  Benjamin  Taylor  was,  in  1737,  instituted  to 
Theberton  Rectory,  and  at  the  same  time  to  the 
vicarage  of  Darsham. 

A  family  of  the  name  of  Hacon,  maybe  the  parson's 
relations,  were  settled  in  our  neighbourhood :  a  James 
Hacon  in  1760,  Thomas  in  1764,  Philip  in  1766,  John 
in  1798,  Susan  in  1803,  are  registered  as  having  been 


INFLUENCE  OF  JUSTICES  175 

buried  at  Theberton.  In  Middleton  were  buried  an 
Elizabeth  Hacon  in  1766,  a  Thomas  Hacon  innholder 
in  1768,  a  William  Hacon  farmer  in  1774,  and  in  1775 
no  less  than  five  Hacons  who  died  probably  during  an 
outbreak  of  smallpox. 

In  1738  Charles  Long,  Esquire,  of  Hurts  Hall  signed 
an  act  for  removing  a  pauper  out  of  our  parish. 

"  Paid  for  varman  "  is  still  quite  a  common  entry.  A 
certain  Danbrook,  an  apparitor,  seems  to  have  trapped 
animal  as  well  as  human  vermin.  In  1739,  his  bag 
was  one  fox,  seven  polecats,  one  weasel.  Polecats  have 
not  survived  modern  game  preserving,  and  foxes  are 
nearly  extinct  now  in  this  district  of  Suffolk. 

In  1740,  the  overseers  journeyed  twice  to  Justice 
Purvis  for  an  order  to  remove  a  pauper.  The  Purvis 
family  sold  their  Darsham  estate  in  my  recollection. 

Justices  in  old  times  had  more  personal  power  than 
our  modern  magistrates  ;  for  instance  a  single  justice 
could,  on  his  own  view,  fine  any  person  for  using  pro- 
fane oaths,  or  being  drunk  in  an  alehouse,  and  commit 
him  to  gaol  in  default  of  payment,  or  order  him  to  be 
put  in  the  stocks  ;  and  could  impose  fines  on  persons 
not  attending  their  parish  church,  or  attending  a  bull 
baiting.  Much  of  the  comfort  of  a  neighbourhood 
depended  on  his  personal  disposition.  An  ignorant 
tyrannical  Justice  would  have  been  a  curse  to  any  parish  ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  such  a  parish  king  as  Black- 
stone  tells  of  "  maintaining  good  order  by  punishing  the 
dissolute  and  the  idle,  protecting  the  peaceable  and 
industrious,  and  above  all,  healing  petty  differences  and 
preventing  vexatious  prosecutions,"  would  have  been  a 
blessing  to  a  village. 

The  rector,  as  chairman  by  right  of  the  Easter  vestry 
of  1741,  signed  a  minute  that  persons  "convected"  of 


176  FUEL  FOR  THE  POOR 

wood  stealing,  or  fowl  stealing,  or  any  other  act  of  theft 
whatsoever  should  be  prosecuted  at  the  cost  of  the 
town. 

That  year,  the  churchwardens  gave  2d.  each  "  to  six 
men  who  had  been  taken  by  the  Spainyards,"  and  the 
next  year  \s.  "  to  ten  men  that  had  been  taken  by  ye 
Turks."     Plausible  liars  it  is  likely  every  one  of  them. 

A   poor  girl,    in    1742   had   a   gown,  two   shifts,  an 

apron,  and  a  pair  of  pattens  provided  for  her.     A  village 

damsel  of  to-day  would  turn  up  her  nose  at  pattens. 

This  probably  was  her  outfit  for  service.     A  paper  in 

the  parish  chest  shows  how  such  a  girl  could  be  relieved 

from  service,  by  order  of  a  magistrate : 

To  be  remembered  December  ye  16  1734.  John  Fulsham  of 
Theberton  master,  and  Priscilla  Kit  servant,  came  before  me 
desiring  they  might  be  discharged  from  each  other.  The  master 
complained  she  was  not  fit  for  his  service.  I  allowed  of  ye  cause 
and  do  discharge  ye  said  Priscilla  Kitt  from  his  said  service 

Robert  Jenney. 

Another  poor  girl  was  provided  with  a  "  stumitcher." 

In   1743,   "blocks"  were   carted  by  the  parish  from 

Tyler's   Green,   this   was  billet   wood   for   firing ;   also 

loads  of  whin  (furze),  heath  and  broom  were  provided 

for  poor  people.     A  yearly  gift  likewise  was  "  flags." 

In    1744,  for  example,  twenty  loads  of  "flaggs"   were 

carted  for  the  poor.     For  these,  groundage  6d.  per  load 

was  paid — I  take  it  to  the  lord  of  the  manor.    The  flags 

were  surface  parings  from  the  heath,  such  as  are  set  out 

for  commoners  now,  in  the  New  Forest.     We  find  that 

a  "  flagg  shodd  "  was  built  by  the  parish. 

Turf  also  was  distributed.     This  year  we  have  : — 

i  s.   d. 

To  John  Chapman  for  cutting  twenty  loads  of  Turf    i  10 

Turning  the  turf 3 

Carrying  the  turf  i^  days  to  the  poor 12 

Landing  the  turf  one  day's  work .  16 

No  groundage  seems  to  have  been  paid  for  turf.     The 


PEAT  FROM  THE  COMMON  FEN        177 

turf  or  peat  was  "  graved  "  (dug)  as  from  Irish  bogs  ;  a 
plantation  upon  the  Lower  Abbey  farm  is  now  known 
as  Tuffpits,  an  evident  corruption — according  with 
Suffolk  pronunciation — of  turf  pits.  Both  flags  and 
turf  came  from  the  commons  of  heather  and  fen,  then 
managed  by  fen  reeves  for  our  parish. 

In  1745,  6s.  4d.  was  laid  out  "for  stoping  the  burds 
out  of  the  church  " — perhaps  sparrows,  not  doves,  this 
time.  Sparrows  had  become  a  nuisance — they  make 
havoc  of  thatch — and  the  thatched  roof  of  the  church 
had  no  doubt  suffered.  In  three  successive  years,  sixty- 
six  dozen,  fifty-four  dozen,  and  eighty  dozen,  of  the 
mischievous  birds  were  paid  for  by  the  church- 
wardens. 

On  Coldfair  Green,  a  fair  under  a  franchise  of  the 
abbots  of  Leiston  used  to  be  held  in  cold  weather,  whence 
the  place  name ;  and  that  business  was  done  there  in  the 
1 8th  century,  is  shown  by  this  entry  in  the  overseers'  bill 
for  1 748  : — "  Laid  out  at  Colfayer  for  Hubbard  and  the 
girl  Turner  5^,  Sd."  On  the  Grange  farm  in  Theberton, 
is  a  field  called  the  market  field,  scene  probably  of  the 
ancient  market  held  under  a  grant  of  13 12  to  the  Abbey. 

Among  receipts  for  1748,  is  "rent  of  Winter's  Heath 
£1.  igs.,  and  for  timber  sold  £1.  iSs."  That  year  John 
Puttock  or  Putthawke  (buzzard)  was  churchwarden ; 
another  Theberton  name  was  Sparhawke  or  Sparrahawke. 

Beneath  the  Communion  Table  in  our  church  is  a  flat 

stone  inscribed : — 

The  Revnd.  Benjamin  Taylor 

Rector  of  this  parish 

died  June  19  1748 

aged  54  years 

On  the  North  side 

The  remains  of  EHzabeth 

his  wife  died  Jan.  9 

1747  aged  43 

Also  of  his  mother 

Aged  8 . 

N 


178  HERBS  FOR  PHYSIC 

To  Benjamin  Taylor  succeeded  James  Benet,  M.A., 
instituted  to  Theberton  in  1748,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  the  living  of  Aldborough. 

"To  gathering  herbs,  and  a  lb.  raisons  for  Edney's 
child"  was  an  item  of  charge  in  1749;  sad  to  say,  the 
herbs  and  raisins  failed  of  success;  the  next  entries 
are :  "  to  a  pint  of  brandy  and  winding  for  ye  child 
2s.  of  ^.,"  "  for  laying  her  forth  and  cakes  2s."  and  "  to 
Pask  for  burying  ye  child." 

There  is  a  reference,  that  year,  to  Yew-tree  house. 
A  hundred  years  later,  this  cottage  was  burned  down  ;  I 
remember  being  taken  as  a  small  child  to  see  the 
spectacle  of  its  burning. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

The  manor  book  of  Theberton  has  this  entry :  "  This 
book  was  thus  far  transcribed  from  the  old  book  in  the 
year  1750,  being  same  year  that  John  Ingham  gent 
purchased  this  manor  and  the  estate  thereto  belonging, 
of  William  Bradley  Esqre." 

John  Ingham  held  his  first  court  in  175 1. 

This  entry  for  1752  reminds  us  of  the  improvement 
effected  by  the  alteration  of  the  calendar — "  N.S.  (new 
style)  year  begins  i  Jan."  The  words  of  the  Act  by  which 
the  alteration  was  made  read  quaintly  now.  After  recit- 
ing **  that  the  legal  supputation  of  the  year  .  .  .  according 
to  which  the  year  beginneth  on  the  25  day  of  March, 
had  been  found  by  experience  to  be  attended  with 
divers  inconveniences,  it  was  enacted  that  the  said 
supputation  should  not  be  made  use  of  from  and  after 
the  last  day  of  December  175 1,  and  that  from  thence- 
forth the  first  day  of  January  every  year  should  be 
reckoned  the  first  day  of  the  year."  One  can  now 
hardly  realise  that  the  year  used  to  begin  on  March  25, 
so  that  New  Year's  Day  and  Lady  Day  were  the  same. 

At  the  Easter  meeting  in  1753,  it  was  agreed  that 
Elizabeth  the  daughter  of  William  Newson  should  be 
"cloathed  with  a  pair  of  shoes,  a  shift,  a  jacket,  and  a 

179  N    2 


180  DIPPING  FOR  LAMENESS 

petty  coat."   Happily  for  Elizabeth  summer  was  coming 
on. 

An  odd  minute  occurs  in  the  minute  book  for 
13  November  of  that  year  1753  : 
"  It  was  agreed  that  James  Goleby  the  overseer,  provide 
a  place  to  dip  Ann  Clark  in  order  to  recover  her  of  her 
lameness  ;  and  that  he  provide  her  with  such  necessaries 
as  are  needfull  during  the  time  of  diping  ;  and  that  he 
give  an  account  of  the  success  thereof  to  the  Parishioners 
as  soon  as  occasion  require." 

I  suppose  that  occasion  did  not  require,  for  there 
is  no  account  of  the  success  or  non-success  of  the 
"diping." 

In  August  1754,  it  was  agreed  that  an  "article" 
(presumably  a  lease)  be  made  to  Henry  Newson  the 
elder  and  Henry  Newson  the  younger,  for  Tyler's  Green, 
and  Winter's  Heath  with  the  green  near  thereto — which 
was,  I  think,  known  as  the  Little  Green — for  nine  years 
from  Michaelmas  then  next  at  a  rent  of  £^  a  year. 
And  in  the  following  December,  *'  that  a  load  of  top 
wood  be  cut  on  Tyler's  Green  for  the  widow  Randal." 

As  to  the  Common  Fen,  fen  reeves  were  elected  each 
year  to  manage  it,  just  as  were  other  parish  officers. 
Here  is  a  minute  of  April  21st,  1755  :  Agreed  "that 
notice  be  given  on  Sunday  next  for  the  commoners  to 
turn  (their  cattle)  into  the  Common  Fenn  at  eight  o'clock 
on  Monday  morning  next  .  .  .  the  poor  to  be  allowed 
flaggs  as  last  year."  Again  1757, "  that  we  turn  into  the 
common  ffen  the  30th  instant." 

One  other  entry  from  the  minute  book  is  too  charac- 
teristic to  be  omitted.  Observe  how  we  in  Suffolk 
conjugate  our  verbs,  and  the  vestry-like  turn  of  thought 
and  expression.  ..."  The  said  overseer  also  inform  the 


PURCHASE  OF  A  «  DOG  WIPE  "  181 

said  Parishioners  that  Robert  Lion  labourer  have  made 
complaint  for  relief;  but  we,  being  sensible  that  he  and 
his  wife  have  had  their  health  as  well  as  any  of  the  Poor, 
and  that  he  have  not  lost  a  days  work  by  illness  for  a 
year  past,  and  his  wages  being  equal  with  other  labourers, 
and  that  his  wife  has  no  other  illness  than  her  lying  in 
which  is  no  otherwise  than  common,  .  .  .  and  that  we 
do  adjudge  it  neither  charity  nor  reasonable  to  allow  him 
anything." 

That  it  is  the  custom  of  Theberton,  for  the  parish — 
not  the  rector — to  appoint  the  clerk  and  sexton,  is  proved 
by  the  election  already  mentioned  of  Thomas  Pask  in 
1733,  and  by  this  minute  of  the  town  meeting  held  at 
Easter,  1754 :  "Thomas  Pask  was  appointed  sexton  and 
dark  for  this  parish  in  the  room  of  his  father  late 
deceased  until  further  order  of  the  parish  " — signed  by 
three  principal  parishioners. 

That  year,  a  "  dog  wipe  "  was  purchased  at  the  price 
of  4</.,  perhaps  for  Thomas  Pask  to  use,  or  possibly  the 
duty  of  whipping  stray  dogs  out  of  the  church  may  have 
been  put  upon  the  "  parriter." 

A  new  rector  again  in  1756,  when  John  Whittington, 
A.M.,  was  instituted  to  the  rectory  of  Theberton  upon 
the  death  of  James  Benet,  and  contemporaneously  to  the 
cures  of  Sudbourn  and  Orford. 

These  were  the  halcyon  days  of  clerical  apathy  and 
do-nothingness,  when,  moreover,  clergymen  were  either 
pluralists  or  very  poor.  This  pluralist  rector  evidently 
lived  elsewhere ;  and  his  curate  at  Theberton  had  to 
make  both  ends  meet,  on  a  pittance  which  could  not 
enable  him  to  appear  like  a  gentleman,  or  to  afford 
charity  to  the  poor  and  needy. 

Once  maybe,  there  had  been  some  excuse  for  the 
bad  system  of  pluralities.     In  the  fifteen  hundreds  there 


182  PLURALIST  PARSONS 

was  a  sad  scarcity  of  clergy.  In  1560,  the  Bishop  of 
London  was  driven  to  ordain  "artificers,"  until  forbidden 
by  the  Archbishop  "  as  those  persons  had  not  behaved 
themselves  to  the  credit  of  the  Gospel "  ;  and  thirty  years 
later,  Convocation  advocated  the  system,  on  the  ground 
that  out  of  8800  and  more  benefices,  there  were  not  600 
which  were  sufficient  for  learned  men,  and  that  were 
they  all  sufficient,  not  a  third  of  that  number  of  men 
could  be  found  to  supply  them. 

But  it  worked  wrong  and  injustice.  The  land  of  each 
parish  was  subject  to  a  heavy  charge  for  tithe.  In  the  case 
of  a  rectory  the  entire  tithe,  or  of  a  vicarage  such  portion 
of  the  tithe  as  former  robbery  had  left,  was  due  to  provide 
a  resident  incumbent.  Could  it  be  right  for  that  provi- 
sion to  be  diverted  into  the  pocket  of  some  unsympathetic 
stranger  whose  only  interest  in  the  parish  was  the  income 
he  drew  from  it,  which  he  would  spend  elsewhere. 

The  system  happily  has  been  put  an  end  to.  It  was 
as  immoral,  dishonest,  and  harmful  to  the  interests  of 
religion,  as  the  old  conventual  appropriations. 

On  the  brown  paper  lining  to  the  back  cover  of  the 
volume  of  registers  from  1748  to  1782,  the  following 
strange  lines  have  been  written.  The  ink  is  much 
faded  and  some  words  have  been  inked  over  with  blacker 
ink.i 

"Theberton" 
viz. 
"Hie  quondam  vixit  curatus  quidam  pa[uper]  q[ui]  per  certos 
annos  (propterea  quod  Evangelium  predicavit,  ad  quod  comissus 
est  a  Steph[ano]  Weston  [Exoniense]  episc[opo]  apud  S". 
Michaelis  1734  &  1736)  neque  jent[aculumj  nee  prandium  nee 
caenam,  nisi  suis  impensis  per  totara  paroehiam  eomedit 

Orthodoxus 

*  Davy  has  a  version  of  it,  eopied,  he  says,  "  from  a  paper  inter 
cartas  Revd.  G.  Doughty  1810."  The  words  or  letters  in  square 
braekets  [    ]  are  suppUed  from  Davy's  version. 


THE  COMPLAINT  OF  "ORTHODOXUS"   183 

Vah  (Davy  has  Vale)  CEvum 

Quseris  an  Jussus  ?  OvSe  Tev  Non  equidem  N.B.  Quorum 
per  spatium  duorum  Rectoream  inhabitavit  domum  Pauperum  o 
Finistrarum  census  baud  parvos  taxatus  minas  prasterea  quinque 
atque  solidos  totidem  pro  inhabita[tione]  reddens  per  annum  Cui 
stipendium  ibi  minae  20  haud  decimas  decimarum." 

I  find  that  "  John  Taylor  curate "  signed  our  register 
for  1760,  so  he  was  probably  the  Rev.  Mr.  Taylor  who 
Davy  says  wrote  this  in  1762.  We  learn,  by  the  way, 
from  "  Orthodoxus "  that  the  benefice  of  Theberton 
was  worth  more  than  ;^200  a  year  in  the  time  of  his 
curacy. 

