Hundred of Mutford

THE HUNDRED OF MUTFORD.

Mutford is reckoned a Half Hundred only, in the civil government of the county, and its parishes are included in the Half Hundred of Lothingland by the Domesday Commissioners. It lies in the Archdeaconry of Suffolk, and the Deanery of Lothingland, forming a part of the geldable portion of the county; and, in judicial affairs, is assigned to the Beccles division. In shape it forms a square, measuring about four miles on each side. It is bounded on the east by the German Ocean; on the north by Lake Lothing, and Mutford Broad; on the west by the Hundred of Wangford; and on the south by that of Blything. In 1561, the Hundred of Mutford returned the following list of freeholders: Mutford, 4; Kessingland, 11; Rushmere, 3; Pakefield, 6; Gisleham, 7; and Carlton, 8. (fn. 1)

The fee of this Hundred was, anciently, in the Crown; and Henry, the son of the Empress Matilda, held it. Edward de Hengrave possessed it in the reign of Edward II. Among the charters in the British Museum, (fn. 2) is the grant of Thomas Langle, and others, granting the Manor and Hundred of Mutford, in Suffolk, to Sir Walter Hungerford, Knt., Lord of Heytesbury, and of Hemet, and to John Tiptoft, Lord of Powys, Philip Courtiney, Esq., John Paulet, and others, dated the seventh of Henry VI. In the twenty-fifth of the same reign there is a letter of attorney, (fn. 3) of Walter Hungerford, Knt., Lord of Heytesbury, Sir . . . . . Fortescu, Knt., Sir Philip Courtiney, and Sir John Stourton, to John Wareyn, and Robert Talyard, to give seizen of the manor of Mutford, with its knights' fees, and advowsons of the churches belonging thereto, to William de la Pole, Marquis and Earl of Suffolk, and to Alicia his wife.

The lordship of the Hundred was forfeited by their descendant, Edmund de la Pole, who was beheaded in 1513; and it was afterwards granted by Henry VIII. to Edmund Jernegan, and Mary his wife. She afterwards married Sir William Kingston, K. G., and died in 1572.

William Tripp and Robert Dawe held the Hundred in 1589, by grant of Queen Elizabeth; and John Arundell and Charles Waldgrave, by license from Henry Jernegan, in 1592. The family of Herne, or Hirne, afterwards held it, by conveyance from Henry Jernegan, and Henry his son. Sir John Heveningham, Knt., and Bridget his wife, were the next possessors, by conveyance from the Hirnes, in 1609. In 1661, it was held by grant of Charles II., by the trustees of Lady Mary Heveningham. In 1679, Sir Thomas Allin, Knt., obtained it by purchase: Alice, wife of Edmund Anguish, enjoyed it by will, in 1696: Sir Richard Allin, alias Anguish, by settlement, in 1696: Sir Thomas Allin, his son, held it in 1731: Sir Ashurst Allin, Bart., his brother, and Sir Thomas Allin, his son, were next in possession; and in 1794 it was held by Thomas Anguish, Esq. (fn. 4) On his death it passed to the late Rev. George Anguish, his brother, on whose decease, about two years since, it fell to his nephew, Lord Sydney Godolphin Osborne, son of the Duke of Leeds, who, in August, 1844, sold the lordship of this Hundred to Samuel Morton Peto, Esq., of the city of London, who is the present possessor.

The Hundred contains no market town, and eight villages only.

Parishes in the Hundred of Mutford.

Barnaby.

Carlton Colville.

Gisleham.

Kessingland.

Kirkley.

Mutford.

Pakefield.

Rushmere.