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- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Brent Eleigh is a village and civil parish in the Babergh District of Suffolk, England. Located between Hadleigh and Lavenham, in 2005 it had a population of 180 reducing to 174 at the 2011 UK census.
History
The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, at which time it and neighbouring Monks Eleigh together had a population of 61.
The village was not only a market town under the reign of Henry III (1207-1272), but also one of the 'cloth villages', where merchants of Lavenham had wool spun for them.
Brent Eleigh Manor was originally owned by the Illeigh/Ely family, then taken over by the Shelton family from the 13th century until the 16th/17th century. When Samuel Colman bought the manor from Robert Jermyn of Rushbrook in 1607 he established what was to be a long period of association of his family with the village. Samuel's second son, Thomas Colman was presented to the vicarage in 1625. Thomas's only son, Edward Colman (1636-1678), was born in Brent Eleigh. He was a Catholic martyr during the reign of Charles II.
A remarkable wall of 14th century paintings was revealed in St. Mary's Church in 1961. Once repaired these created an important feature in Suffolk, and a landmark in the village.
The following description from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72 is provided by the website A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portsmouth Department of Geography).
- "BRENT-ELEIGH, or Brent-Ely, a parish in Cosford [registration] district, Suffolk; near the river Bret, 7 miles NE by N of Sudbury [railway] station. Post Town: Lavenham, under Sudbury. Acres: 1,617. Real property: £2,519. Population: 228. Houses: 60. The property is divided among a few. Brent Hall belonged once to the Sheltons, and passed to the Agars. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value: £369. Patron: Mrs. Brown. The church shows Norman features, has a later English tower, and is good; and there are charities £90. A market was formerly held in the parish."
Research Tips
- A map of Suffolk from 1900 provided online by A Vision of Britain Through Time (University of Portsmouth Department of Geography) can be enlarged to view individual parishes. Careful inspection will usually lead to the discovery of smaller hamlets founded before 1900. The rural districts (marked with their names printed in blue) are those in existence in 1900, not those introduced in 1934. The more ancient hundreds are marked in red. Most (but not all) parish names are underlined in red.
Suffolk Information
- Suffolk Family History Society A community of people who are interested in the local and family history pertaining to Suffolk.
- Suffolk Archives (Record Office) ( e-mail archives@suffolk.gov.uk) - The Suffolk Archive has branches in Ipswich (at The Hold, 131 Fore Street, Ipswich, IP4 1LR), Bury St. Edmunds (at 77 Raingate Street, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 2AR) and Lowestoft (at Lowestoft Library, Clapham Road South, Lowestoft, NR32 1DR). Includes: a good-looking website, research services and publications.
- Suffolk Churches This is an excellent guide to most of the Suffolk Churches with lots of pictures and descriptions of the architecture and history. It includes many chapels. If you have trouble visiting Suffolk to see where your ancestor were baptised, married and buried, or even those who want to just add to their knowledge, this is the site for you.
For those whose families may have wandered over the county borders:
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British Government Information
- The National Archives or "TNA" - More than 850,000 Probate Wills from 1610-1858 (PCC wills dating back to 1670 have been completed). Free access to indexes but copy of a will costs £10.00. (Ancestry has an index to wills published after 1858.) Access also available to the Domesday Book, World War One Diaries and various other information. Their catalogue called Discovery holds more than 32 million descriptions of records held by The National Archives and more than 2,500 archives across the country including County Record Offices. Over 9 million records are available for download.
- The British Library - This vast collection contains millions of bibliographic records, British newspapers, many now digitised and searchable on-line and much more.
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission - The database lists the 1.7 million men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died during the two world wars and the 23,000 cemeteries, memorials and other locations world-wide where they are commemorated. The register can also be searched for details of the 67,000 Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action in the Second World War.
- General Register Office - provides official copies of birth marriage & death certificates for England & Wales.
- FreeBMD - provides Civil Registration index information for England and Wales. The transcribing of the records, by volunteers, is ongoing and contains well over 279 million records at August 2020. Records are complete from 1837 to 1983. Later records are not complete.
- FreeCEN - provides a "free-to-view" online searchable database of the UK census returns from 1841 to 1891. The transcribing of the records, by volunteers, is ongoing and contains well over 39 million records at August 2020. At that time Suffolk records appeared to be only for the 1891 census and a few for the 1871 census.
- FreeREG - provides baptism, marriage, and burial records, which have been transcribed, by volunteers, from parish and non-conformist church registers in the UK. There are over 49 million entries with just under 300,000 records for Suffolk at August 2020.
- Ministry of Defence (url not found)- provides information for obtaining details about service records post 1920
- Royal Air Force Museum (url not found) - for information on the archive and library research material available.
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