Bungay in 1836
BUNGAY, a market town in the hundred of Wangford, Suffolk, on the Waveney, which surrounds it in the form of a horse-shoe. It is 31 miles north-east of Ipswich, and 91 miles north-east from London.
Bungay is divided into two parishes, Holy Trinity and St. Mary, the combined population of which, in 1831, was 3,734. The gross annual income of the living of St. Mary is £115 ; that of Holy Trinity £305 : both are in the diocese of Norwich. The market day is Thursday ; there are two annual fairs on May 14th and September 25th.
Bungay is a village of considerable antiquity, formerly dependant on Bungay Castle, supposed to have been erected by the Bigods, earls of Norfolk ; some ruins of the castle still remain. There are also remains of a Benedictine nunnery. Bungay was nearly destroyed by a fire in 1688, and the town is consequently of modern date. There are two handsome crosses in the market-place. A considerable trade is carried on in grain and articles of provision, the Waveney being navigable up to Bungay for small barges. A printing establishment here formerly had considerable reputation, and was a kind of depot for the issue of publications and reprints of works in cheap form.
Bungay has a free grammar-school, endowed with a school-house and premises and two estates, from the proceeds of which ten children are educated ; twenty-two daily schools ; two boarding-schools ; four Sunday-schools ; and one infant national-school. |