Post Office Directory of 1865.
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METTINGHAM is a scattered village and parish on the banks of the
Waveney, 2 miles east from Bungay, and 4 west from Beccles, its county court
district, in Wangford hundred, union and rural deanery, archdeaconry of Suffolk,
and diocese of Norwich, East Suffolk. The church of All Saints is an old
building, with round tower, and stands on an eminence, with pleasant views of
the valley of the Waveney. The living is a vicarage, valued at about £200 per
annum, in the gift of, and held by, the Rev. James Cutting Safford, B.A., of
Caius College, Cambridge. In the reign of Edward I. Sir John de Norwich was
lord, and obtained from that monarch, in 1302, a grant of free warren in
Mettinghnm, Shipmeadow, Redesham, &c.; in the ninth of Edward II. Walter de
Norwich held it; and in the reign of Edward III. it was the manor of Sir John de
Norwich, the same who built the Castle; he died in 1361. The picturesque
ivy-clad ruins shew it to have been a place of considerable extent and strength
: within the ruins, most pleasantly situated, is the residence of the Rev. J. C.
Safford, B.A., J.P., who is lord of the manor and impropriatorof the great
tithes. A college was also founded here by Sir John de Norwich, who built the
Castle: it was dedicated to God and the Blessed Virgin, and consisted of B
master and thirteen chaplains or fellows, who were endowed with the Castle for a
residence, together with the manors of Mettingham, and others in Suffolk and
Norfolk: they educated and maintained a number of boys at the annual charge of
£28: at the Dissolution their revenues were valued at £202 7s. 5 ½ d. per annum.
The soil belongs to various proprietors. The town estate consists of a cottage,
blacksmith's shop, and 36 acres of land, and two cattle-goings on Stow Fen, now
let for above £100 per annum; £30 is given in coals among the poor, £20 towards
the school, and the remainder under consideration of the Charity Commissioners
for the service of the church. The population in 1861 was 387; the area is 1,386
acres. The gross value is £3,05112s., and the rateable value £2,705 10s.
Parish Clerk, Charles Cock.
POST OFFICE.—Charles Cock, receiver. Letters arrive from Bungay at 7.45 a.m.;
dispatched at5 p.m.; on sundays at 12.30. Bungay is the nearest money order
office
Parrington Joseph, esq
Safford Rev. James Cutting, B.A., J.P. [vicar], Castle
Tallent Mrs. Anne Jane
Tallent John, esq Woraack Mrs
Bedingfield Cornelius, farmer
Bailey John, Fox & Hounds, & wheelwright & shopkeeper
Bedingfield James, farmer
Bezant Esther (Mrs.), farmer
Cock Charles, shoe maker
Colls George, farmer
Draper Charlotte (Mrs.), farmer
Durrant John, farmer
Hammond James, farmer
Holt Henry, farmer
Kent Edward, cowkeeper
Kent George, cowkeeper
Minns John, farmer
Warren Sidney, blacksmith