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HAUGHLEY CASTLE.

THIS ancient fortress, now reduced to a few strong walls— the remains of a deep moat, and artificial embankments, stands near Haughley—a village situated a few miles beyond Stowmarket. The line of the Bury Road runs through the place. This Castle which was believed to be one of the strongest holds of the nation in the time of Henry II, was razed to the ground by Blanchmains, Earl of Leicester, who with a large body of Flemings, fought with Ralph Broc, the keeper of Haughley, and worsted him in the encounter. The date of the demolition of the building, is 1173. It was afterwards rebuilt and fortified by Ufford, Earl of Suffolk, and did good service to the family. Kirby, in his Suffolk Traveller, (1744) says, that in his time, the remains of Haughley Castle, in figure, inclined to a square, having a moat, and was fortified with rampart walls on all sides, except the north. On the north-side stood the keep, which from its peculiar situation, and great means of defence, was capable of protecting itself. A portion of the foundation of this tower yet exists, and shews that the keep was erected in a circular form, and most probably rose to a considerable height. The extent of ground occupied by the Castle, and its necessary fortifications is estimated at seven acres.

The battle which gave the castle into the hands of Leicester, was fought upon the 27th of October. The assailants had previously issued from the castle of Framlingham, and swept the country from that place to Ipswich, and from Ipswich to

Haughley. This excursion was made for the purpose of shewing the immense body of Flemings brought over by Leicester to aid the cause of the King's rebellious sons the country in which they were to do battle, and the valour of the enemy about to become their antagonist. The siege was bloody. A large number of the foreign forces bit the dust, and the dead were gathered into heaps, and inhumed near the scene of slaughter. The fortune of the day however, notwithstanding the English valour shown during the encounter, declared for Leicester, and the castle was demolished. The victor retired after this success to his fastnesses at Framlingham, and issuing from which to proceed into the north, when his declining cause needed assistance, he was suprised at Fornham St. Genevieve* by the King's troops and completely routed, with a slaughter amounting to ten thousand men, himself being taken prisoner.

The celebrated Charles Brandon, held the manor of Haughley, in the reign of Henry VIII, and in the time of Mary, it became the property of one of her principal adherents in the countySir John Sulyard, of Wetherden, to whose zeal in her favour, she was mainly indebted for the great success of her cause in the eastern counties.

There was anciently a curious tenure attached to the holder of the impropriation of this place, namely, that of erecting, and keeping a gallows in repair in a piece of ground called Luberlow Field, or be amerced in a fine of forty shillings. Certain lands in the parish were also retained by the service of providing a ladder by which criminals hung at this gallows, could mount to their doom.

* See page 31.

GRIMSTONE HALL.

THE RESIDENCE OF CAVENDISH THE VOYAGER.

"No more he hears the tempest howling,
For death hath brought him to."

OLD SONG.

In the parish of Trimley, at a mansion called Grimstone Hall, lived Thomas Cavendish, one of the early voyagers of England, and the second man that circumnavigated the globe. The house was the seat of his family, and he resided within it for many years, indeed until his ill-timed expedition which never returned wholly to the shores from which it sailed, left him to perish, amid the raging deep. Grimstone Hall, was the birth-place, as well as the habitation of this intrepid seaman, and his happiest and earliest days were spent within it.

Cavendish, lived in an age when the art of navigation was but imperfectly understood, and it was considered an astonishing feat to make a voyage of any length and difficulty. The expedition to our East India possessions now considered as entailing but trifling risk, was in the days when Cavendish flourished, one of great moment and required considerable personal courage to undertake. It will therefore be supposed that an expedition having for its object, the traverse of the entire globe, could in the eyes of the nation, be considered only with regard to its accomplishment, as extremely dangerous and problematical of success.

Cavendish, of Trimley-our hero, determined to follow in the wake of the entrepid sailor who had first shewn the practicability of the voyage, and succeed or perish in the attempt. Accordingly, he prepared, and armed, three ships, the Desire, the High Gallant, and the Content, setting sail from Plymouth, on the 21st of July, 1586. Cavendish, had two objects. The Spaniards, at that time the bitter enemies of England, were rich in possessions in the south seas. Gold and treasures of every

kind, were sent home from the thriving colonies of Chili and Peru; and Cavendish, conceived, as did also many other English navigators, that there was but trivial harm in transferring a little of this prodigious wealth, from the hands of the Spanish nation, into those of English subjects. His ships were therefore armed to the teeth, and fully equipped for an offensive maritime warfare, as well as a protracted voyage. From July 1586, until February of the next year, Cavendish was occupied in advancing from the coast of Britain, to the straits of Magellan. When in the Southern hemisphere, he plundered, and burnt several towns upon the coast, loading his vessels with the treasures of the New World. Soon after this, the intrepidity of his character, was put severely to the test. His little squadron, reduced from three to two ships, fell in with the Santa Anna, a huge Spanish vessel, with a cargo of bullion and specie on board, upon her voyage home. He attacked this vessel, which might almost have been denominated a floating castle of treasure, with the greatest impetuosity. Superior in weight of ship, metal, and number of men, he sustained a repulse, but nothing daunted, renewed the attack. Again, the Spaniards drove off the gallant English barks; but again did they return to the work, and the next onset determined the victory in their favour. In Cavendish's own ship, there were only sixty men, and he lost in the action-merely two seamen, and had five wounded. The number of the captured, was now a serious inconvenience to the victor, if not a positive danger, and Cavendish accordingly put 200 prisoners ashore. On board his prize, he found gold in value, equal to £50,000 sterling, independently of costly merchandize, valued at as much more. Cavendish, sent home to Lord

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