East Bergholt,
Samford Hundred
East Bergholt Public Houses ;
East Bergholt Whites 1855 Directory.
Transcribed by Colin Ager
EAST BERGHOLT, a large and well built village, with several handsome mansions
and well stocked shops, is pleasantly situated near the north bank of the river
Stour, six miles S.E. of Hadleigh, 9£ miles S.W. of Ipswich, and nearly three
miles W.N.W. of Manningtree Station, where the Stour begins to expand into a
broad estuary. It formerly had a market and a considerable manufacture of
flannel, baize, &c., but they went to decay more than a century ago. It has a
fair for toys, &c., on the last Wednesday in July. Its parish increased in
population from 970 souls in 1801, to 1467 in 1851; and contains 3063A. 2R. 34P.
of land. Sir Rd. Hughes, Bart., Peter Godfrey, Esq., C. D. Halford, Esq., Mrs.
Oakes, Rev. J. Rowley, W. H. Travis, and several smaller owners have estates in
the parish. P. Godfrey, Esq., is lord of the four manors called Old Hall,
Illarys, Spencer’s, and St. John’s, in the first of which the custom of Borough
English prevails. These manors were formerly held by the Hankeys. St. John’s was
given by Henry II to the Templar Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, but was
granted to the Earl of Oxford in the 36th of Henry VIII. In 1562, here were
three water mills, but only one of them is now standing. The late Sir Richard
Hughes, of East Bergholt, was created a baronet in 1773. His successor owns East
Bergholt Lodge. In 1846, C. D. Halford, Esq., purchased the West Lodge estate.
Besides these there are several other pleasant seats in the parish, but that
called Highlands, which belongs to the Oakes family, is now unoccupied, as is
also the Old Hall. The Church (St. Mary) is a neat structure, in the decorated
style, but its tower is only finished to the height of fourteen feet; the sums
given towards rebuilding it, about the year 1522, being insufficient for its
completion. The five bells hang in a sort of cage in the churchyard. The
rectory, with that of Brantham annexed to it, is valued in K.B. at £25. 10s.,
and now at £1117, and is in the patronage of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and
incumbency of the Rev. J. Rowley, M.A., who has about 45A. of glebe in the two
parishes, and two yearly rent charges, viz., £820 from East Bergholt, and £500
from Brantham, awarded in 1837, in lieu of tithes. The Rectory House is here,
and is a fine old mansion, with tasteful grounds, on a bold eminence. In the
parish is an Independent Chapel, built in the 17th century; and also a small
Primitive Methodist Chapel, erected in 1838.
East Bergholt Town Land &c., were purchased in 1695, with part of a fund which
has arisen from benefactions in and before the reign of Elizabeth, for providing
victuals to be sold at a cheap rate, and for other charitable purposes. They
were conveyed to new trustees in 1816, and comprise six cottages at Burnt Oaks,
let for £17 a year; a close of 5A. 2R. 1P., let for £9 a year; and 8A. 3R. of
land called Cow Pasture, let for £30 a year. The trustees have also £80 three
per cent annuities. The yearly income (about £58) is laid out in linen, which is
distributed among the poor parishioners on New Year’s Day. In 1720, Edward
Clarke left three cottages for the residence of three poor widows, and endowed
them with a rent charge of £12 a year out of his farm in Tattingstone. In 1725,
Joseph Chaplain left an estate, now consisting of a cottage, barn, and 16A. of
land, to Henry Hankey, Esq., and his heirs, in trust, to apply the rents thereof
in providing coats and shoes for five poor men; and gowns, petticoats, and shoes
for five poor women – such as receive no alms. This charity estate is let for
£17 a year, and the number of objects has been increased beyond that specified
by the donor. In 1758, Elizabeth Mitchell, in furtherance of the desire of her
late brother, conveyed to trustees 4A. 1R. 19P. of land, called Annett’s, upon
trust, to pay the rent thereof yearly to the churchwardens, that they might lay
it out and distribute it in bread. This land, with an allotment of 2A. awarded
at the enclosure, is let for £10 a year, which is distributed in bread on
Easter, Whit, and Advent Sundays, Christmas day, and the first Sunday in Lent.
The poor of East Bergholt have also £2. 8s. 2d. yearly from White’s Charity, as
noticed with Holton. In 1589, Edward Lamb conveyed to trustees a Schoolhouse and
a rood of land in East Bergholt, for a schoolmaster, to be appointed by the lord
of the manor of Illarys, the rector, churchwardens, and four of the chief
parishioners. In 1589, Lettice Dykes, to provide for the education of poor
children of this parish, and four of Stratford and Langham, conveyed to trustees
various lands of tenements, some of which were sold or exchanged. The property
now belonging to this trust consists of a house, barn, and about 53A. of land at
Langham and Denham, let for £66 per annum, and £120. 4s.9d. three per cent,
consols, supposed to have been derived from the sale of a house, the site of
which is included in the grounds of the Old Hall. Out of the income of the
school property, the trustees pay £40 a year to the schoolmaster for teaching 40
boys of East Bergholt as free scholars in reading, writing, and arithmetic; £10
towards the support of a girls’ school; £2 each to Stratford and Langham
parishes, for schooling four poor boys; and after providing for repairs, they
apply the surplus to the support of a Sunday school, and a School of Industry,
for poor girls of this parish. They rebuilt the Free School in 1831, at the cost
of £320. East Bergholt Heath was enclosed in 1815. On Buck’s Elm Farm is a large
Elm Tree, which measures 28£ feet in circumference, five feet from the ground.