Burgh, Castle (St. Peter)

BURGH, CASTLE (St. Peter), a parish, in the hundred of Mutford and Lothingland, E. division of Suffolk, 4½ miles (W. S. W.) from Yarmouth; containing 327 inhabitants. This place, anciently Cnobheresburg, is supposed to be the Roman Garianonum, (which some writers have placed at Caistor, on the opposite side of the river,) a station founded by Publius Ostorius Scapula, and garrisoned, under the command of a præpositus, by a troop of cavalry called the Stablesian horse. The ramparts form three sides of an area of upwards of five acres and a half; and various coins, urns, fibulæ, domestic utensils, and military weapons, have been found in the adjoining fields. The walls of the station are among the most perfect remains of Roman architecture in the kingdom; two sides are very perfect, one end has partly fallen, and the side next the river appears not to have been fortified. Bede relates that in the reign of Sigebert, Furseus founded a monastery within the walls of the encampment; but the incursions of the Saxons, and consequent danger to monasteries, caused him, and his brother, to whom he had intrusted the institution, and the monks, to abandon it almost as soon as formed; and no trace of it remains. The parish comprises by measurement 1498 acres, of which 834 are arable, 649 pasture and marsh, and 15 acres roads; much of the grass-land is level, ascending gradually towards the south, and being escarped towards the west. The soil is very various, affording specimens of almost every quality: the scenery, though naked, has been rather improved by recent planting; there is a fine view over Norfolk, and more than sixty churches may be seen from one point. The navigable river Waveney flows on the western side, and, opposite the village, unites with the Yare, forming Breydon Water, which runs on the northern side, and is navigable. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 13. 4., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £400. The church, an ancient structure in the Norman style, has, with the exception of the tower, which is circular, been rebuilt in the later English style.