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YOXFORD is a large and remarkably neat and pleasant village, seated in a fertile vale, sometimes called "The Garden of Suffolk," on the banks of the small river Yox, or Minsmere, and on the Ipswich and Yarmouth road, 4 miles N by E. of Saxmundham, six and a half miles S. of Halesworth, and 94 miles N.E. of London. Its parish increased its population from 851 souls, in 18O1, to 1251, in 1841, and comprises about 2670 acres of land, and several large and handsome mansions.

Petty Sessions are held every fourth Wednesday, at the Three Tuns Inn, which is a large Posting-house. Besides the manor of Darsham-with-Yoxford, which belonged to the monks of Thetford, here is also another manor, which belonged to Sibton Abbey. The Earl of Stradbroke is lord of the former, and Sir Charles B1ois of the latter; but a great part of the parish belons to other proprietors, the largest of whom are R.Sayer,Esq., D.E.Davy,Esq., the Misses Colmer, F. Clayton, Esq., and Mr. Robert Barker. Cockfield Hall, on the north side of the village, is he seat of sir Charles Blois,Bart., and is a large handsome mansion, in the Tudor style, on a gentle elevation, in a beautiful park, skirted on the south by the river Yox, or Minsmere. It was formerly the seat of the Brooke famiy, and passed from them to Sir Charles Blois of Grundisburgh, who was created a baronet in 1668, and soon afterwards made Cockfield Hall his chief residence. Grove House, a handsome mansion in a small park on the south side of the village, is the property of D.E. Davy esq. but has been unoccupied since the death of its late occupant, the Right Hon. Thomas Manners Sutton, the first Baron Manners of Foston, who died in 1842, and had been Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and was raised to the peerage in 1807. He was the sixth son of George, the third son of John, third Duke of Rutland and his son and successor purchased Fornham Park, in 1843. The Rookery, another seat near Yoxford, was much improved by its late owner, Robert Colmer, Esq., and is now the residence of his daughters. The church (St. Peter) is a neat structure, with a tower, containing six bells, and surmounted by a leaded spire. It was enlarged in 1837, at the cost of £1,200, a great part of which was contributed by the Society for Building and Enlarging Churches, who stipulated that about 400 of 935 sittings should be free. The benefice is a vicarage, valued in K.B. at £5 14s 2d., and in 1835 at £161. the Rev. Samuel Thomas Roberts, LL.D.,is the incumbent, and the Earl of Stradbroke is patron and impropriator. The tithes were commuted in 1839 for yearly moduses of £284 to the impropriator, and £171 to the vicar, who has also 5A of glebe, five cottages, and a small parsonage, but does not reside in the parish. Here is a small Wesleyan Chapel, built in 1834, and a National School, erected in 1837, at the cost of £400, and having two large rooms for boys and girls. The Town Land, about one and a half Acres, let for £2 1s a year, is by ancient usage appropriated to the service of the church. In 1651, Robert Sillett left a yearly rent-charge of £5. out of 10A of land(now belonging to D.E.Davey Esq.,) for providing clothing for the most needy poor of Yoxford. A legacy of £50, left for the poor by Anthony Bedingfield, was laid out in 1716, in the purchase of a rent-charge of £2 10s. a year, out of two closes in Darsham. Now belonging to the Purvis family. Mr. Robert Hughman is secretary to Yoxford farmer’s Club.

Kelly

YOXFORD is a parish and village, 1 mile south-west from Darsham station on the Ipswich and Lowestoft line of the London and North Eastern railway and 4 north from Saxmundham, in the Eye division of the county Blything hundred, petty sessional division and union Halesworth county court district, rural deanery of South Dunwich, archdeaconry of Suffolk and diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich. The village, which is lighted with gas, stands on the old road from Ipswich to Lowestoft and Yarmouth, and on the river Yox, or Minsmere, and is surrounded by a beautiful country interspersed with many gentlemen's seats. The church of St. Peter is an ancient structure of flint, with stone dressings, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and embattled western tower with small spire containing 6 bells: it was enlarged in 1837 at a cost of £1,200, and thoroughly restored and reseated with open benches in 1868: there are several ancient brasses and monuments to the Blois, Brooke and other families: the east window was filled with stained glass in the south side, as a memorial to those who fell in the Great War, 14-18: there is also a stained glass window in the south aisle, erected by Miss Alice Lomax in memory of her parents: a new altar, reredos, cross, ornaments and altar rails were given by Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Lomax. In 1927 the south aisle was underpinned and the bells restored and rehung; in 1929 two oak vestry screens were given, one by C.H.Lomax esq. M.A., J.P.,and the other by the parishioners;a tablet was also put in to the memory of the late Lt.Gen. H. S. G. Miles G.C.B., G.C.M.G. G.B.E., C.V.O., J.P., there are 550 sittings. The register dates from the year 1559. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £375, and residence, in the gift of the Bishop of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich, and held since 1918 by the Rev. Colin Harris Raven M.A. of Trinity College, Dublin, and rural dean of South Dunwich. The Wesleyan chapel here was built in1889 at a cost of £1,150, and affords 200 sittings; there is also a primitive Methodist chapel. There is a local Horticultural Society, which holds a show every July. Cockfield Hall, the seat of Sir. Ralph Barrett, Macnaughten Blois bart.,D.L., J.P.,is a mansion in the Tudor style, standing in a well-wooded park, through which flows the small river Yox, or Minsmere. Grove Park, the seat of Charles Henry Lomax esq. M. A. J.P., is an ancient brick mansion surrounded by pleasure gardens and a well-wooded park. Rookery Park is the residence of Sir Herbert Hambling bart.D.L. J.P. Commandr. Egerton Bagot Byrd Levett-Scrivener R.N.(ret, J.P. is lord of the manor of Sibton with its members; the Earl of Stradbroke K.C.M.G., C.B., C.V.O., C.B.E., V.D., T.D., D.L.,J.P., is lord of the manor of Darsham with Yoxford with its members. The principal landowners are Sir R. B. M. Blois bart. D.L.J.P. and John Kendall Brooke esq. J.P. The soil is sandy; subsoil clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, peas and beans. The area is 2,730 acres; the population in 1921 was 978.

Sexton, Charles Smith. Post, M.O., T.E.D. Office. Letters through Saxmundham.

Dutt

Yoxford ( 1 m. S.W. of Darsham) is a pretty village' in a well-wooded district known as the "Garden of Suffolk." Its church has a Dec. nave, but the rest, consisting of chancel, whole length aisles, and tower, is Perp., with the exception of the N. aisle, which is modern. At the E. end of the S. aisle is the Cockfield chapel, containing a brass to Dame Joanna Brooke (1618). Other brasses are to John Norwiche (1428), Tomesina Tendryng (1485), a small one to her two sons, and Elizabeth Knyvet (1471. Among the monuments are those of five baronets of the Blois family; and there is a tablet to David Elisha Davv, antiquary, whose MSS. are in the British Museum. Lady Katharine Grey, daughter of Henry Grev, Duke of Suffolk, was buried here in 1567, bee there is no monument to her. She died in the Tower of London. Cockfield Hall (Sir Ralph B. M. Blots, Bart) is a modernised house, dating from the reign of Henry VIII.