Our  parish  constable  must  have  wielded  a  gorgeous 
staff.     In  1758,  ys.  was  laid  out  for  adorning  it. 

Funerals  were  quite  festive  occasions ;  in  a  bill  of 
Thos.  Watling  a  charge  is  made  for  "  5  gallons  of 
beer  at  Ann  Hollis'  burial."  Poor  Ann,  in  her  lifetime, 
had  caused  expense  to  the  parish: — 

s.   d. 
"  For  things  Bout  for  Ann  Holey 

to  cloth  For  Five  shiffings     ....      50 

to  a  par  of  stocksons 2 

to  the  Dockters  Bleeden  of  har    .    .  6" 

Payment  is  acknowledged :  "  Receved  the  Hool 
Contents  of  This  Bill  By  me 

John  Willson." 

In  1759,  a  medical  man  named  Manning  practised  at 
Middleton,  and  attended  poor  folk  in  our  parish.  In  the 
parish  chest  is  a  "Theberton  town  bill"  of  his,  "for 
looking  after  John  Hurrard." 

s.  d. 

To  a  bleeding  and  a  blister  for  his  neck     i  o 
Journey  and  a  half  pint  mixture  against 

convulsions 3  o 

Box  of  nervous  pills i  6 


184  A  PARISH  DOCTOR'S  BILL 

s.  d. 

Glass  of  cordial  drops 6 

A  journey  and  a  vomit i  6 

Bleeding  him  twice 6 

A  small  glass  of  smelling  drops  for  his 

wife 4 

Poor  "goodmen"  and  "goodies"  could  not  allow  time 
for  the  treatment  of  those  best  of  physicians,  Dr.  Diet, 
Dr.  Quiet,  and  Dr.  Merriman  ;  and  parish  practitioners, 
one  suspects,  inclined  to  follow  the  practice  of  that 
medical  eccentric,  Dr.  I.  Lettsom  : — 

"  When  patients  come  to  I, 
I  physicks  bleeds  and  sweats  'em. 
Then  if  they  choose  to  die, 
What's  that  to  I, 
I  Letts  'em." 

The  rental  of  the  parish  was  assessed  at  ;^889  in 
1763.  That  year,  either  the  lead  roof  of  the  aisle,  or 
else  the  church  windows,  or  both,  needed  repair ;  for 
;^20.  14J,  \\\d.  was  paid  to  a  plumber — Threedkin 
Cable  by  name — with  13^'.  5</.  for  board,  and  %s.  gd. 
for  beer.  The  carpenter's  work  cost  £2.  iSj.  iid.; 
and  Mr.  Foulsham  got  "a  mattros  for  his  seat,"  paid 
for  out  of  the  rates. 

The  "clarjiman's"  dinners  at  the  "Generals"  each 
year  were  always  paid  for — from  2s.  to  3^. 

In  1766,  the  "dog  wipe"  had  perhaps  worn  out,  and 
other  means  became  needful  to  keep  curs  from  conse- 
crated places ;  we  find  a  bill  for  communion  rails 
£7.  gs.  8d.  The  ancient  rails  had  probably  been  pulled 
down  and  destroyed  during  Puritan  times.  Those  now 
supplied  were,  probably,  the  same  balusters  I  can 
remember,  set  quite  close  together  so  that  the  dogs 
could  not  get  through  to  the  Holy  Table.  The  rector 
contributed     a    part    of    the    cost — "Received     from 


REPAIRING  THE  TOMBS  185 

Mr.  Whittington   towards   communion   rails   last  year, 
£2.  2s."  is  an  entry  for  1767. 

The  parish  realised  £'^.  6s.  8d.  by  sale  of  trees  on 
Tyler's  Green. 

An  outlay  we  find  made  with  pious  regularity  is 
"  repairing  the  tombs  " — a  lesson  for  after  generations. 

Repairs  were  constantly  needed  in  the  church  and 
churchyard.  In  1767,  ;^io.  5^.  6d.  was  expended,  part 
of  it  for  whitening  the  church.  In  1769  again,  the 
churchyard  had  to  be  re-paled,  with  wood  brought 
from  Yoxford,  costing  £6.  ^s.  iid.  In  1772,  "brick- 
layers, mending  end  of  church"  earned  ;^io.  Ss.  ^d.  ; 
and  Thomas  and  Robert  Bailey — whose  descendants 
still  live  in  the  same  house  and  are  still  the  parish 
blacksmiths,  had  £1.  ^s.  6d.  for  mending  the  bells.  Next 
year,  thatching  came  to  ;^I2.  9^.  lod. 

In  those  days,  good  in  that  respect,  such  charges 
levied  by  a  legal  rate,  fell  equitably  upon  all.  Now, 
when  asked  for  a  voluntary  rate.  "  No ! "  grumbles 
Mr.  So-and-so,  "  Mr.  Somebody  else  won't  pay,  why 
should  I.?" 

During  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  not 
only  the  name  of  Bailey,  but  many  other  names  now 
familiar  in  this  and  the  adjacent  parishes,  appear  upon 
the  register,  e.£:,  Rouse,  Lumpkin,  Ford,  Todd,  Canham, 
Brown,  Block,  Free,  Gilbert,  Mayhew,  Marjoram, 
Shepherd,  King,  Paul,  Legget,  Folkard.  Naturally 
some  have  dropped  out — Ide,  Alp,  and  Goose,  among 
others. 

In  1754,  Mr.  John  Ingham  had  a  "  survey  or  particular  " 
made  and  written  in  a  book,  of  his  manor  and  estate  of 
Theberton  Hall.  The  book  refers  to  a  "  mapp  "  drawn 
on  parchment  now  sadly  mutilated.  In  the  margin  is 
a   rough  coloured   drawing   of    "the   east   prospect;   of 


186  THE  BEAR  WAY 

Theberton  Hall "  ;  it  represents  a  small  Tudor  house  of 
E  shape,  in  appearance  much  like  a  house  of  about 
the  same  period,  now  a  farm  house,  the  present  Leiston 
Hall. 

I  think  Mr.  Ingham  must  have  altered  the  house  ;  for 
into  the  fly-leaf  of  his  book  of  survey,  under  an  emblazon- 
ment of  his  arms,  I  find  pasted  another  rough  sketch  on 
paper,  which  shows  a  house  apparently  the  same 
building,  only  both  the  gables  and  the  attic  windows  are 
hidden  by  a  parapet,  and  the  red  brick  is  painted  white. 
A  porch  looking  like  a  front  door  appears  in  both 
drawings ;  but  as  the  parchment  drawing  is  entitled 
"  east  prospect,"  and  as  the  front  of  the  old  Hall,  in  fact, 
looked  down  the  avenue  ^  towards  the  south,  it  must  be,  if 
both  the  drawings  represent  the  same  house,  that  either 
it  had  two  fronts,  east  and  south,  and  two  front  doors, 
or  that  the  legend  "east  prospect"  is  wrong.  I  think 
the  last  alternative  is  probable,  for  to  the  artist  on 
parchment  no  error  is  too  bad  to  be  attributed ;  he 
gives  us  a  sketch  also  of  the  church,  obviously  from  a 
tracing,  but  he  must  have  used  the  back  of  the  tracing 
for  his  copy,  with  the  result  that  the  tower  appears 
at  the  east  end,  and  the  whole  picture  is  reversed. 

The  several  farms  are  described  by  the  survey  in 
detail.  First,  comes  the  Pike  Hill  now  the  Peak  Hill 
farm.  The  house  and  four  acres  of  land  then  abutted 
on  "  the  park  gates "  towards  the  east ;  which  is  of 
interest,  as  the  western  boundary  of  the  ancient  park  of 
Theberton  is  thus  indicated.  The  strange  place-name, 
"  Bear  Way,"  is  referred  to ;  and,  as  the  boundary 
between  the  parishes  of  Theberton  and  Kelsale  also 
divides  the  Hundreds  of  Blything  and  Hoxne,  the  line 

*  Not  many  of  the  old  elms  are  left.  They  used  to  be  crowded 
with  rooks'  nests. 


HALL  AND  PARK  HOUSE  187 

of  division  was  described  as  the  Hundred  Mere.  The 
watercourse  below  the  Peak  Hill  cottages,  was  called 
the  Marfard  brook,  a  name  now  forgotten. 

Next,  Theberton  Hall  farm. — It  consisted  of  "  the 
capital  messuage  of  Theberton  Hall,"  with  outbuildings 
and  "  1 88a.  3r.  ip.  of  land  and  marsh,  being  the  demesnes 
of  the  manor  of  Theberton  " ;  which  "  lands  were  all,  or 
the  greater  part  of  them,  an  enclosed  park,  and  are  all 
freehold  ;  and  77a.  o*".  37p,  part  thereof,  and  which  was 
formerly  part  of  the  said  park,  are  tythe  ffree,  paying 
only  a  yearly  modus  of  ten  shillings  to  the  rector  of 
Theberton  in  lieu  of  all  tythes."  This  farm  was  then 
let  at  ;^8o  per  annum,  which,  as  the  surveyor  remarked, 
was  only  eight  shillings  and  sixpence  per  acre. 

It  would  thus  seem  that  in  1754  the  Hall  was  occupied 
as  a  farm  house,  and  that  part  of  the  ancient  park  went 
with  it  as  a  farm  under  tillage. 

Where,  and  what,  was  the  house  we  have  read  of  called 
Park  House }  At  one  time,  I  thought  that  it  was  the 
"  mansion  with  the  brickell "  ;  but  further  research  has 
led  to  another  conclusion.  What  I  have  satisfied  myself 
of,  is  that  the  Hall  was  sometimes  called  the  Park  House, 
and  that  these  were  merely  two  names  for  the  same 
house.  We  have  already  seen  that  Sir  Arthur  Jenney, 
by  his  will  of  1668,  devised  with  the  manor  of  Theberton, 
the  mansion  he  called  the  Park  House ;  and  that  at  the 
date  of  a  settlement  some  eighteen  years  later,  Edmund 
Jenney  was  seised  in  fee  of  the  manor,  with  the  capital 
messuage  called  Theberton  Hall.  Both  will  and  settle- 
ment were  plainly  intended  to  pass  all  that  testator  and 
settlor  had  to  dispose  of.  Neither  purports  to  deal  with 
more  than  one  mansion  or  capital  messuage,  which  each 
mentions  in  connection  with  the  manor. 

In  1750,  it  is  clear  from  the  careful  description  of  the 


188  A  POTASH  OFFICE 

manor  and  estate  in  the  survey,  that  there  was  then 
only  one  mansion  or  capital  messuage — which  at  that 
time  was  called  the  Hall. 

It  will  be  remembered  also,  that  in  1672,  Richard 
Hall,  lord  pro  tempore  of  the  manor,  was  assessed  for 
the  "  Park  House  farm " ;  and  that  in  1750,  John 
Ingham  bought  the  "  Theberton  Hall  farm."  That 
these  two  names  referred  to  one  and  the  same  farm,  I 
am  convinced.  Some  of  the  Jenney  family  may  have 
preferred  the  name  "  Park  House,"  as  commemorating 
the  old  deer  park,  to  the  more  ancient  name  of  the 
"  immemorial  seat  of  the  manor  " — the  Hall. 

It  is  a  strange  thing,  that  the  "mansion  with  the 
brickell"  has  vanished  from  sight  and  even  tradition;  not 
a  trace  of  it  can  be  discovered,  unless  some  pits  and 
trenches  in  Kiln  Grove — from  which  it  is  more  likely 
that  clay  for  the  brick  kiln  was  digged  out — may  in 
fact  indicate  its  foundations. 

The  Church  farm  consisted  of  a  messuage,  a  malting 
office,  two  barns,  stables,  and  a  "potash  office,"  with 
ninety-one  acres  and  thirty-one  perches  of  land.  The 
malting  office  stood  on  the  green  between  the  farm  house 
and  the  high  road.  What  the  use  was  of  a  "potash 
office "  I  am  not  sure ;  but  the  name  recalls  an  old 
industry.  More  than  a  century  before,  a  patent  had 
been  granted  for  a  then  new  method  of  making  saltpetre. 
All  persons  were  required  to  save  liquid  material,  which 
in  these  cleaner  days  we  are  too  glad  to  get  rid  of,  for  the 
use  of  the  patentees.  The  patentees  too,  were,  till  pro- 
hibited by  Act  of  Parliament  in  1656,  empowered  to  mine 
under  other  folk's  dove  houses,  stables,  and  cattle  sheds, 
for  soil  saturated  with  precious  filth  ;  and  to  this  sweet 
compost,  wood  ashes  were  applied  in  order  to  produce 
potash.      Whether    this    "potash    office"    was    still    a 


THE  BELI  BROOK  189 

receptacle  for  wood  ashes,  or  whether  the  manufacture 
of  saltpetre  had  been  carried  on  there,  I  do  not  know — 
nor  indeed  do  I  think  it  worth  knowing. 

The  cottages  now  called  the  Ivy  Cottages,  were 
•*  letten  with  this  farm "  ;  they  were  then  in  two  tene- 
ments, and  in  that  farthest  from  the  church,  there  was  a 
grocer's  shop.  The  run  of  water  from  the  Wash  Cottage 
was  then  called  the  Beli  or  Belis  brook.  For  the  farm 
and  the  cottages  the  rent  was  £80. 

The  Common  farm,  it  is  stated,  was  so-called  because 
it  bordered  on  Theberton  Common.  Since  being  used  as 
a  home  farm  by  my  great  grandfather,  it  has  been  known 
as  the  Hall  farm.  There  was  a  messuage  or  farm  house — 
the  same  no  doubt  as  stands  there  now,  a  bake  house,  a 
stable,  and  four  small  barns.  From  a  marginal  note,  we 
learn  that  one  barn  was  taken  down  in  1756,  and  two 
others  in  1767  when  a  large  barn  was  built.  The 
cottage  called  the  Yew  Tree  house — which  has  been 
before  referred  to — went  with  the  farm.  There  were  of 
land  and  marsh,  135a.  ir. 

A  piece  of  glebe  belonging  to  the  rectory  of 
Theberton,  containing  i  rood  and  20  perches,  lay  in  a 
field,  not  now  to  be  identified,  belonging  to  this  farm  ; 
it  was  then  marked  "  with  posts  or  dooles."  The  tenant 
of  the  farm  was  John  Foulsham,  and  the  rent  ;^8o. 

The  survey  tells  us  how  many  "  topp  oaks  "  each  en- 
closure contained :  on  Pike  Hill  farm  were  forty-three 
in  all — eleven  of  which  stood  close  about  the  Ivy  cottage 
at  the  Peak  Hill ;  the  other  two  cottages  had  not  then 
been  built. 

On  Theberton  Hall  farm,  were  four  hundred  and  ten 
"  topp  oaks " — two  hundred  and  thirty-seven  upon  the 
site  of  the  Great  Wood,  seventy-three  in  the  Kiln  Grove 
and  the  small  meadow  north  of  it,  and  twenty-nine  in 


190  VITALITY  OF  WHIN  SEEDS 

an  enclosure  which  the  imperfect  map  does  not  enable 
me  to  identify. 

On  the  Church  farm,  and  on  the  Common  farm, 
were  thirty,  and  sixteen  "topp  oaks  "  respectively.  The 
Whin  Covert  does  not  seem  to  have  been  planted  ;  the 
site  probably  was  then  over-grown  with  whin  ;  for  a  few 
years  ago  a  crop  of  seedling  whin  came  up  in  spring 
upon  bare  spots  where  woodmen's  fires  had  been.  How 
long  must  the  seeds  lying  in  the  ground  have  retained 
their  vitality  ! 

The  survey  book  sets  out  the  then  existing  customs 
of  tithing,  which  had  hardly  altered  since  1674.  They 
were: 

For  a  milch  cow,  in  lieu  of  milk 2d. 

For  every  calf,  lamb,  pig,  and  goose,  above  the  number  of 

ten,  and  under  seven 2d. 

For  every  acre  of  meadow,  being  mowed  in  lieu  of  hay  .   .   .  ^d. 

For  every  acre  of  pasture,  being  mowed 2d. 

For  every  gast  beast  and  budd  *  pastured  there id. 

For  the  fall  of  every  colt id. 

All  other  tithes  were  payable  in  kind. 

Part  of  the  land  being  situate  in  Kelsale,  the  customs 
of  tithing  for  that  parish  are  set  out  too.  Items  perhaps 
worth  noticing  are : 

For  fruit     .  • ^d. 

An  hearth  hen,  in  lieu  of  wood  as  well  sold  as  burnt  .... 
Tyth  eggs  on  Good  Friday,  in  lieu  of  chickens  ducks  and 

turkeys   

For  a  peck  of  hempseed  sowing  -. id. 

And,  among  tithes  in  kind  are  hops,  which  have  long 
ceased  to  be  cultivated  in  this  part  of  Suffolk. 

The  rector  of  Kelsale,  fortunate  man,  was  also  entitled 
to  "  offerings  at  Easter  and  to  Mortuaries  according  to 
law." 

*  A  young  bullock  about  a  year  old. 


