Rumburgh (St. Michael)

RUMBURGH (St. Michael), a parish, in the union and hundred of Blything, E. division of Suffolk, 4 miles (N. W. by N.) from Halesworth; containing 435 inhabitants, and comprising about 1370 acres. The living is a perpetual curacy, with the vicarage of South Elmham St. Michael annexed; net income, £130; patron and incumbent, the Rev. L. Atthill; impropriator of Rumburgh, George Durrant, Esq., whose tithes have been commuted for £357. The church, an ancient structure with a low massive tower, was the church of a Benedictine monastery dedicated to St. Michael, founded here soon after the Conquest, for monks from St. Bene'tat-Holme, and in the reign of Henry I. given by Allan, Earl of Richmond, to the abbey of St. Mary at York. The monastery was suppressed in 1528, and granted to Cardinal Wolsey towards the endowment of his college at Ipswich; the remains have been converted into a farmhouse. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans; and a school is partly supported by an appropriation of £10 from the rent of land producing £70 per annum, for the repair of the church, and for charitable uses.