Kersey (St. Mary)

KERSEY (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and hundred of Cosford, W. division of Suffolk, 1¾ mile (N. W. by W.) from Hadleigh; containing 787 inhabitants, and comprising 1465 acres. An Augustine priory was founded here, at an early period, and dedicated to St. Mary and St. Anthony; at the Dissolution it was granted to King's College, Cambridge. This was formerly a considerable manufacturing place, but the population is now wholly agricultural. A fair is held on Easter-Tuesday. The living is a perpetual curacy, annexed to that of Lindsey: the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £420.