CROFTS  AND  TOFTS  191 

The  survey  book  supplies  details  of  all  the  various 
purchases,  which  that  acquisitive  race  the  Inghams  had 
made  between  1615  and  1720.  They  number  thirty- 
five,  lying  in  Theberton  or  just  over  the  parish  boundary 
— small  plots  mostly,  of  from  half  an  acre  to  two  or 
three  acres,  on  some  of  which  stood  cottages.  Most  of 
these  must  have  been  old  cottages  dating  from  before  the 
time  of  Elizabeth  ;  for,  under  an  Act  of  her  reign  until  it 
was  repealed  in  1775,  no  new  cottage  could  have  been 
built  with  less  than  four  acres  of  ground,  and  few  of 
these  had  as  much.  There  had  been  many  petty  land- 
owners, and  these  purchases  are  examples  of  how  in- 
evitably, small  properties  gravitate  to,  and  are  absorbed 
by  greater. 

From  cottage  to  cottage,  from  small  holding  to  small 
holding,  the  country  was,  in  days  of  old,  intersected 
by  many  communes  vice  most  of  which,  in  the  course 
of  time,  have  been  done  away  with.  One  of  such  ways 
led  from  the  rectory  towards  Stone  Hill ;  its  course 
being  from  the  high  road  just  north  of  what  is  now  the 
garden  plantation,  past  the  Common  farmhouse  ;  and 
on  this  way  some  of  the  holdings  abutted.  Years  ago  I 
found  in  the  garden  plantation,  an  ancient  well,  lined 
with  rubble,  which  no  doubt  appertained  to  one  of  the 
cottages  described  as  "  since  wasted,"  or  "  since  taken 
down."  Most  of  the  crofts  and  tofts,  as  held  by  John 
Ingham  of  the  manor  of  Theberton,  became,  when  he 
bought  the  manor  in  1750,  ipso-facto  freehold.  Some 
however,  holden  by  copy  of  other  manors,  retained 
their  copyhold  status.  One  of  these — a  cottage  with 
six  acres  and  a  few  perches  of  land  was  holden  of 
Leiston  manor,  "  by  service,  and  three  and  sevenpence  ; 
with  twenty  pence  thereof  and  six  days  work  in  harvest 
to  be  paid  in  money  " — interesting  as  showing  the  ancient 


192  INCORPORATION  OP  BLYTHING  UNION 

villein  tenure,  and  how,  in  later  times,  the  old  services 
had  been  commuted. 

One  last  quotation  from  the  survey  book,  of  words 
copied  therein  from  an  earlier  source :  "  The  lords  have 
always  had  a  right  to  a  royalty  and  of  taking  game 
extending  over  the  whole  parish  of  Theberton."  This 
need  not  arouse  alarm  among  my  neighbours. 

In  the  year  1764-5  and  for  many  years  afterwards, 
one  John  Thompson  was  churchwarden  of  Theberton. 
It  seems  he  was  tenant  of  the  Church  farm  ;  for  on  the 
inner  side  of  a  window  in  the  farm  house  is  scratched 
with  a  diamond  : 

"  John  Thompson 
Mary  Thompson 
Came  to  Theberton  Oct :  1 764." 

On  the  outer  side  of  another  window  pane  are  scratched 
these  lines  of  doggerel : 

"  O  that  I  was  war  I  would  be 
Then  should  I  be  ware 
But  ware  I  am  theare  must  I  be 
Because  weare  I  came " 

The  rest  of  the  last  line  is  covered  by  the  lead  in  which 
the  pane  is  set,  and  the  charm  of  the  poetry  has  not 
tempted  me  to  uncover  it. 

In  1764,  the  existing  system  of  poor  relief  was 
inaugurated  in  our  district ;  by  the  incorporation  of  all 
the  parishes  within  the  Hundred  of  Blything,  except 
Dunwich,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  poor  in  a  House  of 
Industry  at  Bulcamp.  At  the  first  meeting  at  Hales- 
worth  of  the  Directors  and  Guardians,  Mr.  John  Ingham 
attended  as  an  acting  guardian.  The  House  was  not 
opened  till  the  autumn  of  1766,  when  fifty-six  paupers 
were  admitted. 

A  cause  of  the  delay  had  been,  that  the  partly  built 


RIOT  AT  BULCAMP  WORKHOUSE        193 

house  and  the  collected  building  material,  had  been 
greatly  damaged  by  a  riotous  mob.  The  old  Ipswich 
Journal,  in  its  number  of  loth  of  August  1765,  inserted 
this  extract  from  a  letter  of  a  Halesworth  correspondent 
dated  the  previous  day : 

"  You  may  depend  upon  the  truth  of  the  following 
account  of  what  happened  in  our  neighbourhood  last 
Monday.      About    5    o'clock    in    the    evening,   the 
rioters  to   the  no.  of  about  200,  went  through  this 
town  to  Bulcamp,  where  the  workhouse  was  building, 
about  5  miles  from  hence.     A  few  of  them  mounted 
the  works,  and  climbed  to  the  top  of  the  poles  of  the 
scaffold,   waved   their   hats   and   huzza'd :    In   about 
I  hour  there  was  a  much  greater  number  of  people 
and  by  9  o'clock  at   night  the   whole   building    was 
levelled  to  the  ground.     The  joists  of  the  chamber 
floor  were  laid,  and  the  whole  damage  is  computed  at 
;^20oo.     After  doing  this  mischief  they  went  to  Sir 
John   Rous'   house   at    Henham,   where    upon    their 
demand  for  refreshment  they  had  plenty  of  beer  and 
victuals  given  them  ;  from  hence  they  went  to  Geo. 
Goldings  Esqre.  at  Thorington,  who  was  not  at  home, 
but  they  called  up  the  steward  who  was  obliged  to 
give  them  what  provision  the  house  afforded.     They 
went  off  very  quietly  from  thence  to   the  Rev.    Mr. 
Buxton's  at  Darsham,  so  through   Yoxford  to  John 
Scrivener's   Esqre.  at  Sibton,  and  demanded  further 
refreshment,    and    then    returned    to    Yoxford,   and 
desired  to  speak  with  Mr.  Ingham  of  that  place,  who 
was  not  at   home.     They  began   to   pull   down   his 
house,  but  were  prevailed  on  by  some  people  present 
to  desist — What  these  rash  people  will  attempt  further 
time  will  discover." 

O 


194  THEBERTON  RIOTERS 

We  cannot  acquit  Theberton  of  participation  in  this 
riot.  The  next  weekly  number  of  the  Journal  has  this 
further  information. 

"  Yesterday  Dan  :  Manning  and  Benjamin  Preston 
of  Theberton  labourers,  and  James  Strowger  of 
Westleton  carter,  were  brought  to  our  gaol  by  a  small 
party  of  light  horse,  charged  with  having  been  feloni- 
ously concerned  in  pulling  down  a  building  at  Bulcamp 
called  a  House  for  the  Poor.  The  excuse  offered  by 
the  mob  was  that  the  poor  should  have  been  allowed 
to  work  in  the  fields.  The  soldiers  had  been  obliged 
to  use  force  in  quelling  the  riot  and  one  man  was 
killed." 

No  mention  of  the  House  occurs  in  our  parish  papers 
till  1 78 1,  when  we  find  a  receipt  by  the  Treasurer  for 
a  quarter's  assessment  ;^i6.  I2s.  g\d.  from  the  parish 
of  Theberton. 

The  register  for  1769  records  the  baptisms  of  six 
children  of  John  and  Martha  Lord.  This  note  must 
surely  have  been  written  by  an  Irishman:  "These  six 
children  were  born  quakers  and  christened  afterwards  "  ! 

In  1 77 1,  on  the  death  of  John  Whittington,  a  second 
James  Benet  became  rector  of  Theberton  :  he  was  also 
vicar  of  Aldborough,  and  for  four  years  rector  of 
Bennington.  He  seems  to  have  kept  house  at 
Aldborough,  and  there  he  was  buried. 


CHAPTER   XV 

In  1775,  John  Ingham  made  his  will,  directing  his 
executor  Richard  Crowfoot  to  sell  his  property  at 
Theberton  ;  and  in  1776,  the  testator  having  died, 
Mr.  Crowfoot  sold  the  estate  and  the  manor  to  George 
Doughty  Esquire. 

The  purchaser  pulled  down  the  ancient  Hall,  and 
nearly  on  the  site  of  it,  built  the  oldest  part  of  the 
present  house,  with  very  hard  white  bricks  made  upon 
the  estate.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  officers  of  the 
Loyal  Suffolk  Yeomanry.  We  have  a  jug  of  earthen- 
ware, which  must  have  once  belonged  to  the  Yeomanry 
mess.  Pictured  on  it  is  a  Yeoman  in  the  old  uniform, 
holding  his  sword  at  the  carry,  with  the  legends  : 

"  Loyal  Suffolk  Yeomanry,"  and  "  God  save  the  King," 
and  at  the  back,  the  names : 

Sir  John  Rous,  Captain. 

Lieut :  Geo :  Doughty,  'i  ^ 
Cornet,  John  Clayton,  J 

I  think  Mr.  Doughty  resigned  his  commission  in  1793 
at  the  time  he  became  High  Sheriff.  When  I  was  a  small 
boy,  an  old  man  one  Bridges  of  Middleton  told  me  he 
had  served  as  one  of  his  javelin  men,  and  described  him 

»95  o  2 


196  A  FORGOTTEN  SPORT 

as  "  a  fine  gentleman  on  a  black  horse."  We  have  a 
good  pastel  picture  of  him  in  the  shooting  dress  of  the 
period,  just  about  to  shoot  a  woodcock  put  up  by  a  spaniel. 

He  had  perhaps  bought  the  spaniel  from  a  neighbour, 
the  Rev.  Barnabas  Symonds,  who  had  a  school  at  Kelsale, 
after  1758  was  rector  of  Thorington,  and  who  was  famous 
for  his  kennel  of  sporting  dogs.  Symonds  was  the 
author  of  "  The  Suffolk  Sportsman,"  which  went  to  a 
third  edition.  The  quaint  little  treatise  purports  to 
show  "  the  nature  of  the  various  kinds  of  dogs  in  use  for 
gun  and  net,  with  the  most  rational  method  of  training 
and  breaking  them  .  .  .  also  other  matters  of  great 
nicety  and  utility  in  the  sporting  way." 

Perhaps,  the  most  interesting  of  the  contents  are 
scattered  references  to  the  old  sport  of  setting  partridges, 
which  in  Mr.  Symonds'  time,  and  for  years  afterwards, 
was  a  common  and  daily  rural  diversion.  Not  more 
than  seventy  years  have  passed,  since  on  any  day  after 
harvest,  sportsmen  with  nets  over  their  arms  and  setting 
dogs  at  heel,  might  have  been  seen  about  our  fields  in 
Theberton  ;  and  it  is  strange  and  surprising,  how  in  so 
short  a  time,  the  sport  can  have  been  absolutely 
forgotten. 

The  book  opens  with  a  dissertation  on  setting  dogs. 
To  the  setter  it  was,  that  our  forbears  were  indebted 
for  what  Symonds  thought  "  the  neatest  and  genteelest 
diversion  of  the  field,"  which  moreover,  could  be  "pursued 
with  that  easy  and  polite  attention  unknown  to  votaries 
of  the  severer  exercises." 

Setting,  our  writer  tells  us,  is  of  ancient  extraction. 
He  dates  it  back  at  least  as  far  as  Solomon : — "  Surely 
in  vain  the  net  is  spread  in  sight  of  any  bird."  And 
even  at  that  remote  time,  it  must  have  been,  he  points 
out,  not  a  new,  but  a   "usual  practice  that  every  one 


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SETTING  PARTRIDGES  197 

was  well  acquainted  with,  and  might  receive  an  instruc- 
tive lesson  and  admonition  from."  It  may  indeed,  have 
helped  to  amuse  the  poor  sage's  seven  hundred  wives, 
for  among  its  advantages,  our  sporting  parson  claims 
that  it  has  "  this  singular  pride  that  it  can  entertain  " 
ladies. 

He  had — sly  old  parson — "  known  a  sporting  female 
spread  a  net  not  in  vain  ....  No  noise  was  to  be 
made,  yet  not  such  peremptory  silence  was  enjoined,  but 
that  soft  things  might  be  said  tete-a-tete." 

Solomon  and  his  menagerie  we  may  leave  with 
Mr.  Symonds.  The  history  of  setting  in  Christian 
England  goes  quite  far  enough  back  for  us.  To  begin 
only  at  James  I.'s  accession — we  might  begin  centuries 
earlier: — In  1604,  by  an  Act  of  Parliament,  which  dealt 
with  "  those  vulgar  sort  of  men  who  make  a  living  by 
breaking  the  laws  in  regard  to  the  taking  of  game  by 
means  of  ...  .  nets,  ....  and  other  instruments,"  it 
was  provided  that  persons  with  £\q  per  annum  freehold, 
or  ;^200  personalty,  might  take  "pheasants  and 
partridges  in  the  day  time  with  nets  "  on  their  own  lands, 
"betv/ixt  the  Feaste  of  Sainte  Michael  the  Archangel 
and  the  Feaste  of  the  Birthe  of  our  Lorde  God." 

Five  years  later,  his  verbose  Majesty,  in  a  speech  of 
preposterous  length  to  both  Houses  of  Parliament, 
delivered  himself  thus : — "  As  for  partridges  and 
pheasants,  I  do  not  deny  that  gentlemen  should  have 
their  sports,  and  specially  on  their  own  ground,  but  I  do 
not  think  such  games  and  pleasures  should  be  free  to 
the  base  people.  And  I  could  even  wish  that  gentlemen 
should  use  it  in  a  gentlemanlike  fashion,  and  not  with 
nets  or  guns."  James,  lover  of  hunting,  the  sport  of  kings, 
did  not  approve  of  such  inferior  pastimes  as  setting  and 
shooting. 


198  HOW  IT  WAS  DONE 

In  Dutch  King  William's  time,  society  was  no  longer, 
if  it  had  ever  been,  of  Scotch  King  James'  opinion  ;  at 
least  if  we  may  judge  by  what  was  popular  upon  the 
stage.  "  What  is  a  gentleman  ? "  was  a  question  asked 
in  a  comedy  written  by  George  Powell,  and  acted  at 
Dorset  Gardens  in  1694.  "  What  is  a  gentleman  without 
his  recreations.  .  .  .  Hawks,  hounds,  and  setting  dogs, 
and  cocks,  are  the  true  marks  of  country  gentlemen." 

Symonds  naturally  assumed  that  his  readers  would  be 
familiar  with  the  sport,  and  so  does  not  describe  how 
taking  partridges  with  setting  dogs  was  actually  effected. 
An  earlier  book  however, "  The  Gentleman's  Recreations," 
aptly  supplies  the  want.  The  article  on  the  subject  is 
short,  and  a  pleasant  antique  flavour  hangs  about  it. 

"There  is  no  art  of  taking  partridges  so  excellent 
and  pleasant  as  by  the  help  of  a  Setting-Dog.  You 
are  to  understand  that  a  Setting  Dog  is  a  certain  lusty 
Land  Spaniel,^  taught  by  nature  to  hunt  the  partridge 
more  than  any  chace  whatever,  running  the  fields  over 
with  such  alacrity  and  nimbleness  as  if  there  was  no 
limit  to  his  fury  and  desire ;  and  yet  by  art  under 
such  excellent  command,  that  in  the  very  height  of  his 
career  by  a  Hem !  or  sound  of  his  master's  voice,  he 
shall  stand,  gaze  about  him,  look  in  his  master's  face 
and  observe  his  directions,  whether  to  proceed,  stand 
still,  or  retire.  Nay,  when  he  is  even  just  upon  his 
prey  that  he  may  even  take  it  up  in  his  mouth,  yet  his 
obedience  is  so  framed  by  art,  that  presently  he  shall 
either  stand  still,  or  fall  down  flat  on  his  belly,  without 
daring  either  to  make  any  noise  or  motion,  till  his 
master  comes  to  him,  and  then  he  will  proceed  in  all 
things  to  follow  his  directions.      Having  a  dog  thus 

'  In  Symonds'  opinion  none  had  a  just  claim  to  the  appellation 
but  the  English  spaniel. 


SHOOTING,  OLD  STYLE  AND  NEW      199 

qualified  by  art  and  nature,  take  him  with  you  where 
partridges  do  haunt ;  there  cast  off  your  dog,  and 
by  some  word  of  encouragement  with  which  he  is 
acquainted  engage  him  to  range,  but  never  too  far 
from  you,  and  see  that  he  beat  his  ground  justly  and 
even.  ...  If  in  your  dog's  ranging,  you  perceive  him  to 
stop  on  the  sudden  or  stand  still,  you  must  then  make 
in  to  him  (for  without  doubt  he  hath  set  the  partridge), 
and  as  soon  as  you  come  to  him,  command  him  to  go 
nearer  him  :  but  if  he  goes  not,  but  either  lies  still,  or 
stand  shaking  his  tail  as  who  would  say  here  they  are 
under  my  nose,  and  withal  now  and  then  looks  back, 
then  cease  from  urging  him  further,  and  take  your 
circumference,  walking  fast,  with  a  careless  eye  look- 
ing straight  before  the  nose  of  the  dog,  and  thereby  see 
how  the  covey  lie  whether  close  or  straggling.  Then 
command  the  dog  to  lie  still,  draw  forth  your  net, 
prick  one  end  to  the  ground,  and  spread  your  net  all 
open  and  so  cover  as  many  of  the  partridges  as  you 
can  ;  which  done,  make  in  with  a  noise,  and  spring  up 
the  partridges,  which  shall  no  sooner  rise  but  they  will 
be  entangled  in  the  net.  And  if  you  shall  let  go  the 
old  cock  and  hen,  it  will  not  only  be  an  act  like  a 
gentleman,  but  a  means  to  increase  your  pastime." 

