Page:VCH Suffolk 1.djvu/27

 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), XXI