Larling-Ford, the lord of Bretenham, &c. but they acknowledged her liberties, and obtained their discharge.
The Great Rectory Manor
Belongs to the rector of the greater part, or the two parts of Atleburgh, and the rector thereof now is, and his predecessors always were lords of it; the present rectory-house, which joins to the south side of the churchyard, is the site of it, and it hath 10 acres of glebe land, the only remaining part of its ancient demeans, the rest being now held by copy of court-roll.
The Customs are, that the eldest son is heir, the houses are at the lord's will, but the land is a set fine of 2s. an acre.
The Little Rectory Manor
Belongs to the rector of the lesser or third part of Atleburgh, and the present rector now is, and his predecessors always were, lords of it; the site of it is now down; the close in which it stood contains three acres, and is all that remains of its ancient demeans. The Customs are the same as the great rectory manor.
And now having given my readers an account of the several manors, I shall proceed to
The Church, which is dedicated in honour of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, though there is no part of that church which was first built here now standing, but the tower only, and that not so high as it was originally; the antique Gothick arches, which are to be seen in the bell-chamber shew us its antiquity, and that the bells were never designed to be hung there; it seems to me, that it was first reduced to the collegiate form, when the chapels were founded, and the old chancel of the parish church taken down, and its nave converted into a quire, Mortimer's chapel on the south side, and Chanticlere's on the north, making two handsome transepts; and at the foundation of the college, it is apparent, that the present parish church, viz. the nave, two isles and north porch, was begun to be built, and was not finished till some time after. Who was the founder of the first church we know not, but the first alteration that was made in it was by Sir William de Mortimer, who founded the south chapel for his own interment, and it is highly probable, made the nave of the old church into a quire, and new topped the steeple; because after his foundation, service was performed after the collegiate manner; this was finished before 1297, in which year he died. The north chapel was founded afterwards by Thomas Chaunticler, who was buried in it in 1379; and when the college was founded, the parish were entirely excluded from the old parish church, and that was appropriated for a quire, for the use of the college only, and in recompense thereof the founders of the college, their friends, and other pious benefactors, built the nave and two iles, for the use of the parish only, and so the quire, because it belonged to the college only, was given with it by King Henry VIII. to Robert Earl of Sussex, who was then lord, who being of a covetous disposition, was so far from sparing the building, that (