One  can  hardly  look  at  the  portrait  of  my  great  grand- 
father, his  eye  on  the  woodcock  his  gun  ready  to 
leap  to  his  shoulder  at  the  exact  moment,  without 
drawing  comparisons  between  sport  in  his  days  and  in 
ours.  A  great  change  has  come  even  in  my  time,  due 
mainly  to  changes  in  environing  conditions.  Stubbles 
are  sheared  off  by  reaping  machines,  and  modern  farming 
is  intolerant  of  weedy  fields  and  good  cover.  Birds 
which  in  his  day  would  lie  close,  to  be  netted,  will  not 


200  SUFFOLK  IN  INDIA 

suffer  approach  within  even  the  long  range  of  modern 
weapons.  Hence  the  necessity  of  driving  partridges,  and 
of  resorting  to  driving  early  in  the  season.  Shooters 
moreover  are  now  vastly  more  numerous  and  more 
plutocratic,  whence  the  rearing  of  enormous  numbers  of 
tame  pheasants,  and  our  monster  battues.  Our  old 
sportsman  and  his  friends  enjoyed  their  quiet  wood 
shooting  over  spaniels  ;  but  could  they  see  our  great 
hosts  of  beaters,  our  three  guns  each,  and  our  loaders, 
our  shooting  stools,  and  our  luncheons,  our  massacres 
of  hand  reared  birds,  what  would  they  think  of  it } 
Mr.  Symonds  wrote: — "Gentlemen  it  must  be  presumed 
shoot  for  diversion  and  exercise,  not  for  the  sake  of 
abundance  of  game,  or  the  reputation  of  destroying  it." 
Would  that  this  were  so  now :  yet,  after  all,  in  these 
decadent  days  of  shoots  rivalling  shoots,  and  keepers 
competing  with  keepers  for  fame  of  slaughter,  there  are 
some  good  men  left,  who  in  their  heart  of  hearts  despise 
artificial  caricatures  of  sport. 

George  Doughty  was  a  man  of  worthy  memory — 
trustee  for  many  friends,  guardian  of  their  children. 
Among  his  early  intimates  was  one  whose  name  is  con- 
nected with  Theberton.  Francis  Light  had  founded 
the  colony  of  Penang  or  Prince  of  Wales'  Island,  and 
become  its  first  Governor ;  and  loving  his  home  land 
as  all  Suffolk  men  do,  had  given  to  a  tract  of  ground, 
which  has  been  described  as  "  the  most  beautiful  spot  of 
the  kind  in  India,"  the  name  of  Suffolk. 

Captain  Light  wrote  to  his  friend  from  Prince  of 
Wales'  Island,  under  date  ii  Sept.  1792: 

"  Dear  George — Trusting  to  the  sincerity  of  our 
loving  friendship,  and  your  genuine  goodness  of  heart, 
without  waiting  for  permission,  I  have  consigned  one  of 


THE  BRICK  HOUSE  201 

my  children  to  your  care  and  authority.  .  .  .  He  is  now 
six  years  of  age.  ...  I  shall  take  care  to  send  you 
supplies  of  cash  as  well  for  the  boy's  maintenance,  as  the 
purchase  of  Goldsberry  Farm.  Wall  says  it  is  so  con- 
tiguous, that  I  have  a  longing  desire  to  become  the  owner 
of  it,  so  make  sure  of  it,  I  shall  then  think  of  returning 
in  good  earnest.  .  .  ." 

Next  year,  another  warm  letter  :  "  I  have  consigned 
my  son  William  to  your  care."  The  writer  further 
explained  that  he  had  not  been  able  to  send  the  money 
for  the  purchase  of  Goldsbury's  farm,  the  expenses  of 
his  Governorship  being  twice  the  amount  of  his  salary. 
"Dear  George"  he  concluded  "give ten  thousand  wishes 
to  your  wife,  daughter  and  sisters,  and  tell  them  I  am 
never  so  happy  as  when  I  am  thinking  of  them.  Adieu 
my  dear  friend,  continue  to  plough  your  fields  it  is  a 
thousand  times  preferable  to  governing."  Captain  Light 
died  in  1794. 

The  farm  house  on  "  Goldsbury's  Farm,"  afterwards 
known  as  the  "  Brick  House,"  was  the  property  of  a  Mr. 
Goldsbury,  who  later  sold  it  to  Mr.  Wootton  as  we  shall 
see. 

William  Light's  youth  was  spent  at  Theberton  Hall 
and  at  Martlesham  Hall  an  estate  of  Mrs.  Doughty,  "  a 
most  amiable  lady,"  who  after  her  husband's  death  in 
1798  acted  as  guardian  of  the  boy.  His  after  life  was 
a  romance.^ 

His  career,  like  his  father's  before  him,  began  in  the 
navy,  as  a  midshipman,  in  H.M.  Frigate  Clyde.  He  was 
taken  prisoner  by  the  French.     Then,  leaving  the  naval 

^  The  lives  of  Francis  and  William  Light  are  written  in  The 
Founders  of  Penang  and  Adelaide,  by  Mr.  A.  F.  Steuart,  a  great- 
great-grandson  of  Francis,  from  which,  by  its  author's  kind  per- 
mission, the  few  facts  given  here  have  been  gathered. 


202         A  THEBERTON  EMPIRE  BUILDER 

service,  he  became  a  cornet  in  the  4th  Light  Dragoons, 
and  served  with  high  distinction  throughout  the  Peninsu- 
lar Campaign,  as  an  aide-de-camp  to  Lord  Wellesley, 
fighting  in  no  less  than  forty-three  actions  without  even 
a  scratch.  -The  war  over,  he  published  an  account  of 
his  travels  in  France  and  Italy,  illustrated  from  his  own 
sketches  by  Peter  de  Wint.  Later,  a  colonel  in  the 
Spanish  constitutional  army  under  General  Sir  Robert 
Wilson,  he  was  severely  wounded,  and  found  himself 
stranded  without  means  at  Corunna,  but  "  through  the 
timely  assistance  of  his  old  friend  and  guardian  Mrs. 
Doughty,"  he  was  enabled  to  come  home.  He  married 
in  England,  and  having  become  a  member  of  the  Royal 
Yacht  Club,  cruised  with  his  wife  for  some  years  about 
the  Mediterranean,  travelling  much  in  southern  Europe 
and  in  Egypt.  On  the  establishment  as  a  British 
Province  of  South  Australia,  Sir  Charles  Napier  who 
had  refused  the  Governorship,  proposed  that  the  appoint- 
ment be  offered  to  his  friend  Colonel  Light.  "  I  advise 
you,"  he  wrote  to  the  Colonial  Secretary,  "  to  try  and 
get  Colonel  Light  appointed  Governor ;  whether  he 
would  accept  it  or  not  I  cannot  say,  but  his  great 
accomplishments  and  his  character  being  so  generally 
known,  not  only  for  »his  distinguished  services  in  the 
Peninsula  under  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  but  also  in 
Spain  at  the  time  Sir  Robert  Wilson  was  there,  would 
give  an  iclat  to  the  appointment,  which  might  be  useful 
to  the  colony,  and  at  the  same  time  secure  an  able  man 
for  the  work." 

But  the  office  of  Governor  had  been  filled  up,  and 
Colonel  Light  was  offered  and  accepted  the  appointment 
of  Surveyor  General,  As  an  old  sailor,  he  himself  took 
command  of  the  ship  in  which  he  and  his  staff  sailed  to 
Australia. 


AN  AUSTRALIAN  THEBERTON  203 

Having  arrived  in  South  Australia,  he  proceeded  in 
the  face  of  much  opposition  to  select  the  site  and  to  lay 
out  the  ground  plan  of  the  city  of  Adelaide.  And 
there  he  died  in  1838 — founder,  "  father  of  Adelaide  "  as 
its  grateful  citizens  have  since  styled  him.  Light 
Passage,  Light  County,  and  the  River  Light  bear  his 
name ;  and  in  Light  Square,  a  statue  of  him  has  lately 
been  placed  to  commemorate  his  services.  At  each 
election  of  a  new  mayor  of  Adelaide,  takes  place  a 
picturesque  ceremony.  A  silver  loving  cup  filled  with 
colonial  wine  is  handed  round,  and  "  The  Memory  of 
Colonel  Light"  is  solemnly  toasted.  Colonel  Light 
deserves  to  be  remembered  in  Theberton.  A  man  he 
was  of  "  extraordinary  accomplishments,  soldier,  seaman, 
artist,  and  good  in  all,"  ^  "  a  gentleman,  a  brave  soldier, 
and  a  man  of  learning."  ^  That  he  on  his  part  never 
lost  affection  for  his  early  home  is  quite  certain.  His 
house  in  Adelaide  he  christened  "  Thebarton,"  spelling 
the  name  after  an  old  fashion,  and  a  suburb  of  the 
Queen  City  of  the  South  now  bears  the  name  of  our 
little  parish. 

In  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth,  and  in  the 
early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  though  the  value 
of  land  was  abnormally  high,  times  were  hard  for 
labouring  men.  There  were  more  hands  than  were 
needed,  wages  therefore  were  low,  while  at  the  same 
time  wheat  and  other  prime  necessaries  were  exorbi- 
tantly high.  The  stress  of  poverty  was  great,  and  work 
had  to  be  found  somehow  for  the  poor  folk,  if  they  were 
to  be  kept  from  the  workhouse. 

It  then  came  to  be  remembered  that  the  high  road 
north  of  Theberton  Rectory  had  two  sharp  bends  in  it 

*  Life  of  Sir  Charles  Napier^  by  Sir  William  Napier. 

=*  Bulletin,  July  i6th,  1820,  of  General  Sir  Robert  Wilson. 


204  BALLOTING  FOR  THE  MILITIA 

like  the  curves  of  the  letter  S,  and  that  to  straighten 
them  would  be  a  public  advantage,  and  at  the  same 
time  provide  some  much  needed  employment.  The 
business  was  taken  in  hand  accordingly  ;  and,  among 
our  parish  archives,  we  find  a  document  dated 
24th  February  1769,  under  the  hand  and  seal  of  George 
Doughty,  whereby,  in  consideration  of  the  old  highway 
when  stopped  up  and  enclosed  being  vested  in  him  and 
becoming  his  property,  he  consented  to  the  making  of  a 
new  highway  through  land  of  his  (as  shown  in  a  plan 
annexed  to  the  document)  ;  and  to  give  the  parish  of 
Theberton  as  much  land,  as  would  suffice  to  make  a 
new  road  twenty  feet  wide  between  the  fences.  This 
document  was  attested  by  one  Robert  Flamwell ;  and 
the  alteration,  having  been  approved  by  the  Justices, 
was  duly  carried  out. 

The  old  road,  of  which  the  soil  became  Mr.  Doughty's 
property,  lay  west  of  the  present  highway  ;  its  course 
was  from  the  Rectory  corner,  over  and  along  the  strip  of 
land  now  a  plantation,  between  the  Rectory  lawn  and  the 
present  road,  on  across  the  church  walk,  and  making 
a  sharp  curve  towards  the  west  through  the  Hall  park, 
it  joined  the  line  of  the  new  road,  near  the  north  end  of 
the  garden  plantation.  The  improvement  effected  was 
slight,  but  one  may  hope  that  it  brought  help  to  a  few 
needy  families. 

At  that  time.  Militia-men  were  balloted  for,  and  wives 
of  men  serving  had  to  be  supported  by  their  parish. 
Parishes  sometimes  bought  substitutes ;  we  read  of  £^, 
;^9,  ;^io,  ;^I2,  ;^I4,  having  been  paid.  I  find  a  letter 
dated  1781,  from  the  overseers  of  Bungay  to  the 
Theberton  churchwardens  and  overseers,  requesting  the 
reimbursement  of  forty-two  weeks'  pay  at  is.  'j\d.  per 
week    for    Robert   Farrow's    family.      The   Theberton 


HARD  TIMES  205 

people  are  reminded  that  "  Farrow  served  as  a  substitute 
for  a  person  balloted  for  by  lot  in  your  parish."  Service 
in  the  Militia  was  unpopular  ;  no  less  than  £$0  was  paid 
by  one  farmer  for  exemption. 

In  1795  and  1801,  scarcity  almost  amounted  to  famine 
all  over  England.  A  remedy  thought  of,  was  to  limit 
the  consumption  of  wheat ;  and  in  some  counties,  magis- 
trates summoned  meetings  of  officers  and  principal 
inhabitants  of  parishes,  to  discuss  the  expediency  of 
restricting  the  use  of  wheat  flour.  The  times  were 
bitterly  hard  for  poor  people.  Prices  of  other  necessaries 
besides  wheat-flour  had  been  forced  up  by  taxation. 
The  petition  of  Cobbett's  labourers  cannot  be  greatly 
overdrawn  ;  they  stated  that  more  than  half  their  wages 
was  taken  from  them  by  taxes ;  that  owing  to  taxes, 
they  had  to  pay  6d.  for  a  pot  of  worse  beer  than  they 
could  brew  for  a  penny ;  that  they  paid  ten  shillings  for 
a  pair  of  shoes  which  would  have  cost  but  five  shillings ; 
sevenpence  for  a  pound  of  soap  or  candles  which  would 
have  been  threepence  ;  sevenpence  for  a  pound  of  sugar 
they  could  have  had  for  threepence  ;  six  shillings  for  a 
pound  of  tea  which  would  have  cost  two  shillings  ;  and 
that  the  prices  of  both  bread  and  meat  had  been  doubled. 

Many  an  aged  labourer  has  said  to  me  that  young 
working  people  have  no  notion  what  their  parents  and 
grand-parents  had  to  suffer.  Perhaps,  it  may  be  that 
these  survivors  were  the  pick  of  their  own  generation  ; 
but  this  I  know,  that  the  old  men  I  remember,  born  to 
self-denial  and  nurtured  in  hardness,  strong,  gentle  and 
patient,  have  compelled  my  sincere  respect — exemplars 
of  an  admirable  strain  of  Englishmen.  Cannot  those  of 
us  who  have  known  intimately  Suffolk  labourers  of 
the  old  type,  agree  with  him  who  wrote  :  "  many  times, 
wee  see  there  lyeth   more  worth  under   a  threadbare 


ft06  PARISH  TOPOGRAPHY 

cloake  and  within  a  thatched  cottage,  than  the  richest 
robe  or  the  stateliest  palace." 

Lord  Huntingfield  has  a  rough  map,  or  "  Eye  Sketch  " 
as  it  styles  itself,  made  about  this  same  date  which  he 
kindly  lent  me.  It  shows,  with  other  lands  in  Theberton 
the  then  farm  of  "  Mr.  Flemwell "  who  I  think  was  the 
witness  (R.  Flamwell)  to  Mr.  Doughty's  signature. 

The  site  is  shown  also  of  the  house  then  called  the 
Brick  House,  and  occupied  by  "  Mr.  Goldsbury."  ^  From 
opposite  the  end  of  the  road  continued  from  Potters 
Street,  the  way  is  shown  from  the  highway  to  Tyler's 
Green  ;  and  on  the  west  side  of  the  same  highway, 
opposite  Fishpond  Hill,  stood  a  barn  described  "  Mr. 
Peckover's,"  the  earliest  mention  of  land  of  that  family 
that  I  have  found  in  our  parish  records.  Honour  Lane  is 
shown  on  the  map.  It  is  an  ancient  way  but  nine  feet 
wide  in  many  parts,  winding,  and  deep  below  the  level  of 
the  fields  ;  there  was  then  a  gate  across  it.  Flash  Gate 
west  of  the  corner  now  called  Flash  Corner.  The  marsh 
between  the  cottage  now  known  as  Frog  Hall,  and  the 
road  called  Dark  Trees,  was  then  a  part  of  Theberton 
Common ;  the  land,  as  well  now  as  at  the  date  of  the 
map  called  New  England,  had  at  an  earlier  period 
been  known  as  Wrens  Park  and  Hospital  Lands,  place 
names  whose  origin  I  cannot  discover ;  and  the  lane 
from  Flash  Corner  to  Eastbridge  then  ran  through  a 
piece  of  open  common. 

During  the  eighteenth   and  part  of  the  nineteenth 

centuries,  the  aspect  of  rural  England  underwent  great 

changes.      A    prominent    feature   of  the   country  had 

been  its  unenclosed   wastes  and  commons.     Now,  the 

In  the  assessment  of  1799,  "Mr.  Goldsbury"  was  set  at 
£2-  ^i'.  S^d.  per  quarter.  The  only  larger  payer  was  "  George 
Doughty  Esquire,"  at  £,4.  17s.  8d.  per  quarter.  "Mr.  Pickover" 
was  third,  at  £2.  y-  9^d-  per  quarter. 


CONTEMPLATED  ENCLOSURE  OF  COMMONS  207 

high  price  of  corn  stimulated  a  rage  for  enclosing. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  were  taken  in,  as  well 
it  was  supposed,  to  the  advantage  of  owners  of  land,  as 
of  the  state  ;  but  whether  justice  was  in  general  done  to 
the  peasantry  is  very  open  to  question. 

In  Theberton  and  Leiston  the  commons  were  exten- 
sive— about  four  hundred  and  fifty  acres ;  and  the 
question  of  enclosure  began  to  be  agitated  in  those  two 
parishes. 

