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Monks Eleigh, Babergh Hundred
Monks Eleigh is covered by the Cosford database
MONKS ELEIGH in 1844, is a pleasant and well-built village, in the vale of the river
Brett, nearly 6 miles N.W. of Hadleigh, and 2 miles S.W. of Bildeston.
Its parish is a peculiar of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and contains
732 souls, and 2099 acres of fertile land. On the river are two corn
mills, and in the village is a good inn, and several well-stocked shops.
The manor was given, with Hadleigh, to the monks of Canterbury, by
Brithnoth, Earl of Essex, who was killed by the Danes in 991. After the
dissolution, it was given to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, to whom
it still belongs; but the soil belongs to Isaac Strutt, Thomas Brown, and
Charles Dawson, Esqrs.; Miss Margaret Blair, Mrs. Hicks, Mr. J. Making, Mr.
S. S. Baker, and a few smaller free and copyholders. The Church (St.
Peter) is a large and handsome structure, with a tower containing six
bells, and surmounted by a small wooden spire. The interior was
thoroughly repaired in 1838, and most of the sittings are free. The
rectory, valued in K.B. at £13. 18s. 11d., and in 1835, at £422, has 16
acres of glebe, a good residence, and a yearly modus of £570, awarded in
1837. The Archbishop of Canterbury is patron, and the Rev. Henry
Carrington, M.A., incumbent. The Church Land, 2 1/2 acres, anciently
appropriated to the repairs of the parish clock, is let for about £6 a
year, which is carried to the churchwarden's account. The sums of £10,
given by Francis Causton, and £20 given by the Rev. William Moore, for bread
for the poor, were laid out in 1717 in the purchase of Butt-field, 24A.,
which was conveyed, together with two cottages belonging to the poor, to
trustees, for distributions of bread on Ash-Wednesday and Christmas-day,
among the necessitous parishioners frequenting the church. The cottages
are occupied rent-free, and the land is let for £4.10s. a year. Here is
a National School, built in 1834, and the shoolmistress has the use of
part of the old workhouse, which was divided into three tenements in
1838.
Baker Samuel Scott, veterinary surgeon, and shoeing smith
Baldwin Philip, tanner
Brentford Wm. blacksmith
Carrington Rev Hy. M.A. Rectory
Clarke Edmund William West, parish
clerk
Clarke Mary, schoolmistress
Clover Thomas, corn miller
Deaves Samuel, castrator
Fuller Edmund, beerhouse keeper
Gage Wm. butcher & cattle dealer
Garnham Henry, spirit merchant &
victualler, Red Lion
Harris John, corn miller
Hawkins Robert, ironmonger
Monks Eleigh Public Houses &
1865 directory