Kelly
LEISTON is a small town and parish, with a station on a branch of the London and North Eastern railway from Saxmundham to Aldeburgh, 96 miles from London, 4 north-north-west from Aldeburgh and 4 east- by-south from Saxmundham, in the Eye division of the county, Blything hundred, petty sessional division and union, Halesworth and Saxmundham county court district, rural deanery of Saxmundham, archdeaconry of Suffolk and diocese of St. Edmundsbnry and Ipswich. By Local Government Board Order No. 33,386, which came into operation Oct.1 1895, Leiston was constituted an Urban District by the name of Leiston-cum-Sizewell, the council consisting of 15 members. The town is lighted with gas by the Leiston Gas Co. Ltd.; electricity is also supplied by the East Suffolk Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd. The church of St. Margaret was rebuilt in 1853, and is a structure of flint with stone dressings in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, transepts, north and south porches and an embattled western tower containing 8 bells, three of which were added in 1883 by Frank Garrett esq.: there are 900 sittings. The register dates from the year 1538. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £489, in the gift of the Haberdashers' Company of London, and held since 1922 by the Rev. Frederick William Morgan-Jones M.A. of Magdalen College, Oxford, rural dean of Saxmundham, and surrogate. There is a Mission church in the centre of the town, licensed for divine service and used every week day; also a Mission church, dedicated to St.Luke, at COLDFAIR GREEN. The Roman Catholic church is in Carr avenue, and is served from Aldeburgh. The Congregational chapel, erected in 1858, seats 350 persons; there are also Wesleyan Methodist and United Methodist chapels, and the Society of Friends have a meeting house. Thomas Grimsey esq. of Westleton, left in 1721 a farm of 38 acres for the use of poor widows and children belonging to the parish of Leiston, which now lets for £40 yearly; the rector and churchwardens are ex-officio trustees of this benefaction: he bequeathed £200 to be invested by the churchwardens for the purpose of distributing bread to the poor: in 1869 the sum of £100 £3 per Cent. Consols was given by the late Lord Amelias Beauclerk, the interest to be distributed annually at Christmas. The extensive engineering-works of Messrs. Richard Garrett and Sons Limited, established in 1778, are situated in this parish. In 1862 the Works Hall was erected by Mr. Richard Garrett for public entertainments etc.: the directors of the firm have now placed the buildings in the hands of the executive of the Leiston Works Athletic Association, which embraces a comprehensive welfare scheme-in addition to the library, fully equipped brass band, gymnasium, classes etc.; the Association controls extensive sports grounds of nearly 9 acres in extent, providing accommodation for football, hockey, cricket, bowls, tennis, croquet and quoits; the extensive head quarters club has a veranda extending along the whole front, and contains an assembly room, billiard rooms, a photographic dark room, wet and dry canteens, an apprentices' room for mental and physical recreation, committee rooms, baths and dressing rooms; the whole is centrally heated, with caretaker's and steward's quarters attached: the membership is over 1,400. About a mile from the town stand the ruins of the Premonstratensian Abbey of St. Mary, founded in 1183 by E. de Glanville and colonized from Welbeck: the massive ivy-covered walls of the 14th century choir and transepts, with high windows, an octagonal tower or gloriette on the west side of the garth, and some half-closed portions of cellars are all that now remain: it the Dissolution there were 18 canons, and revenues valued at £181; a modern building, occupying a space among the rains, and originally used as a farm house, is now used as a Retreat House by its owner. Miss Wrightson. Services are held here twice weekly by the clergy of Leiston. Leiston Old Abbey, the property and residence of F. Egbert Holland esq. J-P. is a mansion standing on an eminence, with well laid-out gardens and a park containing about 20 acres, well wooded and with some plantations. The Cupola is the residence of Robert Newbery esq. Lord Huntingfield, who is lord of the manor, F Egbert Hollond esq. J.P. and Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie esq. B.A., J.P. are the principal landowners. The area of the parish and Urban District is 4,994 acres of land and inland water and 34 of foreshore; the population in 1921 was 4,632.
Dutt
Leiston Abbey.The picturesque ruins of this Premonstratensian monastery are on the crest of a hill N. of the town of Leiston and about half a mile from the station. They form part of some farm buildings, and a modern farmhouse occupies the site of the nave of the church.
This Abbey was founded in 1182 by Ranulph de - Glanvile, who was the founder of Butley Abbey and a hospital near Sudbury. He is said to have been born at Stratford St Andrew, near Saxmundham. He was Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1163 ; of Lancashire in 1173; and he led the men of Lancashire and Richmond against the Scots at Alnwick. After going as ambassador to Flanders, he was made Chief-Justiciar of England in succession to Richard de Lucy. He accompanied Richard I., to the Holy Land, and died at Acre in 1190.
The original site of the Abbey was about 1 m. E. of the present ruins which are those of a larger monastery, erected shortly after 1389, when a monastery built by Robert de Ufford in 1362 was destroyed by fire. From the remains it appears that the church was on the N. of the cloister, the chapter-house and offices, with a dormitory above, on the E., the refectory on the S., and a range of buildings, including the guest-house, cellarer's offices,, etc., on the W. The most interesting remains are those of the chancel, transepts, and part of the N. chancel aisle of the church; the arch of the E. window of the chancel has fallen in, but that of the aisle can be seen built up in the wall of a barn. On the S. side of the church the walls are higher, but overgrown with ivy. Originally the church was about 168 ft. in length, and consisted of nave, chancel, N. and S. chancel aisles, N. and S. transepts, and a central tower. There is a portion of a small tower in one corner of the sacristy; but the fragments of the chapter-house beyond it are of little interest. Farther S. are the remains of buildings which probably included the abbot's, hall. Of the refectory a fine W. window is standing, and on the S. side an orchard still occupies the space devoted to the purpose when the monastery was in its prime. Between the abbot's hall and the refectory were two small rooms. On the W., outside the cloister wall, are the remains of an octangular brick tower of later date than the rest. It was probably one of two which flanked a Late Perp. porch to the entrance of the cloister. There are some traces of out-buildings which belonged to the abbey, but they are very scanty.
The church at Leiston was almost entirely rebuilt in 1853, and contains little of interest apart from an E.E. font.
The coast hamlet of Sizewell forms part of the parish. It is a lifeboat and coastguard station, with a few houses commanding a good sea view.
Church view
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