In  1 79 1,  we  find  that  a  meeting  took  place  in 
Theberton,  not  of  parishioners  according  to  ancient 
custom,  but  of  the  copyhold  tenants,  whether  of  the 
manor  of  Theberton,  or  of  that  of  Leiston,  or  of  both  the 
manors,  does  not  appear.  Those  present  purported  to 
elect  unanimously  two  men,  Thomas  Wigg  and  Henry 
Cabbald,  to  be  fen  reeves  for  the  year  then  next  ensuing. 
Never  before,  so  far  as  our  records  tell  us,  had  any  such 
proceeding  by  copyhold  tenants  been  attempted.  Fen 
reeves  for  Theberton,  had  for  time  out  of  memory  been 
appointed  by  town  meetings  of  the  parishioners.  It 
certainly  looks  like  a  scheme,  in  contemplation  of  an 
enclosure,  to  oust  the  rights  of  parishioners,  and  to  lay 
a  foundation  for  claims  by  copyhold  tenants. 

The  regular  preliminaries  were  no  doubt  in  due  course 
complied  with.  A  meeting  of  all  persons  interested  in 
rights  of  commons  had  to  be  held ;  a  majority  of  two- 
thirds,  or  of  three-fourths  in  value,  had  to  be  obtained ; 
and  notice  had  to  be  affixed  to  the  church  door,  that  ap- 
plication would  be  made  to  Parliament  for  a  private  Act 
appointing  commissioners  to  make  the  division.  Such  the 
preparatory  nest  building.  In  1810,  the  egg  was  laid  in 
the  shape  of  a  private  Act  of  Parliament,  "  for  enclosing 
lands  within  the  parishes  of  Leiston  and  Theberton  in 
the  county  of  Suffolk,"  which  is  before  me  as  I  write. 


208  THEBERTON  ENCLOSURE  ACT 

The  Preamble  states  among  other  things  : 

"  That  there  were  within  the  parishes  of  Leiston  and 
Theberton,  divers  common  fens  and  marshes  and  other 
commonable  and  waste  lands " ;  those  in  Theberton 
being  known  as  Theberton  Bogs,  Theberton  Dry 
Common,  Little  Green,  Stone  Hill,  Tylers  Green,  and 
part  of  the  common  called  Wynters  Heath  (in  all 
156a.  or.  2 1  p.) 

That  Joshua  Lord  Huntingfield  was  lord  of  the 
manor  of  Leiston,  and  as  such,  claimed  the  soil  of  the 
said  commonable  and  waste  lands. 

That  Anne  Doughty  (widow  of  George  Doughty  who 
had  died  in  1798)  was  lady  of  the  manor  of  Theberton, 
and  as  such,  claimed  the  soil  of  such  of  the  said  com- 
monable and  waste  lands  as  lay  within  the  parish  of 
Theberton. 

That  the  said  Joshua  Lord  Huntingfield,  Anne 
Doughty,  and  divers  other  persons,  owners  of  certain 
ancient  commonable  messuages  and  cottages,  and  tofts 
being  the  sites  of  ancient  commonable  messuages  and 
cottages  with  the  lands  thereto  belonging,  claimed  in 
respect  thereof  to  be  entitled  to  the  whole  depasturage 
and  produce  of  the  said  common  fens  and  marshes 
and  other  commonable  and  waste  lands. 

And,  that  the  said  commonable  and  waste  lands 
in  their  then  open  and  uncultivated  state  yielded  very 
little  profit,  but  if  divided  and  allotted  unto  and 
amongst  the  several  persons  having  rights  of  common 
thereon,  might  be  inclosed  cultivated  and  improved  ; 
and  that  such  division  inclosure  and  improvement 
could  not  be  efifected  without  the  aid  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

Of  any   claims    on    behalf    of   the    parishioners  of 
Theberton  no  mention  is  made  in  the  Preamble. 


TYLERS    GREEN 


From  the  Enclosure  Award   Map  of  1824 


sto» 


ftbbey 


SamArdi  Gv>g>£rtdbf£<mdi 


Lomidinx:  MacanUlan.  &  Co.  Ltd.. 


CONCERNING  PARISH  RIGHTS  209 

The  great  egg  took  no  less  than  fourteen  years 
to  hatch.  The  duty  of  incubation  was  entrusted  to 
three  local  commissioners  who  made  their  award  in 
1824. 

The  claim  of  Anne  Doughty,  in  her  capacity  of  the 
lady  of  the  manor  of  Theberton,  though  it  had  been 
admitted  as  a  claim  by  the  Parliamentary  committee, 
was  silently  ignored  by  the  award. 

If  any  claims  were  argued  before  the  Commissioners 
for  the  parishioners  of  Theberton  they  are  not  recorded. 
Points  of  law  were  involved  which  only  trained  con- 
veyancers would  be  competent  to  deal  with ;  yet  no 
counsel  were  members  of  this  Commission.  A  solicitor 
was,  it  is  true,  a  Commissioner,  but  the  solicitor  branch 
of  the  legal  profession  do  not  profess  to  be  masters  of 
abstruse  law. 

The  points  of  law  which  may  or  might  have  been 
raised,  for  or  against  our  poor  folk  are  too  technical  to 
be  discussed  here ;  but  a  few  words  may  perhaps  be  of 
interest.  Our  records  set  out  in  former  pages,  show 
that  time  out  of  memory  the  Theberton  parishioners  had 
enjoyed  rights  of  common  of  pasture  over  the  common 
and  waste  lands.  Fen  reeves  had  been  elected  every  year 
by  "  town  meetings "  to  regulate  the  exercise  of  those 
same  rights — fixing  the  period  for  turning  in  the  cattle 
and  so  forth.  It  will  further  have  been  noticed  that  the 
award  itself  treated  the  fen  called  "  the  Theberton  Com- 
mon Fen  "  though  situate  in  another  parish,  as  belonging 
to  Theberton.  All  this  goes  to  found  a  case  on  custom 
or  prescription. 

The  lord  of  Leiston  Manor  may  have  relied  upon 
documentary  evidence.  In  the  old  complaint  to  the 
Star  Chamber,  the  complainants  claimed  "common 
appendant."     Strictly   that    would    exclude    claims   as 

P 


210  TYLERS  GREEN  AND  WINTERS  HEATH 

parishioners,  inasmuch  as  "  common  appendant "  could 
only  attach  to  lands  of  tenants  of  the  manor." 

For  the  parishioners,  it  may  have  been  replied,  that 
"  appendant "  might  have  been  used  by  some  careless 
draftsman,  in  mistake  for  "  appurtenant " ;  and  that 
"  common  appurtenant  "  might  consist  with  their  claims, 
as  it  is  capable  of  attaching  to  lands  outside  of  a 
manor. 

It  may  have  been  pointed  out  against  Theberton  that 
the  Chancery  suit  in  Edward  VI.'s  time  was  instituted, 
not  by  parishioners,  only  by  tenants  of  the  soke 
of  Leyston.  But  any  objection  that  the  parishioners 
had  not  been  parties  to  the  suit  could  have  been 
disposed  of  I  think  without  difficulty. 

As  to  the  two  commons,  Tylers  Green  and  Winters 
Heath,  it  is  indeed  astonishing  that  no  mention  at  all 
is  made  of  them  by  the  award.  We  have  seen  that  the 
parish  officers  had  exercised  not  mere  rights  of  common, 
but  actual  ownership  in  both  cases,  granting  leases,  re- 
ceiving rents,  selling  timber  and  underwood,  without,  so 
far  as  we  can  find,  any  trace  of  opposition  by  lords  of 
the  manor  or  any  one  whomsoever.  An  objection  might 
possibly  have  been  thought  of ;  that  parish  officers,  or  a 
mere  assemblage  of  individuals  such  as  parishioners,  not 
incorporated,  were  not  capable  to  be  landowners  ;  but 
the  point  is  so  purely  technical,  that  doubtless  means 
would  have  been  found  to  avoid  doing  injustice. 

With  respect  to  the  turf  digging,  it  must  be  admitted 
that  the  poor  folk  might  have  had  a  hard  fight ;  the 
conclusion  of  law  that  a  right  of  common  of  turbary, 
can  only  exist  as  appurtenant  to  a  house  in  which  the 
turf  is  burned,  might  have  been  difficult  to  get  over. 

Enough  has  now  been  said  to  show  that  our  parish 
had  claims  at  least  good  enough  to   argue,  and  as  to 


LITTLE  GREEN  and  WINTERS  HEATH 

From  the  Enclosure  Award  Map  of  1824 


StamArdi  BtogyZnaJb^L^nijm. 


MORE'S  THE  PITY!  211 

some  of  them  with  reasonable  chances  of  success. 
But  we  cannot  get  behind  the  award  by  any  means. 
More's  the  pity  !  Common  rights  are  not  only  a  boon 
to  labouring  men  but  they  are  also  of  value  to  the 
community,  tending  to  attach  men  born  and  bred  on 
the  land,  skilful  in  all  branches  of  a  difficult  craft,  to 
their  native  parish. 


P  2 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Whether  the  labourers  of  that  generation  were  sensible 
of  any  loss  by  the  award,  may  be  doubted  ;  work  then 
was  slack  and  wages  low,  and  a  long  spell  of  employ- 
ment on  drainage  and  enclosure  works  must  have  been 
alluring.  But  when  the  works  came  to  an  end  as  they 
were  bound  to  do  some  day,  the  position  must  have 
come  home  to  them — common  rights  irrecoverably  gone, 
and  gone  too  their  accustomed  employment. 

Clearly,  the  poor  generally  have  lost  by  enclosures. 
Half  a  century  after  the  Theberton  enclosure,  when 
moving  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  General  Inclosure  Bill, 
the  Earl  of  Lincoln  said  :  "  This  I  know,  that  in  nineteen 
cases  out  of  twenty,  Committees  of  this  House  sitting 
on  private  enclosure  bills,  neglected  the  right  of  the 
poor.  I  do  not  say  wilfully  neglected  their  rights — far 
from  it.  But  this  I  affirm,  that  they  were  neglected, 
because  of  the  Committee  being  permitted  to  remain  in 
ignorance  of  the  claims  of  the  poor  man,  because  by 
means  of  his  poverty,  he  is  unable  to  come  up  to  London 
to  fee  counsel,  to  produce  witnesses,  &c." 

John  Stuart  Mill  spoke  of  enclosures  as  "  legalised 
spoliations." 

Such  legalised  spoliations  had  come  to  be  epidemic,  but 


"LEGALISED  SPOLIATION''  213 

from  times  long  before,  there  had  been  sporadic  cases  ; 
we  have  this  story  from  James  I.'s  time. 

The  king  riding  through  a  certain  village,  noticed  a 
fellow  in  the  stocks,  who,  seeing  the  royal  party,  kept 
shouting  Hosanna  !  His  Majesty  asked  what  it  meant, 
and  learned  that  he  had  been  put  in  the  stocks  because 
he  had  stolen  geese  from  off  the  common,  "  I  beseech 
your  Majesty,"  said  the  prisoner,  "  which  is  the  greater 
thief,  I  for  stealing  the  geese  from  the  common,  or  his 
worship  for  stealing  the  common  from  the  geese." 
King  James,  who  loved  a  pleasant  wit,  exercised  his 
royal  prerogative — by  not  only  releasing  the  man  from 
the  stocks,  but  by  commanding  that  the  common  be 
restored  to  the  poor  people.^ 

As  no  rights  of  theirs  had  been  admitted,  there  could 
be  no  compensation  for  our  poor  folk.  We  know, 
however,  that  some  parishes,  which  had  good  friends 
perhaps  to  fight  for  them,  were  given  fair  compensa- 
tion. In  one  case,  the  commissioners  for  enclosure 
were  directed  by  a  clause  in  their  private  Act,  to  set 
out  land  to  be  known  as  "the  poor  estate,"  to  be 
vested  in  the  lord  of  the  manor  (whose  influence  had 
procured  the  clause)  the  rector  and  the  churchwardens 
and  overseers,  as  trustees,  to  let  it  by  auction,  and  apply 
the  rents  in  providing  fuel  for  the  cottagers.  For  another 
parish,  a  clause  in  their  Act  gave  to  every  cottager, 
without  regard  to  common  rights,  half  an  acre  of 
land.  In  other  parishes  again,  recreation  grounds  were 
provided. 

1  In  days  of  yore,  and  for  long  centuries,  no  village  was  without 
its  "  pair  of  stocks,"  and,  in  fact,  after  an  Act  of  1405  no  town  or 
village  was  permitted  to  dispense  with  them  ;  yet  I  have  found  no 
note  nor  any  trace  of  the  repressive  instrument  in  our  parish. 
Perhaps  the  first  pair  rotted  uselessly,  and  may  we  assume  that 
in  "  happy  Theberton  "  no  need  arose  to  replace  them. 


214  NEW  PARISH  ROADS 

But  enough  of  what  the  award  did  not  do.  What  it 
did  was : — First  to  set  out  new  public  roads  over  the 
lands  enclosed.     Such  roads  set  out  in  Theberton  were: 

The  road  marked  No.  i  in  the  map  opposite 
"beginning  at  the  South- West  corner  of  Theberton 
Dry  Common,  and  proceeding  along  the  then  present 
track  in  nearly  a  North-East  direction  over  the  said 
Dry  Common,  towards  East  Bridge." 

Another  road  marked  No.  2  in  the  same  map 
"  branching  out  of  the  last  described  Road  opposite  a 
Cottage  then  belonging  to  Zachariah  Kett,  and  pro- 
ceeding in  nearly  N.W.  and  W,  directions  over  the 
said  Dry  Common,  and  the  Common  called  the  Bogs, 
passing  over  Tun-bridge  (Town  bridge)  towards 
Theberton  Church." 

Another  road  marked  No.  3  in  the  same  map, 
"  branching  out  of  the  last  described  Road  at  about 
the  distance  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  yards  East 
of  the  said  Bridge  called  Tunbridge,  and  proceeding  in 
nearly  a  South  direction  towards  Potters  Street." 

Another  road  marked  No  4  in  the  same  map, 
"being  the  present  Road  leading  from  East  Bridge 
over  the  Common  called  the  Flash  towards  Theberton 
Church." 

Another  road  marked  No,  5  in  the  map  facing 
page  210,  "being  the  present  Road  leading  over 
Tylers  Green  along  the  South  Side  thereof  from 
Leiston  Abbey  to  Saxmundham." 

And  one  other  road  marked  No.  6  in  the  last 
mentioned  map,  "  branching  out  of  the  last  described 
road  and  proceeding  in  nearly  a  North  direction 
over  Tylers  Green  to  Theberton  Church." 

That  part  of  road  No.  i  which  runs  north  and  south 


Map  OF  Plan 

cftU  \ 

m  Fen  Grounds  and^^i&ste 
tiTj,    the  Par^Kof 

BE    IH,   T   ©   H 

the  Conunarv  caJLed. 

irton  Common  Fen 

f    in.  <1A^  Parceh  cf 

;  E  S  T  OM 

t  <l^  County  ^ 


JEast  Biidje. 


Jhe. 
Map  or  Plan 

Commons ,  Commcai  Fen  Grounds  and^Vkste  Lands 
within,    the  Pocr^K^ 

Thebeetoh 

(tnd^  the  CommoTv  caJled 
Theberton  Common  Fen 

fyin^    in,  the  Parish  of 

Ll  2  S  T  0N 

in,  tha   CourUy  ^ 
Us  referred  &>  iy  our  (brarvi         ------ 


Lon<doii:  JVfacoaadnaii.  &  Co.Lt^ 


StanArdi  (nagyZnabf-l 


WHO  WERE  BENEFITED  ?  «16 

has  since  been  stopped,  by  what  authority  I  do  not  know ; 
it  could  not  have  been  of  much  use  to  the  public.  Tylers 
Green  had  been  a  haunt  of  gipsies,  whence  no  doubt  the 
name  Gipsy  Lodge  of  now  adjacent  cottages. 

The  award  then  proceeded  to  make  allotments.  It 
would  be  tedious  to  particularise  them  here. 

The  only  allotment  made,  with  any  colour  of  com- 
pensation to  the  parish,  was  the  gravel  pit  at  Eastbridge. 
This  scrap  of  land,  2r.  6p.  in  extent,  upon  which  the 
chapel  has  since  been  built,  was  given  to  the  parish 
surveyor,  for  "the  use  and  convenience  of  the  proprietors 
of  lands  and  estates  within  the  parish  ...  for  the  improve- 
ment of  their  lands  and  grounds  " ;  it  was  also  to  serve 
"  for  the  formation  and  repairs  of  roads  belonging  to  the 
parish." 

Thinking  of  this  Theberton  Enclosure,  one  cannot  but 
be  curious  as  to  whom  it  benefited. 

It  may  be  admitted,  that  as  enclosed  and  drained  land 
is  capable  of  carrying  a  greater  head  of  stock  than  boggy 
unenclosed  commons,  the  nation  gained  by  an  increase 
of  food  supply ;  but  we,  concerned  only  with  our  par- 
ticular parish,  would  like  to  know  whether  any  and 
which  of  our  parishioners  were  the  better. 

