(cra)+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

CRATFIELD, a pleasant straggling village, 6.5 miles W.S.W. of Halesworth,. and 9 miles N. by E, of Framlingham, has in its parish 720 souls, and about 2000 acres, including four large greens, where there are many scattered houses, distant from 1 to 2 mile north of the church. Ralph Barnard held Cratfield at the Domesday Survey. It was afterwards held by the families of St. Liz and Abbeni, and one of the latter gave a third part of it with the church, to the monks of St. Neot. 1n 1635, John Lany, Esq., gave the Rectory House, with 2A. of glebe, and all the tithes, except the corn tithes, to the Vicarage; together with a yearly rent charge of 20 marks out of the rectory. It is now in two manors, of which Lord Huntingfield and Wm. Adair, Esq., are lords ; but the Rev. G. O. Leman and others have estates in the parish. The Church (St. Mary) is a neat structure, with a tower and six bells and the living is a discharged vicarage, valued KB at £5 7s 11d and in 1835 at £299 with that of Laxfield annexed to it. Lord Huntingfield is patron, and the Rev. J. L. Farrer, incumbent. The tithes of Cratfield were commuted in 1843 for yearly moduses-viz, £115 to the vicar; and £295 to S. Bignold, Esq., the impropriator. Here is an Independent Chapel, built in 1811 and enlarged in 1832, so as to admit of sittings for 1200 hearers. It is licensed under the new marriage act. The Town Estate consists of the Town House, and nearly 2A. of land adjoining; two farms containing about 116A. in this parish; the fourth part of a manor, called Bucenhams ; and a house and 17A. of land in the parish of Horham. The rents produce a yearly income of about £180, exclusive of the Town House and I .5 A. of garden ground, which are occupied rent-free by the parish clerk and six poor widows. The income is applied chiefly in paying the expenses incidental to the office of churchwarden, and in other common uses for the parishioners, but about £30 is distributed yearly in coals among the poor. The property at Cratfield was granted by the lord of the manor in the 9th of Elizabeth, in consideration of £70 given by the parishioners, The other property appears to have been conveyed to the trustees by Thos. Pooley, in 1710, in consideration of £181. The whole was conveyed to new trustees, in 1797. Mary Leman, in 1805, left £600 to be invested for the support of Sunday schools, at Cratfield, Brampton, and Redisham, and it was laid out in the purchase of £933. 6s. 8d. three per cent consols, so that each parish receives about £9 per annum.

Marked 1, live on Bell Green ; 2North Green; 3, Silverlace Green; and 4, Swan Green. 4 Balls James, poulterer 1 Betts Daniel, bricklayer I Bland John, tailor 1 Bickers Wm. shoemaker I Colling Wm. parish clerk Edwards Sampson, tailor Farrer Rev J. L. vicar 2 Fisher Wm. sen. registrar and relieving officer Flatman Robert, shoemaker 1 Heath Jane, (day&boarding school) 1 Moore Joshua, butcher & vict. Bell I Morris Benjamin, shoemaker 4 Morris Samuel, schoolmaster 1 Price Rev. Thos. D.B. curate 4 Woolnough Wm, vict. Swan

BLACKSMITHS. I Daniels Benj. 4 FelgateAldmn. I Kemp Wm. 1 Smith Samuel

FARMERS 2 Aldrich Elisha 1 Beales John 2 Birch Jeremh. Bridges Isaac 2 Bridges Wm. 2 Bullock My.A. 2 Burgess John 4 Churchyard SI. 4 Dunnett Jnthn. 2 Fisher Wm.sen. 2 Fisher Wm. jun. 4 Gibson Barnbs. 4 Green Henry 4 Jillings Wm. 4 Jillings Thgl. 4 Kent Richard 1 Moore Joshua 2 Morris Wm. 4 Morris Wm.jun. 4 Short Ezekiel 3 Smith Wm. 2 Tacon Henry 2 Tacon Wm. 1 Wright Benj. 1 Woolnough Jas. 3 Philpot James 1 Reeve James (wheelwright) I Smith Samuel

GROCERS & DRAPERS 1 Haddock Robt. 1 Matten Jonth. 1 Short Wm. (& miller) 4 Smith John

// Kelly //

CRATFIELD is a wide parish and village, on one of the tributaries of the river Blyth, 7 miles west-by-south from Halesworth railway station, in the Eye division of the county, Blything hundred, petty sessional division and union, Halesworth and Saxmundham county court district, South Dunwich rural deanery, Suffolk archdeaconry and diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich. The church of St. Mary in an ancient structure of plastered flint in the Perpendicular style,. consisting of chancel, nave with clerestory, aisles, south porch and an embattled tower with pinnacles, containing a clock and 6 bells: the font is carved with representations of the Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church: there are two old oak lecturns and a curious old oak chest: the church was restored in 1879 at a cost of £1,150, and affords 300 sittings. The register dates from the year 1539. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £130, including 12 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the Simeon trustees, and held since 1917 by the Rev.Thomas Samuel England, of Church Missionary College, Islington, who is also rector of Ubbeston. The Congregational chapel, built in 1812, has sittings for 300 persons, and attached is a burial ground and a Sunday School for about 80 children. The town estates are of £123 yearly value, less taxes and rates. Leman's charity, founded in 1805 by Miss Leman, and originally consisting of £600, is now represented by Consols valued at £933 6s. 8d. producing £27 6s. 8d. yearly, of which £7 15s. 6d. is for the support of a Church of England Sunday school here, similar sums being allotted for this purpose to the parishes of Brampton and Redisham. Lord Huntingfield is lord of the manor. Mr. Newson Symonds is the principal landowner. The soil is clay; subsoil, the same. The chief crops are wheat, barley, beans and turnips. The area is 2,127 acres; the population in 1921 was 424.

Clerk and Sexton, William Collins. Post & M. 0. Office. Letters through Halesworth. Laxfield is the nearest T. office

Dutt

Cratfield (7 m. W. by S. of Halesworth).The church is chiefly Dec., but with Perp. windows. Note (l) the nave roof; (2) a N. chantry, now used as a vestry; (3) a fine old chest; (4) two old lecterns; ( 5 ) the remains of a screen; and (6) a fine and lofty font.