Wingfield, baronets, whose son sir Henry sold this seat and the remainder of the Wingfield's estate in the neighbourhood, to the right honourable William Zuilestein lord of Zuilestein in the province of Utrecht, master of the robes to king William III. created baron of Enfield, Viscount Tunbridge, and earl of Rochford, 10 May, 7 William III. He was succeeded by his son William Henry earl of Rochford, who commanded the left wing of the English army under general Stanhope, at Lerida in Spain, where he was slain 14 July, 1710. The present hall at Easton, is a handsome brick building and is the seat of the earl of Rochford who is now lord of the manor. Easton contains 371 inhabitants.

EYKE. Roger Bigod endowed Alice his second wife with the manor of Staverton in this parish, 18 Edward I. so called, from a family of the name of Staverton, who formerly possessed it. Thomas Mowbray, first duke of Norfolk, died seized of the manor of Staverton, 1 Henry IV. and it was assigned to his relict as part of her dowry, 3 Henry IV. It now belongs to - Barnardiston esq. The pasture called Staverton park, was granted as parcel of the possessions of Butley priory to Thomas duke of Norfolk, 32 Henry VIII. At Eyke was a chantry, called Bennet's Chantry, of the yearly value of £8. The lands belonging to it lying in Eyke and Rendlesham, were granted 3 Edward VI, to sir Michael Stanhope and John

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Delle. The rectory is in Jacoc Chilton, clk. Eyke contains 396 inhabitants.

FRAMLINGHAM, is a parish of large extent, containing upwards of 5,000 acres of rich arable and pasture land; the town is of great antiquity, its name being composed of the Saxon words Fremdling and Ham, meaning the habitation of strangers, It is pleasantly seated, and pretty well built, upon a clay hill near the source of the river Ore; which rising in the hills on the north passes through the town, and falleth into the sea beyond Orford. The market is held on Saturday; and here is a fair on Monday and Tuesday in Whitsun-week, procured by Thomas of Brotherton, earl of Norfolk; and another fair on October 12th. The market-place is triangular, and almost equilateral; in the centre of this stood an ancient market cross; the church and castle are great ornaments to the town. The church is indeed a stately edi. fice of black flint built (as is supposed) by the Mowbrays earls of Norfolk, at least great part of the steeple seems to have been so as appears from their arms at the bottom, and on the middle of it; but it was not completed till the latter end of Henry the eighth's reign; for there are many wills in the archdeacon's office, in which legacies are given towards building the steeple at Framlingham; and in 1520 legacies begin to be given towards the battlements of the steeple; and such legacies occur so late as the

year 1534. In the isles lie buried several of the earls and dukes of Norfolk. The body of the church is 64 feet long, 50 wide and 44 high, and the chancel 61 feet in length and about 68 in width including the side aisles, and 37 in height. The roof of the nave is of oak curiously carved and supported by 8 octagon pillars 4 in a row, and 4 demi-ones since added, and painted and veined in imitation of white marble. There is a curious monument for Thomas Howard, the third duke of Norfolk, who died in 1554; in whose collar of SS, is this inscription, Gratia dei sum quod sum. Another monument for Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond and Somerset, natural son of Henry VIII. who married lady Mary, daughter of Thomas Howard duke of Norfolk, and died in 1536. And another magnificent monument of black and white marble, to Henry Howard earl of Surrey, and Francis his wife (a daughter of John de Vere, earl of Oxford), who was beheaded 19 January 1546. the steeple is 98 feet high containing a clock and 8 bells.

Here are two Alms-houses in this town; one founded in pursuance of the will of sir Robert Hitcham, for twelve of the poorest persons in Framlingham, each of whom is allowed two shillings every week, and forty shillings a year for a gown and firing, this allowance has since increased to four shillings a week, and each person receives an additional chaldron and half of

coals. These are to attend prayers morning and evening at church; and sir Robert left moreover, £20. a year to a clergyman to read prayers, and £5. by the year for the clerk and sexton.

The other alms-house was founded by one Thomas Mills. This man was a wheel-wright by trade; but being a gifted brother in the times of disorder in the last century, he turned preacher among the Anabaptists, at Saxtead, near this town; and throve so well in this business as to be enabled, about the year 1703, (until which time he lived,) to found this house. Accordingly soon after that, his trustees built this alms house for eight poor persons, who are allowed half a crown a week, and yearly an outward garment, and thirty shillings each for firing. But one William Mayhew, a servant of this man's, built two of the apartments at his own expence. These eight persons enjoy the benefaction for life; unless, for any misdemeanor, they are turned out by the trustees.

Sir Robert Hitcham founded also a free school with a salary of £40. a year to the master, to teach forty of the poorest children of this town, to read, write, and cast accounts; and when they are perfect in them, he gave each £10. to bind them apprentice. It is said, and with some probability, that this was a town of the Britons ; and conquered by the Romans, when they defeated Boadicea.

The castle, which is the most remarkable piece of antiquity, is supposed to have been built by one of the kings of the East-angles, but which of them our histories do not mention; yet it may not improbably be supposed to have been built by Redwald, the greatest of them, who kept his court at Rendlesham in this hundred. But this is mere conjecture. The castle is a large strong building, containing in land within the walls, one acre, one rood, and eleven perches. The walls are forty-four feet high, and eight feet thick, which are now standing nearly entire there are thirteen towers, fourteen feet higher than the walls; two of which are watch-towers. It was inaccessible on the west-side, because of the adjoining mere; and on the other side it was fortified with a double ditch, &c. so that it may reasonably be supposed to have been, in those times, a very strong fortress. Yet it is said, that the Danes drove St. Edmund the king out of it, and kept it in their hands for fifty years, till they were brought under the obedience or the Saxons. William the conqueror gave it to Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk; but the Bigods dying without issue, it reverted to the crown 25 Edward I. And so it remained till Edward II. in his sixth year gave it to his brother Thomas of Brotherton, earl of Norfolk. He left it to his two daughters Margaret and Alice, which Alice marrying Edward de Montacute; upon the di