The  Act  contemplated  an  allotment  to  the  rector  of 
Theberton  in  lieu  of  tithes.  No  allotment  was  made 
to  him,  with  the  result  that  all  the  lands  enclosed  became 
subject  to  tithe.  The  rector  was  thus  a  gainer.  Who 
else  was  in  that  happy  position  ?  Of  allottees  of  plots 
by  virtue  of  land  ownership  one  may  take  my  ancestot 
as  a  fair  sample.  Before  the  award  was  promulgated, 
Mrs.  Anne  Doughty  died,  and  to  her  son  the  Rev. 
George  Clarke  Doughty  it  was,  that  an  allotment  was 
in  due  course  made.  Well,  how  stands  his  account } 
On  one  side,  let  us  credit  him  with  the  plots  he  acquired 


216  MINSMERE  LEVEL 

— i6a.  3r.  38p.  in  all.  On  the  other  side,  debit  him 
with  his  share  of  the  costs  and  expenses.  These  came 
to  ;^I45.  i2s.  6d.  The  result  was  that  he  had  to  pay 
for  his  allotment  at  the  rate  of  £>%.  \os.  the  acre ;  and 
this  for  land  in  the  condition  of  wet  bog,  which — a 
portion  of  the  Minsmere  Level — was  saddled  with  a 
further  charge  for  embanking  and  draining,  by  another 
Act  of  Parliament. 

Had  not  land  been — in  fact  it  was  just  then — at  a 
quite  abnormal  value,  the  operation  could  not  have 
advantaged  him.  As  it  was,  I  suspect  that  his  allotment 
cost  him  quite  as  much  as  it  was  worth.  And  so  no 
doubt  with  other  allottees.  The  only  persons,  besides 
the  rector,  to  whom  clearly  enclosure  brought  profit  were 
professional  men,  who  had  no  part  or  lot  in  Theberton 
— commissioners,  surveyors,  and  lawyers.  The  three 
commissioners,  during  the  fourteen  years'  incubation  of 
their  award,  were  paid  three  guineas  each  for  every 
meeting ;  there  were  surveyors'  fees ;  and  the  legal 
charges  for  procuring  the  private  Act,  drawing  up  the 
award,  and  much  besides,  were  of  necessity  heavy. 

Outsiders  enjoyed  the  oyster ;  shells  only  were  left 
for  the  persons  entitled  to  allotments  ;  not  even  shells, 
for  either  the  lord  of  the  Theberton  manor  in  his 
capacity  of  lord,  or  for  the  parish  and  parishioners. 

The  other  Act  of  Parliament  above  mentioned  was  a 
private  Act  of  like  date  with  the  Enclosure  Act :  "  For 
embanking  and  draining  the  level  of  marsh  and  fen 
land  called  Minsmere  Level."  This  level  included  all 
the  wet  land  in  Theberton  affected  by  the  enclosure. 
The  assessment  made  by  the  valuers — one  of  whom  was 
also  an  enclosure  commissioner — was  delivered  in  1813. 
The  drainage  scheme  was  no  doubt  a  necessity ;  before 
the  cuts — ditches — were  made,  men  had  to  jump,  I  have 


CHURCH  PLATE  IN  1801  217 

been  told,  from  tussock  to  tussock,  it  was  a  veritable 
swamp. 

A  terrier  of  1801  describes  the  Rectory,  as  it  was 
during  Mr.  Wyatt's  time :  "  one  messuage  with  a  back 
house  adjoining  under  the  same  roof,  built  of  timber 
and  plastered,  covered  with  thatch,  in  length  sixty  feet 
in  breadth  fourteen  feet.  A  barn  built  of  timber  boarded 
and  covered  with  a  thatch,  in  length  forty-five  feet 
and  in  breadth  eighteen  feet.  One  stable  and  malt- 
house  under  one  roof,  built  of  timber,  and  partly  clayed 
partly  boarded,  covered  with  thatch,  in  length  twenty 
feet  and  in  breadth  thirteen  feet."  The  Rectory  lawn 
was  then  "  one  piece  of  land  surrounding  the  aforesaid 
messuage  and  barn,  situate  between  the  lands  of  Anne 
Doughty  late  George  Doughty  Esq.  on  the  part  of  the 
north,  and  the  common  way  leading  from  Theberton 
towards  Kelsale  on  the  part  to  the  south." 

The  terrier  contains  a  list  of  the  church  plate  :  "  one 
silver  cup,  one  chalice  weighing  about  nine  ounces,  one 
silver  platter  weighing  about  one  ounce  and  a  half,  and 
one  silver  flagon."  In  1706  there  had  been,  according  to 
that  year's  terrier,  one  flagon  and  that  of  pewter;  in 
1725  and  1729  one  flagon  described  as  of  silver ;  in  1735 
the  flagon  was  said  to  be  pewter,  and  in  1740  to  be  of 
silver  one  pound  in  weight. 

One  can  never  rely  upon  a  terrier ;  sometimes  they 
were  just  transcribed  from  their  forerunners.  In  one, 
made  in  the  eighteenth  century,  a  book  is  entered  under 
the  name  of  "  Jewish  Apology "  ;  an  obviously  careless 
mistake  for  "  Jewell's  Apologie "  ;  the  mistake  is 
continued  in  several  later  terriers. 

How  the  church  looked  about  that  time,  the  Davy 
MSS.  tell  us.     In  1806,  the  pulpit  stood  under  a  sound- 


218  THE  COMPANY  OF  SINGERS 

board  in  the  south-east  angle  of  the  nave.  It  was  the 
same  pulpit  that  we  have  now,  made  of  oak  in  1628, 
but  it  was  then  painted  yellow.  The  communion  table 
was  encompassed  with  a  rail  and  "banister."  The 
church  "was  very  irregularly  seated  and  pewed  with 
deal  and  oak."  The  floors  were  chiefly  of  white  brick, 
except  the  raised  part  in  front  of  the  communion  rails, 
which  was  of  small  square  tiles  formerly  glazed  black 
and  yellow.  The  beautiful  Romanesque  north  doorway 
is  referred  to  as  "  a  very  handsome  ornamental  Saxon 
arch."  This  door  was  stopped  up  in  1826;  and,  since 
then,  a  vestry  has  been  stuck  on  outside,  and  the  fine 
mouldings  of  the  arch  coloured  jaundice  yellow.  The 
roof,  both  of  church  and  chancel  were  then  unceiled. 
I  think  that  at  that  time,  there  was  a  raised  platform 
or  so-called  gallery,  where  the  organ  now  stands,  which 
was  used  by  the  singers  and  "  musicianers,"  and  that  the 
various  implements  used  in  the  church  and  churchyard 
were  kept  under  it. 

I  find  a  bill  of  18 18  for  "a  new  door  to  gallery," 
which  probably  was  to  shut  in  the  space  beneath  the 
platform  ;  and  for  the  next  year,  a  bill  "  self  and  lads 
matting  up  gallery,"  and  "  splines  for  hanging  up  hats  in 
gallery  "  ;  and  examples  of  other  bills  are,  for  1818  again, 
"strings  for  viol";  for  1819,  "candles  for  singers"; 
for  1824,  "G.  Garrod  for  one  years  singing  bill"  ;  and 
for  another  year,  the  same  Garrod  for  "  attending  at  the 
church  for  the  purpose  of  singing,"  and  "  with  the 
company  of  singers."  So  far  back  as  181 3,  there  is  a  bill 
for  making  and  fixing  a  shelf  for  use  of  psalm-singers. 

The  old  metrical  psalms  were  sung,  of  some  the  words 
noble,  of  others  it  might  be  almost  grotesque,  I  think 
they  were  more  often  noble  than  grotesque. 

There  is  a  bill  of  1815,  for  "psalms  written,"  which,  I 


Norman  Door,  Theberton  Church. 


OUR  LAST  PARISH  CLERK  219 

take  it,  means  copies  of  scores  for  instruments  as  well  as 
for  voices.  There  were  nine  books  written.  John  Pipe 
seems  to  have  been  leader  and  conductor.  His  book 
contained  twelve  tunes,  besides  an  Easter  hymn  a 
Christmas  hymn  and  an  anthem  ;  John  Brown,  Thomas 
Nunn,  Thos.  Pipe,  A.  Ayton,  Wm.  Smith,  James  Brown, 
Thomas  Manning,  and  Wm.  Brown  had  each  a  book, 
with  from  four  to  nine  tunes  in  each. 

Next  year,  two  books  less  were  charged  for ;  John 
Pipe  had  but  six  tunes,  and  his  son  William  Pipe  now 
takes  his  place  with  the  greatest  number  eight  tunes, 
besides  an  Easter  ode  and  an  anthem. 

William  Pipe  was  then  twenty-two  years  old.  He 
became  parish  clerk  in  1823  in  succession  to  his  father, 
and  held  the  office  till  his  death — a  grand  specimen  he 
was  of  a  parish  clerk,  of  fine  presence,  with  a  musical 
voice,  skilled  in  music  and  in  bell  ringing.  He,  like 
his  father  before  him,  carried  on  the  trade  of  a  shoe- 
maker, and  with  many  other  avocations,  was  a  farmer 
in  a  small  way,  hiring  some  scattered  fields,  doing 
most  of  the  work  himself,  even  his  own  harvest 
the  last  year  of  his  life,  at  the  age  of  eighty-nine.  A 
tall,  thin,  active  man,  the  best  pedestrian  in  the  district ; 
I  remember  his  telling  me,  how,  having  walked  to 
Ipswich  on  business,  and  having  intended  to  come  back 
in  the  old  Blue  Coach,  as  far  as  Saxmundham,  the  coach 
overtook  him  soon  after  he  had  left  Ipswich,  but  "  No, 
thought  he,  he  might  as  well  walk  on,  and  save  the  fare." 

He  did  walk  home.  Even  then  he  had  attained  middle 
age  ;  his  feet  had  carried  him  fifty-four  miles,  and  the 
walk  did  not  at  all  fatigue  him  he  told  me. 

Upon  his  Jubilee,  the  completion  of  half  a  century  in 
the  clerkship,  we  presented  him  as  a  token  of  our 
respect,  with  a  marble  clock  for  his  chimney-piece,  an 


220  THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

inscription  on  it  recording  that  for  fifty  years  he  had  not 
once  been  absent  from  a  church  service  ;  he  was  for 
sixty-nine  years  parish  clerk,  and  died  in  1892  at  the 
age  of  ninety.  These  words  are  inscribed  upon  his 
gravestone :  "  This  stone  has  been  erected  to  his  memory 
by  his  friends  and  fellow  parishioners  as  a  mark  of  respect 
for  his  worth." 

Our  old  friend's  grave  is  near  his  father's.  On  John 
Pipe's  stone,  it  is  inscribed  that  he  died  in  1823,  having 
served  as  clerk  and  sexton  more  than  twenty-five  years. 
Thus,  father  and  son  together  held  the  office  of  clerk  in 
our  parish  nearly  a  century. 

The  music  of  the  self-taught  company  of  singers  may 
not  have  been  of  the  highest  order,  but  it  is  worth 
considering  that  the  musicians  and  their  friends,  with 
their  and  their  friends'  families,  were  led  to  take  an 
interest  in  the  services. 

Now,  churches  in  too  many  country  villages  are 
ceasing  to  be  what  they  ought  to  be,  churches  of  the 
people  ;  the  humbler  classes  do  not  feel  at  home  in 
them  ;  parsons  treat  congregations  as  merely  passive 
buckets  to  be  pumped  into,  and  then  wonder  that  they 
drift  away  into  non-conformity.  To  chapel  a  welcome 
is  given  them,  and  they  are  encouraged  to  take  an 
interest  in  chapel  government.  Some  people  seem  to 
think  our  church  exists  only  for  well-to-do  people  ; 
whereas,  in  truth,  it  is  the  birthright  of  all  Englishmen  ; 
and  all  of  us  both  small  and  great  are  entitled  to  a 
voice  in  its  ordering.  It  is,  moreover,  the  plain  duty 
of  its  ministers  to  minister  to  all  alike,  in  sacred  things 
— to  be  neither  "working  men's  parsons,"  nor,  as  a 
clergyman  put  it,  "  ecclesiastical  butlers  "  of  their  richer 
parishioners. 

Our  own   parish   church,   like    many  others,   is    all 
too    large    for    our    attenuated,    steadily    diminishing 


OLD  GRAVESTONES  221 

congregations.  East  Anglia  was  once  both  populous  and 
prosperous,  and  means  were  forthcoming  in  abundance 
for  building  great  churches.  Now,  many  of  those 
churches  stand  almost  empty ;  alms  bags  go  round  in- 
cessantly, but  the  yield  is  scanty,  and  the  burden  of 
maintenance  on  incumbents  and  impoverished  land- 
owners, is  unduly  heavy. 

The  register  for  1 803  records  the  burial  of  four  young 
sailor  men  from  a  Danish  West  Indiaman,  wrecked  upon 
Sizewell  beach  ;  Hans  Hansen,  Christen  Christensen, 
Olla  Petersen,  and  Julius  Lehus,  No  pious  hand  was 
found  to  place  in  God's  acre  any  memorial  to  these 
poor  seafarers. 

It  has,  no  doubt,  surprised  many  persons  that  there 
are  so  few  old  gravestones  in  our  Suffolk  churchyards. 
In  other  parts  one  finds  much  older  incised  inscriptions  ; 
in  the  Scottish  Highlands  for  example ;  but  there  they 
have  imperishable  slate ;  whereas  we  use  a  softer 
stone  from  which  the  lettering  is  soon  weathered 
away. 

I  think  the  earliest  gravestones  in  our  own  churchyard, 
on  which  inscriptions  can  be  read,  besides  Fenn's  "  stone 
to  sitt  upon,"  are  to  the  memory  of:  Ann  wife  of 
Charles  Foulsham  1761,  Thomas  Broom  1770,  Elizabeth 
Watling  1779,  Thomas  Watling  1780,  Mary  Wilson 
1780,  John  Bidwell  1784,  John  Wilson  1785,  John 
Robertson  1788,  Ann  Dickerson  1794  and  Phillis 
Canham  1797.  I  put  these  on  record  as  the  inscriptions 
will  soon  have  become  illegible. 

But  indeed,  gravestones  anywhere  are  not  very  ancient. 
According  to  Weever  "  it  was  the  use  and  custome  of 
reverend  antiquitie,  to  interre  persons  of  the  rusticke  or 
plebeian  sort  in  Christian  buriall,  without  any  further 
remembrance  of  them  either  by  tombe,  gravestone,  or 
epitaph." 


222  THEBERTON  HOUSE 

In  1805,  the  "Brick  House,"  and  some  two  hundred 
acres  of  land  with  sundry  cottages,  were  put  up  and 
sold  by  auction,  the  purchaser  being  Mr.  Thomas 
Whiting  Wootton.  Among  the  items  referred  to  in  the 
particulars,  I  find  the  "  Mount,  or  Prospect  House." 
The  mount  or  mound  remains,  but  the  prospect  or 
summer-house,  which  then  stood  upon  it  has  disap- 
peared. The  origin  of  the  little  mound  is  unknown ; 
but  parish  wiseacres  "  know  it  for  sure  "  that  from  it 
Cromwell  bombarded  Leiston  Abbey !  The  house  was 
sold  by  Mr.  Goldsbury  as  has  been  said,  but  had 
belonged  to  the  Jesups,  an  old  Theberton  name.^  It 
was  quite  a  small  place  till  about  1834,  when  Mr. 
Wootton  built  to  it  and  made  the  present  house,  to 
which  he  gave  the  name  Theberton  House,  and  from 
two  fields,  Backhouse  Field  and  Brick-kiln  Piece  or 
Brick-kiln  Walk,  he  formed  the  present  park.  Another 
field  was  called  "  Honours,"  from  the  name  perhaps  of 
some  old  proprietor,  after  whom  Honour  Lane  also 
may  have  been  called. 

Our  next  rector  was  John  Carleton,  D.D.,  Chaplain-in- 
Ordinary  to  the  King,  instituted  in  18 14  on  the  death 
of  Mr.  Wyatt.  Dr.  Carleton  did  not  reign  long,  his 
passing  bell  was  tolled  in  1819,  and  the  ringers  had 
three  shillings  for  tolling  it.  Two  bells  are  used  for 
passing  bells  in  Theberton  ;  for  the  greater  is  charged 
eighteenpence  for  an  hour,  and  for  the  smaller,  one 
shilling.  For  a  rector,  it  seems  to  have  been  the  custom 
to  toll  the  greater  bell  for  two  hours. 

In  1832  died  the  Rev.  George  Clarke  Doughty  of 
Theberton    Hall ;    he    had    long    survived    his    wife 

*  A  tomb  in  the  churchyard  near  the  chancel  door  is  inscribed 
to  the  memory  of  Samuel  Jesup,  who  died  in  1788  aged  23,  and  of 
William,  son  of  Daniel  Jesup,  wlio  died  in  1796  aged  19. 


RULES  FOR  A  HOLY  LIFE  223 

Catherine  heiress  of  the  Brockford  branch  of  the  old 
family  of  Revett ;  he  was  vicar  of  Hoxne  and  Denham, 
rector  of  Martlesham.  This  is  extracted  from  a  con- 
temporary Norwich  newspaper:  "On  Monday  last  the 
remains  of  the  Rev.  George  Clarke  Doughty  were 
interred  in  the  chancel  of  Hoxne  Church.  His  loss 
will  be  long  lamented  by  his  numerous  friends  and 
connexions,  to  whom  he  was  in  the  strictest  sense  the 
sincere  friend,  the  good  landlord,  the  kind  patron  of 
the  poor,  and  the  most  philanthropic  of  men.  The 
parish  of  Hoxne  will  long  remember  their  old  Pastor 
who  acted  as  the  friend,  the  brother  and  the  adviser, 
of  every  inhabitant  of  the  Parish." 

George  Clarke  Doughty 's  great-grandfather,  another 
George  born  in  1655,  had  also  been  rector  of  Martles- 
ham. His  quaint  "  Rules  for  a  holy  life "  are  in  my 
possession,  and  it  is  evident  from  his  letters  that  his  own 
life  was  ruled  by  them. 

