A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



Elizabeth the eastern parts of the county, ' High Suffolk,' consisted chiefly of 

 pasture and meadow lands, with enough tillage only to supply local require- 

 ments. Central Suffolk was the great corn-growing district ; Western Suf- 

 folk, with its poorer soil, almost entirely given up to sheep farming." The 

 condition of the manor of Mettingham in the extreme north-east of the 

 county may be taken as a typical example. A survey was made in 1562 °* 

 for Sir Nicholas Bacon, keeper of the Great Seal, who in 1571 became bailiff 

 of Bury (his native place) under grant of Queen Elizabeth.-"* Sir Nicholas 

 purchased the estate from Sir Anthony Denny, to whom it had been granted 

 on the abolition of the College of Priests in 1541."' The Dennys do not, 

 however, appear to have exercised their rights as lords of the manor. The 

 soil of the estate was good, and proximity to the River Waveney made the 

 timber especially valuable, as it could so easily be conveyed to London in 

 large keels or barges." The customary tenants upon the land had originally 

 held by inheritance, and the fines, arbitrable between them and their lord 

 according to the quantity and quality of their lands, had stood at tj for every 

 acre ; but this had of late been altered, apparently on the initiative of the 

 tenants during the interregnum. They also asserted an unsupported right to 

 crop and shred the trees growing in the hedgerows, and to take timber with- 

 out assignment from their grounds for the necessary repair of their buildings. 

 The old manorial perquisites of weyves, estreyes, and the goods of felons 

 and fugitives had so diminished as ' scarce to countervail the charge of the 

 court.' "^ The free tenants held by * service of suit to the lord's court, yielding 

 of releases after the death of their ancestors and payment of rents.' 



It appears from the survey that the demesne consisted of 365 acres in 

 the lord's hands, i.e. 277 of pasture, 64 of arable, and 24 of meadow, of a 

 total annual value of ;ir5o 15/. 2d. In the main the property is composed 

 of ' closes * of meadow, pasture, and arable, but a certain amount still lies in 

 the open fields of the place (e.g. 'there are lying in divers pieces in the 

 campus called Mettingham field 23 acres of arable land').""" The meadow is 

 held at rents of 6j. and 6j. 8</. an acre, the 30 acres called The Dairy Park, 

 attached to the farm called ' Le Darye,' and included with the house, garden, 

 and apple orchard, at Sj. an acre. The pasture is worth 2.s. Sd., 3/. 3d'., and 

 4J. an acre, the arable uniformly 2s. an acre when inclosed, is. \d. when lying in 

 pieces in the open fields. The tenants' holdings fall into two groups of large 

 (over 30 acres) and small. The largest farm contains 215 acres of pasture, 

 30 of arable, and 15 of meadow, on a lease of twenty-one years, and at a rent 

 of j(^i4 6j. 'id. There are six others holding 130, 1 13, 104, 88, 51, and 32 

 acres respectively, all on the same twenty-one years' lease. 



Amongst the small tenants we find John Wyard's holding to consist in 

 all of 20 acres, including nine pieces of arable land lying in the common 

 fields, four pieces lying in the East field containing 6 acres and some roods, 

 and five pieces lying in the West field containing 5 acres and some roods, in 

 all 12 acres of i6j. total value ; this, with the addition of a close of arable 

 containing 8 acres at zs. per acre, is rented to him on a twenty-one years' 

 lease." 



" Reyce, Breviary *fSuff. (ed. Hervey), 29. •• Add. MS, 14850. 



•* Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. viii, 139. •» Suckling, Hut. ofSuff. i, 168. 



•• B.M. Add. MSS. 14850, fol. 151. ^ Ibid. fol. 152. "«> Ibid. fol. 154. " Ibid. fol. 158. 



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