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he settled it for pious uses on Pembroke Hall in Cambridge.” This he did by will, dated August 8, 1636, by which he devised the castle manor and lordship of Framlingham, together with the manor of Saxted, being then of the yearly value of 10001. to the masters and fellows; 1001. to be expended for the benefit of the College; and the remainder to be appropriated for the emolument of the poor of the parishes of Framlingham, Debenham, and Levington, in this county, and of Coggeshall, in Essex. He farther directed" all the castle, saving the stone building, to be pulled down," and the materials to be employed in the erection of the houses for the charitable institutions that have already been described. Seven days after he had executed this will, Sir Robert died, but his heir at law contrived to keep the College out of the possession of the manor, lands, and hundred, for many years, till, in 1653, an ordinance was published by order of Cromwell, then Lord Protector, for settling and confirming them agreeably to the intention of the testator.

WOODBRIDGE is situated in a long narrow tract nearly surrounded by the hundreds of Carlford and Wilford, on the east side of a sandy hill, commanding a pleasant view down the river Deben, which falls into the sea at the distance of about ten miles. Towards its mouth it takes the name of Woodbridge Haven, and is navigable up to the town, which carries on a considerable traffic with London, Hull, Newcastle, and the Continent; and has several docks for building vessels, with commodious wharfs and quays. Some idea may be formed of the importance of the commerce of this place, when it is known that the quantity of flour, corn, and malt, carried coastwise from the port of Woodbridge to London alone in the year 1810, was as follows: 11,354 quarters of wheat; 13,477 of barley; 9634 of malt; 4288 of beans; 2277 of oats; 1133 of pease; 233 of rye; and 9220 sacks of flour. The population amounting in 1801 to 3020, had increased in 1811 to 3674. The market is held on Wednesday; and there are two annual fairs, on the 5th of April, and on the 2d of October.

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This town is said to have derived its name from a wooden bridge built over a hollow way to form a communication between two parks separated by the road which leads from Woodbridgemarket-place towards Ipswich; and we are told that at the foot of the hill, about a stone's throw from the spot where this bridge is supposed to have stood, there is a house which still retains the appellation of Dry Bridge.* The reader may bestow what credit he pleases on this etymology, when he is informed that in ancient times this town was written Oddebruge, or, as in Domesday-book, Udebryge, from which its present denomination is evidently derived.

The principal streets of Woodbridge, one of which is near a mile in length, though narrow, contain many good houses, and are tolerably well paved. The market-place is clean and well built; and in the middle of it is an ancient shire hall, in which the quarter-sessions for the Liberty of St. Etheldred are held.

The Church, a spacious and noble structure, is conjectured to have been built in the reign of Edward III. by John Lord Segrave, and his wife Margaret de Brotherton, whose arms are yet to be seen over the door of the steeple. It consists of a nave and two aisles, the roofs of which are supported by ten beautiful Gothic pillars, and four demy ones. The exterior walls are of black flints. Adjoining to the chancel on the north side is a private chapel erected by Thomas Seckford, Esq. Master of Requests in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; the east window of which is adorned with a fluted pilaster. The north portico is decorated in front with the representation, in relievo, of Michael, the archangel, encountering the Dragon. In the church were formerly the altars of St. Anne and St. Saviour, and the chapel of St. Nicholas in the north aisle; and either in the walls of the church. or in the church-yard, stood a celebrated image of our Lady, to whom this edifice was dedicated. The large quadrangular tower, 180 feet high, forms a conspicuous object at sea: it is built of the same materials as the church; and towards the top the flint and

Suffolk Traveller. 2d edit. p. 106.

and stone are beautifully intermixed in various devices. The corners are adorned with finials, surmounted with weathercocks ; and on the battlements between them are the badges of the four Evangelists. This steeple, with the north portico, was built, or perhaps more correctly speaking, repaired about the middle of the fifteenth century, as appears from numerous legacies bequeathed about that time by various persons. Upon a stone inserted in the wall of the north side, at about the height of 24 feet, is a mutilated inscription, upon which the name of Albrede, one of these benefactors, may easily be discerned.

The monumental inscription of this John Albrede, in the church, was, with some others, defaced by Dowsing in 1643 or 1644: but part of it yet remains. This twill-weaver, as he is there called, not only left twenty marks towards building the steeple, but was at the charge, according to the piety of the age in which he lived, of carving, gilding, and painting the rood-loft over the partition between the body of the church and the choir, in which were the pictures of the cross and crucifix, the Virgin Mary, and several archangels, saints, and martyrs, figured, as we are told, to the life.

On the south side of the church formerly stood a priory of Augustines, founded by Sir Hugh Rous, or Rufus, but at what time we are not informed. The church belonging to this foundation appears to have joined the south-east end of the chancel of the parochial church, and probably extended to what is now called the Abbey. Within it were interred many individuals of the equestrian families of Rous, or Rufus, the founder, Breos, or Brews, and Weyland. The possessions of this priory at the Dissolution were valued at 501. 3s. 54d. per annum; besides which it was seised as of fee, of the churches of Woodbridge, Brandeston, and St. Gregory, in Ipswich, with a portion of tithes in Stradbrook and Wingfield; and the small priory of Alnesbourne in the hundred of Colneis, was united to it. The site of it, together with the advowson of the church and other possessions, was granted 20 Henry VIII. to John Wingfield, and Do

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