These  are  the  lines ; — 

Apparel  sober,  neat,  comely. 
Conversation  little,  honest,  heavenly. 
Diet  temperate,  convenient,  frugal. 
Manners  grave,  courteous,  cheerful. 
Prayers  short,  devout,  frequent. 
Recreations  lawful,  brief,  seldom. 
Sleep  moderate,  quiet,  seasonable 
Thoughts  divine,  awful,  useful. 
Will  constant,  ready,  obedient. 
Works  profitable,  holy,  useful. 

George  Clarke  Doughty  inherited  the  estate  of 
Martlesham  Hall  and  the  advowson  of  Martlesham 
rectory  from  his  mother,  heiress  of  the  Goodwins  of 
Martlesham. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  Strong  M.A.  was  instituted  to 
the  Rectory  of  Theberton  in  18 19  on  the  death  of 
Dr.  Carleton. 


2S4  A  THEBERTON  STATESMAN 

About  this  time,  we  first  find  the  name,  Thomas 
Gibson,  in  our  parish  documents.  The  step-son  of  Mr. 
Wootton  who  died  in  1844,  he  inherited  Theberton 
House,  and  entered  political  life  as  Tory  member  for 
Ipswich.  Later,  having  assumed  the  additional  surname 
of  Milner  and  joined  the  Liberal  party,  he  became  a 
member  of  Lord  Palmerston's  Cabinet  of  1859  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Trade.  Of  Mr.  Milner-Gibson,  who 
was  a  good  neighbour  and  a  kind  friend  of  the  writer, 
one  son  survives,  Mr.  G.  Milner-Gibson-Cullum  of  Hard- 
wick  House,  near  Bury  St.  Edmunds. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

In  1820,  John  Pipe  tolled  the  bell  for  the  funeral  of 
King  George  III.  His  trade  of  shoemaker  was  for  a 
small  village  quite  extensive,  he  employed  some  five  or 
six  journeymen.  He  seems  to  have  kept  school  also.  I 
find  a  bill  of  his  among  the  parish  documents :  "  to  half 
a  year's  schooling  £1.  i8j.  6d."  which  may  perhaps 
have  been  the  parish  subscription  on  behalf  of  pauper 
children. 

A  bill  dated  1822  was  not  at  the  first  glance  easy  to 
interpret  "  To  3/4  day  of  myself  and  lad  putting  up  pool 
on  the  steble  oak  plank  for  bottom  of  pool."  One  had 
to  call  to  mind  that  there  is  a  flagstaff  upon  our  church 
tower. 

"  A  bell  for  Majesty  "  was  tolled  on  the  death  of  King 
George  IV.  in  1830. 

In  that  year,  occurs  the  last  account  I  have  found  with 
the  item  "  Pd.  Apparitor."  It  was  high  time  indeed  that 
those  "  moral  police  "  of  the  Church  of  England  should  be 
disestablished  and  disendowed. 

Some  thatching  to  both  church  and  chancel  roofs, 
was  done  in  1830,  we  find  payments  by  the  parish,  and 
by  the  Rector  Mr.  Strong  respectively. 

The  Rev.  Charles  Montagu  Doughty,  son  of  George 
Clarke  Doughty,  held  his  first  court  for  the  manor  of 
Theberton  in  1834. 

Q 

aas  ^ 


226    THE  LAST  PARISH  PERAMBULATION 

And  a  white  stone  should  mark  that  year  for  the  last 
perambulation  of  our  parish — which  an  old  friend  of 
mine  who  died  but  a  few  years  ago,  could  remember. 
It  seems  indeed  to  have  been  a  most  festive  occasion. 
A  certain  Tom  Waller  was  then  mine  host  of  the  Lion. 
Of  his  name  I  retain  a  childish  remembrance  ;  for  our 
four  church  bells  chimed,  so  we  were  told,  "  Come  Tom 
Wal-ler,  come  Tom  Wal-ler."  Whether  they  brought 
him  to  church  "  regular "  I  cannot  say.  Here  is  Tom 
Waller's  bill : 

"The  Parish  of  Theberton  Dr.  to  Thomas  Waller  at  the 
perambulation  of  the  boundary  of  the  above  parish  May  lo 
1834." 

s.  d. 

Beer 8    8 

Biscuits 26 

12  to  tea 180 

16  ditto 16    o 

Beer no 

Brandy 23 

Brandy  and  water  .  2    6 

Gin  and  water     .    .  36 

Rum  and  water  .    .  20 

ditto  and  ditto    .    .  20 

Beer  and  tobacco  .  i     o 

Mr.  Smy  day  work.  7     6 

2  leading  men    .   .  40 

Mr.  Waller  was  not  good  at  his  addition,  for  the  total 
is  wrong  by  two  shillings — against  himself.  Discreet 
obscurity  veils  the  last  two  items.  Was  it  Mr.  Smy's 
well  paid  work,  to  pilot  the  procession  through  the 
intricacies  of  their  perambulation }  And  the  two  leading 
men  }  Had  they  to  lead  the  field,  over  the  hedges  and 
ditches.^  or  was  it  their  office,  after  the  beer,  the  brandy, 
the  gin,  and  the  rum,  had  been  imbibed,  to  lead  the 
weaker  brethren  to  their  homes  }  It  was  a  roaring  day 
at  all  events  for  the  Lion  and  for  Mr.  Waller. 


A  PARISH  EMIGRANT  227 

Tom  Waller  must  have  been  a  jolly  soul,  with  great 
power  of  social  attraction.  While  he  was  innkeeper, 
our  parish  meetings  were  more  thirsty  than  of  old.  In 
1827  a  "  Churchwarding's  meeting"  drank  Ss.  ^d.  worth 
of  beer  at  the  Lion.  Sound  stuff  no  doubt,  bad  for 
neither  the  heads  nor  feet  of  the  parish  fathers.  ;^i  was 
spent,  while  he  was  still  landlord,  on  a  subsequent 
occasion. 

Tied  up  with  a  bundle  of  bills  endorsed  "  Church- 
wardens bills  to  Michaelmas  1835,"  I  find  a  bill  headed 
"Emigrant's  expenses."  The  law  was  then  that  rate- 
payers could  direct  money  to  be  raised  to  defray  the 
expense  of  the  emigration  of  poor  persons  settled  in 
their  parish,  with  consent  of  the  Poor  Law  Board.  This 
bill  shows  that  the  Act  was  brought  into  operation 
at  Theberton,  and  that  in  no  illiberal  spirit ;  it  ran  thus  : 

Emigrant's  expences 

£  s-d. 

Paid  William  Cable  conveyance 110 

Toll  Gates 10 

At  Wangford  eating  and  beer 20 

At  Lowestof  ....  do 10 

Shop  and  flour  bill i   18     2 

Carriage  of  luggage  by  coach 24 

Butchers  bill i   ig     2 

Small  cash  and  padlock 19 

Baker's  bill  for  bread  and  bags i   10    o 

Bill  at  the  Bear  Inn 2     o  10 

Give  Cable  to  buy  liquors 50 

Expenses  at  Gorleston  day  and  night     .    .  46 

Give  Cable 400 

The  Captain  for  Cable 600 

Mr.  Preston  for  passage 10    o    o 

Expenses  coming  home 50 

Postage  of  a  letter  to  and  from  Yarmouth  .  i     5 

£■29  13    2 


Cable  seems  to  have  been  well  provided.     The  shop, 
and  flour  bill,  the  butcher's  and  the  baker's  bills  were 

Q  2 


228        EDUCATION  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

I  suppose,  for  food  on  the  voyage.  He  was  given  ^s.  to 
buy  liquors,  besides  £4  in  cash,  and  the  captain  was 
entrusted  with  another  £6,  to  be  spent  no  doubt  for  his 
advantage.  Where  our  emigrant  went  does  not  appear  ; 
wherever  it  was,  may  he  have  prospered.  His  escort 
seems  to  have  made  a  blissful  sojourn  at  the  Bear  Inn. 

The  church  was  visited  by  competent  observers  in 
1836.  The  Davy  MSS.  mention  that  the  structure  had 
then  lately  been  repaired,  and  the  roof  ceiled.  The  pulpit 
had  been  moved  to  the  north  side,  near  the  eastward 
end  of  the  nave. 

We  have  the  original  faculty,  dated  1837,  authorizing 
the  building  of  the  little  red  brick  school,  which  some  of 
us  can  remember,  upon  a  piece  of  the  churchyard.  The 
small  room — only  thirty-one  by  thirteen  feet — served 
its  modest  purpose  till  1 871,  when  it  was  replaced  by 
the  present  school,  which  I  hope  may  long  grow  in 
usefulness.  The  words  of  the  faculty  show  that  the 
churchyard  was  then  much  larger  than  there  was  need 
for  ;  yet,  though  the  site  of  the  old  school  was  thrown 
back  into  it,  a  cemetery  has  had  of  late  years  to  be 
provided,  upon  land  given  by  the  late  Mr.  Jasper 
Milner-Gibson. 

The  ignorance  of  our  poor  folk  was  formerly  deplor- 
able. Now,  it  may  be  that  teaching  is  too  ambitious,  and 
tends  to  be  superficial — too  many  subjects  attempted  ; 
and  the  children  leave  school  so  young,  that  inevitably 
they  forget  most  of  what  has  been  painfully  taught 
them,  so  that  teachers'  time  and  talents  and  the  over- 
taxed means  of  ratepayers  produce  no  adequate  results. 
But,  in  old  days,  things  were  much  worse ;  there  was 
nothing  worthy  of  the  name  of  education.  Inefficient 
dames'  schools  afforded  the  sole  opportunity  to  acquire 
even  the  sound  foundation  of  the  three  R's.     How  few 


COMMUTATION  OF  TITHES  229 

could  either  read  or  write,  is  disclosed  by  our  registers 
of  marriages.  From  1754  to  1781,  I  find  that  out  of 
one  hundred  and  forty-four  persons  married  in  Theber- 
ton,  one  hundred  and  five  could  not  write  their  names  ; 
from  1 78 1  to  1 8 14,  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  persons 
out  of  two  hundred  and  eight  were  unable  to  sign  ; 
from  18 1 3  to  1836  out  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-six 
persons,  ninety-six  were  illiterate-^ 

In  1837,  a  wall  was  built  on  the  south  side  of  the 
churchyard — the  wall  which  we  have  now.  It  cost,  with 
foundations,  coping,  and  the  piers  to  the  gate  all  told 
£2^.  13J.  8|</.  To  meet  this  outlay,  £'>f>  was  lent  by 
John  Ablett,  the  then  tenant  of  the  Church  farm  ;  to 
whom  the  repayment,  with  interest  at  5  per  cent,  in 
annual  instalments  of  £^^  was  secured  by  a  promissory 
note  of  Henry  Plant,  a  churchwarden.  This  document, 
endorsed  with  Mr.  Ablett's  receipts  for  all  instalments, 
is  in  the  parish  box. 

That  year  the  bell  was  tolled  again  "for  Majesty" 
— the  death  of  King  William  IV. ;  marking  also  the 
accession  of  our  late  venerated  Queen  Victoria ;  and 
there  is  a  charge  for  the  needful  alteration  of  the 
Liturgy. 

The  year  1838  brought  a  great  change  in  relations 
between  farmers  and  the  parson.  Not  again  was  the 
rector  or  some  one  on  his  behalf,  to  enter  the  fields  at 
harvest,  and  stick  a  green  bough  for  a  sign  of  ownership 
in  each  tenth  stook  or  shock  ;  no  more  would  the  tithe 
barn  of  the  rector  be  stored  with  tithes  in  kind.  Collec- 
lection  of  those  tithes  had  caused  endless  friction,  not 
conducive  to  the  good  influence  of  clergymen,  and  now 
a  better  system  was  to  be  substituted.  Under  the 
provisions  of  the  Tithe  Act  of  1836,  an  agreement  was 
1  See  also  p.  158. 


230         VALUE  OF  THEBERTON  TITHES 

made  between  Mr.  Strong  as  rector  of  Theberton,  on 
the  one  part,  and  certain  owners  of  not  less  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  titheable  land  in  the  parish  on  the  other 
part ;  and  by  this  statutory  compact  the  tithes  were 
commuted  for  a  yearly  rent  charge  of  ^^430.  los.  How 
this  sum  of  rent  charge  was  arrived  at,  evidence  might 
perhaps  be  raked  out  of  the  dust  of  some  Government 
office,  but  I  have  not  made  any  search  for  it.  In  cases 
not  settled  by  agreement,  the  Act  prescribed  that  the 
average  value  of  the  tithes  for  the  seven  years  which 
ended  at  Christmas  1835,  should  be  the  basis  of  com- 
mutation. This  principle  may,  or  may  not,  have  been 
adopted  here.  If  it  were,  six  out  of  the  seven  must  have 
been  bounteous  years  indeed,  for  assuming  a  terrier  of 
1834  to  be  reliable,  the  income  from  the  tithes  and 
glebe  that  year  was  no  more  than  in  1820,  viz.,  ;^200. 

Looking  back  through  preceding  terriers  and  other 
documents  available,  for  evidence  of  the  value  of  the 
living,  quite  surprising  are  their  discrepancies.  We  know 
that  in  the  first  year  of  Elizabeth,  the  value  was  assessed 
in  the  King's  Books  at  £26.  13^.  4<t  More  than  a 
century  later  in  1668,  we  have  seen  that  John  Hacket's 
petition  stated  the  yearly  value  as  "  not  above  £70."  In 
I706,  1709,  and  17 16,  Robert  Wychingham's  terriers  put 
it  at  ;^30.  In  1720,  the  living  had  under  the  Act  of 
Anne  been  exempted  from  First  Fruits,  on  the  ground 
that  it  produced  less  than  ;^5o,  viz.  £^i.  13J.  4d.  In 
1723,  a  terrier  sets  the  value  at  ;^40.  For  1725  and 
1729,  the  terriers  of  Wychingham  junior  returned  the 
old  value  of  ;^30.  Likewise  that  of  Robert  Hacon  for 
1735.  In  1740,  the  value  rose  to  £60.  From  1747  to 
18 1 3  both  inclusive,  during  incumbencies  of  Benjamin 
Taylor,  James  Benet,  John  Whittington,  James  Benet 
the  second,  and  William  Wyatt,  their  terriers  repeat  the 


UNTRUSTWORTHY  TERRIERS  231 

accustomed  figure  of  £^o.  Yet,  as  it  will  be  remembered, 
John  Taylor — ah'as  Orthodoxus — testified  that  in  1762, 
the  Rectory  was  worth  quite  ;^2CX)  a  year.  And  in 
Bacon's  edition  of  Liber  Regis  dated  1786,  we  find  two 
figures  of  value,  the  one  ;^3i.  13^.  4^.  plainly  copied 
from  the  bishop's  return  under  the  Act  of  Anne — and 
the  other  £iSO,  of  which  no  explanation  is  given,  but 
which  must  have  been  intended  for  the  then  actual 
value.i  Again  for  1808  and  1809, 1  find  that  Mr.  Wyatt 
then  rector,  was  assessed  for  property  tax  at  ;iC20 — I 
think  for  glebe,  and  ;^240  for  tithes. 

Such  is  the  evidence :  the  reader  will  form  his  own 
conclusion.  My  own  view  is,  that  terriers,  as  before 
said,  used  to  be  copied  carelessly  from  each  other ; 
and  that  no  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  them.  This 
view  is  strengthened  by  another  consideration.  During 
the  ;^30  terrier  period,  at  all  events  from  1748  to  1813, 
a  regular  succession  of  curates  in  charge  represented 
non-resident  rectors.  Following  poor  Orthodoxus,  who 
starved  on  ;^2o  a  year,  came  S.  Foster,  W.  Smith, 
N.  E.  Smith,  W.  Bradley,  D.  E.  Davey,  W.  Cole, 
C.  Brown,  and  F.  H.  Groom.  That  such  a  poor  milch 
cow  as  a  living  of  ;^30  a  year,  could  supply  its  rectors 
with  cream  worth  the  skimming,  and  their  curates  with 
skim  milk  enough  to  keep  them  alive,  is  quite  incredible. 
We  may,  I  think,  believe  the  evidence  of  John  Racket  ; 
of  "  Orthodoxus "  ;  of  the  Liber  Regis ;  and  of  the 
assessment  of  1808  ;  and  discard  the  tales  of  the  terriers 
as  utterly  untrustworthy. 

As  to  the  period  after  18 13,  terriers  tell  us  that  ir|- 
1820  the  yearly  income  was  ;^200  ;  in  1834  the  same  ; 
in  1835  Lewis'  Topographical  Dictionary  gives  the  net  in- 

**  I  have  to  thank  my  friend  Mr.  Herbert  M.  F.  White  for  kind 
assistance  here. 


232  A  POET  RECTOR 

come  as  ;^354;  and  in  1838,  the  tithes  were  commuted  we 
know,  for  ;^430.  los.  With  regard  to  the  rise  from  ;^i50 
in  1786,  to  ;C200  in  1820 — if  we  may  accept  the  former 
figure — it  is  explainable  by  the  fact  that,  though  the 
enclosure  award  had  then  not  yet  been  published,  new 
tithes  were  created  by  the  operation  of  the  Enclosure 
and  the  Drainage  Acts.  As  to  the  jump  from  ;^20o 
to  £3S4,  and  thence  to  the  commutation  value 
;^430.  lOi-.:  "that  I  must  leave,"  as  we  say  in  Suffolk. 
I  have  no  explanation  to  offer. 

