PREFACE 



EAST ANGLIA exhibits a peculiar difficulty to the county 

 historian on account of the small size, and consequently the 

 large number, of its parishes and manors. This is probably 

 the cause of various unsuccessful attempts to' write the 

 history of Suffolk. Some of these efforts have so far matured as 

 to reach the stage of the publication of one or two volumes, while 

 others have not got beyond the stage of preliminary manuscript 

 collections. The first to attempt a county history of Suffolk was 

 John Gage, F.R.S., F.S.A., who, in 1838, took the name of Rokewode. 

 He published, in 1822, The History and Antiquities of Hengrave, in which 

 parish was the family seat of his father and afterwards of his elder 

 brother. In 1838 he issued the first volume of his proposed larger work, 

 The History and Antiquities of Su^olk, containing the history of the hundred 

 of Thingoe, the only part of his history which reached publication. His 

 work is careful and exhaustive, and it is much to be regretted that it was 

 not completed. His valuable collections for the continuation of the 

 work are now preserved at Hengrave Hall. The next to take up the 

 history of the county was Alfred Inigo Fox, LL.B., who, in 1820, took 

 the name of Suckling. He began the publication of his History and 

 Antiquities of Suffolk in 1846, but, like Gage, he only completed the 

 history of one hundred, that of Lothingland. Kirkby's Suffolk Traveller, 

 published in 1848, and its later edition, with supplement by Augustine 

 Page, published in 1844, cannot be strictly called county histories, 

 although they contain much useful information. An admirable history 

 of the county was undertaken by the late Mr. W. A. Coppinger, M.A., 

 LL.D., F.S.A., who, in 1905, published The Manors of Suffolk, with 

 Notes on their History and Devolution. This volume contains the history 

 of the hundreds of Babergh and Blackburn. In 1908 the second 

 volume, including the hundreds of Blything, Bosmere, and Claydon, 

 appeared. Dr. Coppinger's Materials for the History of Suffolk, containing 

 references to sources for a history of the county, is of great value to all 

 those interested in the topography of Suffolk. Besides the printed 

 histories of the county, there are several manuscript collections for histories, 

 principal among which are those of David Ehsha Davy, B.A., which were 

 purchased by the British Museum in 1852 (Add. MSS. 1 9077-1 9207) ; 

 of Davy's friend, H. Jermyn, which were presented to the British 

 Museum by Herbert Gurney in 1830 (Add. MSS. 8168-96) ; and of 

 Craven Ord, F.R.S., F.S.A., most of whose collections are also now in 

 the British Museum (Add. MSS. 71 01-2, 8986-7), 



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