MENDHAM

"MENDHAM, a parish chiefly in the hundred of Hoxne, county Suffolk, but partly also in the hundred of Earsham, county Norfolk, 2 miles S.E. of Harleston railway station, its post town. The parish of Needham, in Norfolk, was originally a hamlet or chapelry to this parish, but is now entirely distinct both for civil and ecclesiastical purposes. The village, which is wholly agricultural, is situated on the river Waveney. At Bruninghurst Farm are the ruins of a Cluniac priory cell to Castle-Acre, founded by William de Huntingfield, in the reign of Stephen. It subsisted till the Dissolution, when the site was granted to' Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £440, and the vicarial for £50. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Norwich, value £122. The church, dedicated to All Saints, has a square embattled tower, crowned with pinnacles, containing six bells. The parochial charities produce about £1 per annum. The tithes were commuted in 1841. The Independents and Wesleyans have each a place of worship. The parish consist of three manors, viz: Walsham Hall, Mendham King's Hall, and the Priory. Sir Shafto Adair, Bart., is lord of the last two, and W. S. Holmes, Esq., of the former."

Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson © 2003