The  Commutation  Agreement  sets  out  the  same 
customs  of  titheing  as  are  recorded  in  the  survey  of 
1754.  They  of  course  went  the  way  of  tithes  in  kind, 
and  after  1838  ceased  to  be  payable. 

In  1 841,  the  Rev.  Henry  Hardinge  was  instituted  to 
the  Rectory  on  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Strong  ;  he  was  a 
man  of  cultured  taste,  an  accomplished  linguist,  and 
author  of  a  poem  "The  Creation"  published  in  1863;  he 
had  for  some  years  been  curate  for  Mr.  Strong,  in  charge 
of  the  parish.  The  bad  system  of  pluralist  parsons  and 
poor  starveling  curates,  was  not  to  endure  much  longer ; 
but  so  late  as  1837,  there  were  still  no  less  than  five 
hundred  non-resident  beneficed  clergy — Mr.  Strong 
among  them — in  this  diocese  of  Norwich. 

Two  alms  plates  or  patens  which  he  presented  to  the 
church  keep  Mr.  Strong's  name  in  our  remembrance. 

This  year  saw  the  erection  of  a  gallery  supported  by 
wooden  arches,  across  the  west  end  of  the  church, 
in  place  of  the  former  platform.  I  find  only  one  bill 
relating  to  this  work,  dated  1841  :  "to  George  Ward 
for  building  the  gallery,  ;£"io." 

The  baptism  of  the  present  writer  is  registered  in 
1841  ;  and  in  1843  the  register  records  the  baptism 
of  his  brother  Charles  Montagu   Doughty,  author  of 


THE  CHURCH  RESTORED  233 

"  Arabia  Deserta "  and  "  The  Dawn  in  Britain "  ;  and 
also  the  burial  of  their  mother,  Frederica  Doughty, 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Frederick  Hotham, 
then  rector  of  Dennington. 

The  Davy  MSS.  describe  the  church  in  the  year 
1848.  Pews  then  nearly  filled  the  chancel,  but  the  nave 
had  been  re-seated,  and  the  aisle  completely  restored  by 
my  father,  at  a  cost  of  nearly  ;^2,ooo.  The  author  of  the 
MSS.  noted  with  some  disapproval  the  stencilled  walls 
and  pillars  of  the  aisle.  He  did  not  know,  perhaps,  that 
Mr.  Cottingham  the  eminent  church  architect,  had  but 
followed  a  practice  of  the  period  to  which  the  aisle 
belongs.  There  are  original  examples  in  England  and 
in  some  ancient  churches  of  North  Germany  which  I 
have  seen.  The  gallery  was  not  touched  at  this  time ; 
remaining  till  Mr.  Bradstreet  succeeded  to  the  Rectory 
on  the  death  of  Mr.  Hardinge  ;  it  was  removed,  I  think, 
in  1866.  Afterwards,  an  organ,  and  a  choir  of  good 
intentions,  supplanted  the  "  company  of  singers." 

There  was  granted  in  1846,  a  faculty  for  seats  in  the 
then  restored  aisle,  to  compensate  Mr.  Doughty  for 
"the  ancient  pews  which  had  belonged  to  his  Hall  by 
prescriptive  right."  My  father  did  not  live  long  after 
his  work  of  restoration  ;  he  died  in  1850. 

The  pulpit  had  been  moved,  I  think,  during  these 
works;  it  had  undergone  former  migrations  in  1822, 
and  in  1841.  In  1882,  it  was  proposed  once  more  to 
remove  it,  and  I  remember  well,  how  at  a  vestry  meeting 
we  all  laughed  at  the  suggestion  of  a  worthy  church- 
warden that  it  be  put  upon  casters  ;  he  had,  he  told 
us,  known  three  Reverends,  and  each  wanted  it  in  a 
different  place.  If  it  had  been  upon  casters,  they 
might  have  pleased  themselves,  without  expense  to 
the    parish. 


234  THE  GLEANING  BELL 

Till  about  halfway  through  last  century,  one  interest- 
ing custom  still  held  its  own  among  us  at  Theberton — 
the  gleaning  bell.  Blackstone's  opinion  was,  that  the 
Common  Law  of  England  allowed  the  poor  to  enter  on 
any  man's  ground  to  glean  after  harvest.  That  opinion 
was  over-ruled  by  legal  decision,  but  the  practice  held 
on  under  kindly  favour  of  the  farmers.  It  happens  that 
many  parish  bills  of  the  time  have  been  preserved  ; 
and  they  show  that,  from  1815  to  1849,  a  gleaning  bell 
was  paid  for  every  year.  It  was  rung  for  two  or  three 
weeks,  according  to  circumstances  ;  in  18 15,  for  instance, 
"from  1 2th  August  at  Mr.  Heath's,  to  31st  at  Mr. 
Ablett's."  I  think  that  at  one  time  all  persons  belonging 
to  our  parish,  and  perhaps  also  outsiders,  after  sound 
of  the  morning  bell,  were  at  liberty  to  glean  where  they 
pleased,  but  that  latterly  this  licence  was  restricted,  and 
each  farm  became  a  preserve  for  the  families  of  the  men 
employed  on  it.  At  the  present  time,  self-binding  and 
reaping  machines,  and  horse  rakes  following  close  behind 
the  wagons,  leave  but  few  ears  upon  the  ground ; 
and,  moreover,  the  price  of  corn  has  not  for  many  years 
been  high  enough  to  attract  the  women — now,  happily, 
so  much  better  to  do — to  a  petticoat  harvest  in  the 
fields. 

The  following  lines  I  quote  from  a  little  volume — 
"  Suffolk  Largess,"  kindly  given  to  me,  soon  after  it 
appeared  in  1865,  by  the  author.  He  was  a  police- 
constable  stationed  at  Theberton,  who  preferred  to  veil 
his  identity  under  the  pseudonym  of  "  Quill."  Our  good 
old  Suffolk  speech  is  fairly  well  rendered  : — 


(Morning) 
Why  !  listen,  yow  be  quiet,  bo' — the  bell  is  tolling  eight 
Why  don't  yow  mind  what  you're  about?    We're  allers  kind  o' 

late! 


THE  END  OF  THE  STORY  285 

Now   Mary,  get  that  mawther  dressed — oh  dear !  how  slow  yow 

fare 

There  come  a  lot  o'  gleaners  now.     Maw,  don't  stand  gawkin' 

there  ! 

(Evening) 
Dear  me  !  there  goo  the  bell  agin — 'tis  seven  I  declare 
And  we  don't  fare  to  have  got  none  : — the  gleaning  now  don't  fare 
To  be  worth  nothin' ;  but  I  think — as  far  as  I  can  tell 
We'll  try  a  coomb  somehow  to  scratch,  if  we  be  live  and  well. 

And  now  my  work  may  end.  The  story  of  nearly 
eight  centuries  has  been  brought  down  to  1850,  within 
old  people's  memories.  Some  day  perhaps,  another 
pen  may  care  to  carry  on  these  simple  Chronicles  of 
Theberton. 


Among     Authorities     consulted     for     this     book     may     be 
mentioned  : — 

"  The  Doomsday  Survey." 

"  The  Saxon  Chronicle." 

Chaucer.    "  Prologue  to  the  Canterbury  Tales." 

"  Collectanea  Anglo  Premonstratensia."     Gasquet. 

"  Abstracts  of  Charters  from  the  Register  of  Leiston  Priory. 

British  Museum,  Cotton  MSS.  Vespasian  E.  XIV. 
Jessop's  "  Diocesan  History  of  Norwich." 
Suckling's  «  Suffolk." 
"  Deer  and  Deer  Parks."     E.  P.  Shirley. 
Davy's  "  Suffolk  Collections."    Add.  MSS.  British  Museum. 
Stephen's  "  New  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England." 
CuUum's  "  History  of  Hawsted." 
"  Suffolk  Records  and  MSS."    Copinger. 
"Parliamentary  History  of  England"  (23  volumes). 
Raven.     "  History  of  Suffolk." 
Tanner.     "  Notitia  Monastica."     1787. 
Gamier.     "  Annals  of  the  British  Peasantry." 
Gamier.     "  History  of  the  English  Landed  Interest." 
Hawes'  "  History  of  Framlingham."     1798. 
Rolls  of  Manor  of  Middleton  cum  Fordley. 
Rolls  of  Manor  of  Middleton  Chickering. 
Rolls  of  Manor  of  Theberton. 

*'  Diary  and  .Autobiography  of  Edmund  Bohun."     Rix. 
"The  East  Anglian  Rising,  1381."     Powell. 
"  The  Founders  of  Penang  and  Adelaide."    A.  F.  Steuart. 
"  Memorials  of  Old  Suffolk."    V.  B.  Redstone. 


238  AUTHORITIES   CONSULTED 

"  Wenhaston  and  Bulcamp  Suffolk."    Rev.  J.  B.  Clare. 

"Thorington  Registers."     Rev.  T.  Hill. 

Wise.     "  History  and  Scenery  of  the  New  Forest." 

Tusser.     "Five    Hundred    Points    of    Good    Husbandry." 

Edition  of  1812. 
"The  Old  Times  Parson."    Ditchfield. 
Fuller's  "Worthies  of  England." 

"  Leaves  from  the  Note  Book  of  Lady  Dorothy  Nevill."     1907. 
Stebbing's  "  History  of  the  Church." 
Walker's  "  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy." 

Kingston's  "East  Anglia  and  the  Great  Civil  War."     1897. 
"  Poems  of  Bishop  Richard  Corbet."    4th  Edition. 
Cobbett's  "  Rural  Rides." 
Disraeli.    "  Curiosities  of  Literatui-e." 
Disraeli.    "  Miscellanies  of  Literature." 
Shaw's  "  Parish  Law." 
"Suffolk  in  1674  :  Hearth  Tax  Returns." 
Ecton's  "  Thesaurus." 
"  The  Clerical  Guide."     1829. 
"  Index  Villaris."     1680. 
Walter  Rye.    "  History  of  Norfolk." 
Capper.     "Topographical   Dictionary  of  United   Kingdom." 

1825. 
Reyce's  "  Breviary  of  Suffolk."    Lord  F.  Hervey. 
"  MS.  Collections  for  Dennington,"  by  Edward  Dunthorne.     In 

possession  of  the  author. 
Cox.    "  Magna  Britannia  Suffolk." 
Ecton.     "  Liber  Valorum  et  Decimarum."     171 1. 
Webb.    "  English  Local  Government." 
Hone.    "  Every  Day  Book." 
Bacon's  "  Liber  Regis."     1 780. 
"  Suffolk  Sportsman."    Symonds. 
"Taxatio  Ecclesiastica"  of  Pope  Nicholas  IV. 
Taylor's  "Index  Monasticus,  Diocese  of  Norwich."     1821. 
"  Valor  Ecclesiasticus."     Circa,  1535. 
Lewis'  "Topographical  Dictionary  of  England." 
"  Tract  on  the  Commodities  of  England."   Sir  John  Fortescue. 
"  Sportsman's  Dictionary."     1735. 
Strutt's  "  Sports  and  Pastimes." 
Brand's  "  Popular  Antiquities." 


AUTHORITIES  CONSULTED  239 

Burton's  "  Anatomy  of  Melancholy." 

"Excursions  through  Suffolk."     1818. 

"  Paston  Letters."    Gairdner's  Edition,  1908. 

*'  Suffolk  Feet  of  Fines." 

Suffolk  Institute  of  Archaeology,  &c.,  Publications. 

Bishop's  Registers,  Norwich. 

Acts  of  Court  Books,  Norwich. 

Bishop's  Visitation  Book,  Norwich. 

Cal.  Dom.  State  Papers. 

Calendars  of  Wills,  Norwich.     Probate  Registry. 

Sacrist's  Register,  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Norwich  Records. 

Prior's  Register,  Dean  and  Chapter  Records,  Norwich. 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury's  Registers,  Lambeth. 

*'  Victoria  History — Suffolk. 

Mandates  to  Induct,  Suffolk  Archdeaconry  Register,  Ipswich. 

Visitation  Books,  ditto. 

Act  Books,  ditto. 

Parish  Registers,  Theberton. 

Parish  Accounts,  ditto. 

Parish  Registers,  Middleton. 

Parish  Accounts,  ditto. 

Calendars  of  Patent  Rolls. 

P.R.O.  Rentals. 

Sign  Manual  Warrants. 

Exchequer  Depositions. 

Early  Chancery  Proceedings. 

Star  Chamber  Proceedings. 

Chancery  Inquisitions  post  mortem. 

Domestic  State  Papers,  Ipswich. 

"Ship  Money  Returns,  Suffolk,  1639-46."    V.  B.  Redstone. 

Return   of    Rates    (Suffolk)    collected    pursuant    to    Act    of 

Parliament,    16   Charles    I,    1642.     Original  in  Bury   St. 

Edmunds  Museum. 
Jortin.     "  Ecclesiastical  History." 
Gasquet.     "  Parish  Life  in  Mediaeval  England." 
East  Anglian  Daily  Times  Miscellany. 
"Gleanings  after  Time."     G.  L.  Apperson,  1907. 
"  Piers  the  Plowman."     Professor  Skeat. 
Lecture    on    Chaucer.      Professor    Skeat.       Times    Report, 

June  2,  1898. 


240  AUTHORITIES  CONSULTED 

"  Anglo-Saxon  Britain."    Grant  Allen. 

"  Precedents  in  Criminal  Causes."    Archdeacon  Hale. 

Ranke's  "  History  of  the  Popes." 

Foxe's  "  Book  of  Martyrs. " 

Weever's  "  Funeral  Monuments." 

"  History  of  Hampshire."     Shore. 

*'  North  Wales."    S.  Baring  Gould. 

Green's  "  History  of  the  English  People." 


A   FEW  NOTES   AND   ILLUSTRATIONS 

By  the  Rev.  PROFESSOR  SKEAT 

I  TRUST  I  may  be  allowed  to  add  a  few  notes,  on  my  own 
account,  upon  a  few  points  which  have  come  under  my  special 
notice. 

With  regard  to  the  footnote  on  p.  2,  I  do  not  feel  sure  that  I 
have  expressed  myself  clearly.  I  mean  that  the  present  name  of 
Theberton  has  resulted  from  the  old  name  by  regular  changes, 
and  in  this  sense  has  been  preserved.  The  pronunciation  of 
Theod-beorhtes  tun  can  only  be  fully  appreciated  by  such  as  have 
learnt  a  little  Anglo-Saxon.  Theod-beorht  is  composed  of  two 
elements  ;  the  former,  "  theod,"  means  "  people,"  and  the  latter 
means  "bright."  Most  of  our  old  names  are  thus  strangely  com- 
pounded. Each  element  must  have  its  meaning ;  but  the  whole 
compound  is  usually  nonsensical.  A  large  number  of  Old  English 
Christian  names  still  survive  as  surnames  ;  and  Theodbeorht  is  the 
source  of  the  modern  Tebbut,  Tebbott,  Tebbit,  and  Tibbert. 

At  p.  31  occurs  "le  Packeway."  The  word  "pack"  is  first 
recorded  in  1225.  The  word  "pedder"  is  derived  from  "ped," 
which  meant  "  a  basket,"  and  is  equivalent  to  "  pedlar "  ;  they 
hawked  things  (originally  fish)  about  in  baskets.  The  Latin 
"  pedes  "  could  only  have  yielded  "  peder  "  ;  so  that  Weever's  guess 
is  impossible. 

At  p.  99,  the  best  edition  of  Tusser  is  noted  as  being  that  of 
181 2.  A  newer  edition  was  printed  for  the  English  Dialect  Society 
in  1878,  with  notes  and  a  glossary  ;  it  leaves  little  to  be  desired. 

At  p.  130,  the  passage  is  as  follows  :  "  Qui  alteri  dederit  liquorem 
in  quo  mus  vel  mustela  fuerint  submersi,  si  secularis  homo  sit,  tres 
dies   jejunet ;    si    monasticus    sit,    trecentos    psalmos    cantet." — 

t4i  R 


242     A  FEW  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Confessionale  Ecgberti,  §  40.  This  Ecgbert  was  Archbishop  of 
York.  The  Confessionale  is  printed  in  Thorpe's  Ancient  Laws, 
vol.  ii. 

A  "  whitteritt,"  at  p.  130,  is  the  same  as  a  "whitrack,"  otherwise 
called  a  " whutthroat,"  />.,  white-throat.  "Whitrack"  means 
"  white  neck,"  from  "  rack,"  a  neck.  See  Whitrack  and  Rack  in 
the  English  Dialect  Dictionary.  The  throat  of  the  weasel  is 
white. 

At  p.  142,  there  is  no  difficulty  as  to  "a  payre  of  uppbodyes." 
It  means  a  pair  of  stays,  to  keep  the  bodies  up. 

P.  163,  note.  The  wood- wale  is  the  green  woodpecker  ;  see  the 
English  Dialect  Dictionary.  It  is  so  explained  in  my  Glossary  to 
Chaucer. 

Where  the  Suffolk  man  says  "an  alpe,"  meaning  a  bull-finch, 
the  Shropshire  man  says  "  a  nope,"  shifting  the  n  from  the  article 
to  the  substantive.  The  origin  is  unknown,  but  "alpe"  is  certainly 
the  older  form. 


Richard  Clay  and  Sons,  Limited, 

bread  stkeet  hill,  e.c.,  and 

bungay,  suffolk. 


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