Page:VCH Suffolk 1.djvu/742

 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. 662