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Cratfield or Cratafelda
The several manors mentioned by Kirby, in this parish, appear to have merged
into one, which was held by Sir Thos. Coke, K.B., of Holkham, in Norfolk; who,
in 1728, was elevated to the peerage, as Baron Lovel, and in 1733, to the more
honorable title of Viscount Coke, of Holkham, and Earl of Leicester.
They afterwards became vested in Sir Joshua Vanneck, Bart., by purchase from the
said Earl; and are now the estate of his descendant, Joshua Vanneck, Baron
Huntingfield.
The ancient and very respectable family of Smith were seated here. The earliest
of whom we find mention, is Sir Thurston Smith, of this parish, Knt., who
married Willoughby, daughter of Edward Brews, 4th son of Sir John de Brews, of
Wenham, in this county; whose descendants inherited considerable property in
this, and the adjoining county of Norfolk.
Simon Smith, of Cratfield, had William; whose son, Simon Smith, of Winston, in
Norfolk, and Beccles, in this county, inherited the manor of Whetacre-Burgh,
with its members, in Norfolk; and Burgh Castle, Easton Bavent, Wisset,
Kessingland, &c., m Suffolk.
He married the sister and heir of William Roberts, Town Clerk of Yarmouth, and
Attorney at Law, in Beccles; and inherited most of the above property in her
right. Their descendants became seated at Winston, in Norfolk.
In Cratfield was also seated the ancient family of Lany. John Lany, Esq., the
father, and John Lany, Esq., the son, both Councilors at Law, were many years
Recorders of Ipswich: the one succeeded the other. The elder of them died in
1633, and was buried in St. Margaret's church, in Ipswich; the other, in St.
Nicholas church there. Benjamin Lany, younger brother, was successively Bishop
of Peterborough, Lincoln, and Ely, where he deceased in 1674. He published some
sermons, and a small treatise against Hobbes.
ARMS. Smith: barry, wavy of eight, argent and azure; on a chief, gules,
three barnacles, or.
Mem. At the assizes holden at Bury St. Edmund's, in March 1812, Edmund
Thrower was capitally convicted, and received sentence of death, for the willful
murder of Thomas and Elizabeth Carter, father and daughter, of this parish, on
the 16th of October, 1793, by fracturing their skulls with a hammer. He was
executed on the 23rd of March, 1812, at Ipswich.
CHARITIES. The town estate consists of a messuage, called the town house,
with land adjoining, containing between one and two acres; two farms, containing
together 116 acres, in the parish of Cratfield; the fourth part of a manor
called "Bucenhams;" and a messuage, and about 17 acres of land in the parish of
Horham. It appears by a deed, of the 9th of Queen Elizabeth, that the property
in this parish, was granted by the lord of the manor, in consideration of the
sum of £70, being the money of the
inhabitants; but no trusts respecting the property, are declared by the deed;
and the fourth part of the manor was conveyed by Thomas Pooley, by deed, in
1710, in consideration of the sum of £181,
to Edward Hobarts, and divers other persons, in fee, but without any declaration
of trusts. This property produces together, a rental of about
£180 a year; which is applied to the
reparation of the church, and in other common uses for the parishioners; and
about £30 a year is expended in the purchase
of coals, which are partly given, and partly sold at a reduced price, to poor
persons of the parish. The portion of the dividends of the stock belonging to
Leman's charity (of which an account is given in Brampton), is applied in
payment to the master of a Sunday school, and in buying books for the scholars.
County
of Suffolk
Topographical and Genealogical, The County of Suffolk, 1844, Augustine Page |
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