A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



Norwich ; but nine of them afterwards conformed. Eleven of the number 

 were holding livings the incumbents of which had been dispossessed about 

 1 644 and were still surviving. Thus the real number cast out for conscience' 

 sake in the diocese was only forty-seven. About half of that total were 

 Suffolk incumbents ; it thus follows that the number of ejected nonconformists 

 was about a quarter of the number of ejected churchmen. 1 



In 1672 Charles II and his council, being desirous to conciliate the dis- 

 senters, put forth a declaration of indulgence wherein it was stated that 

 although no persons save conformists were eligible for office, the penal laws 

 against nonconformists and recusants were to be suspended, but that none 

 should meet for religious worship at any place until that place of meeting 

 and the teacher had been duly licensed. Popish recusants were not to be 

 allowed public places of worship, but they might assemble under certain con- 

 ditions in private houses. 



The licences that were applied for under this short-lived indulgence 

 give a good idea of the strength of dissent in different counties and localities. 

 There were thirty-nine licences applied for and granted for buildings for 

 Presbyterian worship or for the residence of a Presbyterian minister, thirty- 

 one for Congregationalists, one for Baptists, and four cases in which the 

 particular sect was not defined. The exact number of Presbyterian ministers 

 licensed for Suffolk was twenty-eight ; there were only ten for Norfolk. 

 The licensed Congregational ministers for this county were twenty-three 

 a number exactly paralleled by Norfolk, and only exceeded amongst all the 

 counties by London. 3 



These licences almost invariably name a particular house for the 

 assembling of the sectaries there was no time to erect meeting-houses. 

 At Beccles, however, in May, 1672, 'the Church of Christ' in that town 

 petitioned the king to allow them to assemble in the guildhall, and to have 

 Robert Otty licensed as their teacher. They enclosed a certificate of the 

 trustees of the hall and of the chief officers of the town consenting to the 

 use of the building by Mr. Otty's congregation. The petition was granted. 3 



Another granted petition of some interest was one signed by twenty-one 

 nonconformists of Wrentham and neighbourhood expressing thankfulness 

 for the indulgence, and praying for licence for a house in Wrentham for 

 their worship and for Mr. Ames as their teacher. They promised not to 

 teach any doctrines tending to sedition.* 



1 Walker give the names of 214 ejected churchmen in the diocese, but Dr. Jessopp (Dioc. Hist. 206) 

 believes they numbered 250. The proportion in Suffolk could not have been under 100. 



1 Cal. S. P. Dom. 3 vols. from Dec. 1671 to Dec. 1673 passim. In the introduction to the 3rd vol. 

 Mr. Daniel has supplied useful summary tables arranged according to counties. The following are the places 

 licensed for Suffolk : Presbyterian : Aldeburgh, Assington, Barking, Battisford, Bury, Clare, Coombes, Cow- 

 ling, Greeting, East Bergholt, Geesings in Wickham, Great Cornard, Hadleigh, Haughley, Haverhill, Hessett, 

 Higham, Hundon, Hunston, Ipswich, Kelshall, Little Waldingfield, Nayland, Nedging, Needham Market, 

 Ousden, Ovington, Rattlesden, Rede, Rendham, Southwold, Spexhall, Stowmarket, Sudbury, Walpole, 

 Walsham-le-Willows, Wattisfield, West Greeting, and Wrentham. Congregational : Ashfield, Beccles, Bury, 

 Cookley, Debenham, Denham, Dunwich, Eye, Framlingham, Fremlingfield, Gislingham, Hopton, Ipswich, 

 Kessingland, Knodishall, Lowestoft, Middleton, Peasenhall, Rattlesden, Rickinghall, Sibton, Sileham, Spexhall, 

 Sudbury, Swefling, Walpole, Waybread, Westerton, Winkfield, Winston, and Woodbridge. Congregational and 

 Baptist: Bungay. Undefined: Brockford, Bury, Stowmarket, and Wetheringsett. 



1 S. P. Dom. Chas. II, cccxii, No. 72. 



* Ibid, cccxx, No. 284. Interesting particulars are known with regard to this congregation at Wrentham 

 and Mr. Ames. At Walpole an old house, which was gutted in the seventeenth century to serve as a meeting- 

 house, is still used by the Congregationalists. See subsequent accounts of these parishes. 



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