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SAXHAM, (LITTLE) in 1844, 4 miles W. of Bury St. Edmund's, is a small scattered
village, and parish, containing 230 souls, and about 1,200 acres of fertile
land, all the property and manor of the Marquis of Bristol, who is also patron
of the rectory, valued in K. B. at £8. l1s. 5d., and in 1835, at £300. The Rev.
P. Wakeham is the incumbent. The Church (St. Nicholas) is an ancient fabric with
a round tower, and contains elegant altar monuments and recumbent effigies of
Lord Crofts and his lady. The Lucas, and after them the Crofts family,were
seated here for a long period. Several of the latter received the honour of
knighthood; and one of them, Sir Thomas Crofts, was high sheriff of Suffolk in
the 36th of Elizabeth. His grandson, William Crofts, was a great sufferer for
his loyalty to the Stuart family, and in consideration of his services, Charles
II. created him a peer of the realm in 1658, by the title of Baron Crofts, of
Saxham, which became extinct on his death, without issue, in 1677. The Hall, to
which Lord Crofts added a grand apartment for the reception of Charles II., was
probably built in the reign of Henry VII. It was pulled down in 1771, when much
of its painted glass was inserted in the windows of the church. A yearly rent
charge of £4 16s. is paid by the Marquis of Bristol, out of his estates in this
parish, in satisfaction of bequests to the poor, amounting to about £90, and
left by William Firmage, Lord Crofts, and William and Anthony Crofts, Esqrs.
This rent charge is distributed in coals and flour, among the poor of the
parish, together with the dividends of £289 12s. 6d. three per cent. Consols,
purchased with £200 left by Mrs. Mary Green, in 1814. DIRECTORY
Rev. Henry Ashington, curate;
Mr. Thomas Rodwell, Honey-Hill;
Elizabeth Cornell, farmer;
Jas. Rodwell Kerry, farmer, Honey-Hill;
and Catherine Jane Stutter, farmer.
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