(spe)+Community+perspective

**A community perspective from the 1840s to 1920s contains entries for the community from the Suffolk Directories of White (1844) and Kelly (1929) and William Dutt’s gazeteer of Suffolk (1927; first prepared in the 1890s)** White SPEXHALL, 2 miles N, by W. of Halesworth, is a scattered village and parish containing 215 souls, and 1482 acres of land, rising in bold acclivities from one of the tributary streams of the Blythe. The principal proprietors are, Mr. Jas. Garrould, (owner of the Hall and Grove farms,) Wm. Long, Esq., Sir E. Kerrison, Thos. Morse, Esq., and Mr. Garrard. The Poor 's Land, given by an unknown donor, consists of 5 acres at Holton, let for £13. 10s. The Church (St. Peter) is a small ancient structure, and the benefice is a discharged rectory, valued in K.B. at £14, and now having 45 acres of glebe, and a yearly modus of £297.15s in lieu of tithes. The patronage is in the Crown, and the Rev. Richard Cruttwell, L.L.B., is the incumbent, and is known for his writings on the currency, " equal adjustment," &c. The other principal inhabitants are David Reynolds,vict., Huntsman and Hounds; Robert Woolnough, blacksmith ; and Saml. Cady, Henry B. Coates, Wm. CoveIl, James Drake, James Garrould, Grove, Wm. Garrould, Spexhall Hall; Henry Girling, George Long, Eliz. More, Widow Noller, and Jonth. Palmer, farmers.

//Kelly //

SPEXHALL is a parish and village 2 miles north from Halesworth station on the Ipswich and Lowestoft line of the London and North Eastern railway, in the Eye division of the county, Blything hundred, petty sessional division and union, Halesworth and Saxmundham county court district, rural deanery of North Dun-wich, archdeaconry of Suffolk and diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich. The church of St. Peter is an ancient building of flint in the Norman and Early English styles, consisting of chancel, nave and south porch of the 15th century and a round tower, erected in 1911, and containing one of the three original bells: the chancel was restored in 1713, and the nave in 1733, and the church was thoroughly restored and reseated in 1876, the chancel by the Rev. Charles Craven, a former rector, and the nave principally at the cost of the late Sir Edward Clarence Kerrison, second and last bart. and has since been improved by additions, including a memorial window to Her late Majesty Queen Victoria, who died 22 January, 1901: the reredos was presented in 1925 by Edmund P. Calvert esq. in memory of Mrs. Emily Haggard, Maj. Arthur Haggard and Capt. Rider Lancelot Haggard, dated 1591, to a member of the Browne family, and one datedto Mary Downing: there are 120 siyyings. In the churchyard is a memorial cross of Portland stone, erected in 1921, to the memory of the men of the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18. The register" dates from the year 1537, The living is a rectory, united with the vicarage of Wissett, joint net yearly value £403, with residence, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, who has two turns, and the Church Patronage Society, who have one turn, and held since 1909 by the Rev. Arthur Trousdale, of the London College of Divinity. The only charity is the poor's land, of the yearly value of £10. The Manor House, about half a mile from the church, has been rebuilt and improved, and is now the property and residence of Edmund P. Calvert esq. one of the principal landowners, others being Capt. B. D. Steward M.C. Henry Neave esq. J. S. Shaw esq. and William Neave esq. The soil is clay and marl; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley and beans. The area is 1,839 acres; the population in 1921 was 229 in the civil and 564 in the ecclesiastical parish.

By a Local Government Board Order, which came into operation March 35, 1884, the detached part of Halasworth was amalgamated with this parish for civil purposes only. Letters from Halesworth, nearest M.O.& T. office.

//Dutt//

Spexhall church (2 m. N. of Halesworth) is a small building consisting of chancel, nave, porch, and the remains of a round tower. Note (1) an Early Norm. arch on the N. side; (2) an E.E. doorway on the S.; and (3) some old armorial bearings in one of the windows.