This district has retained its place in the maps as a distinct parish, yet it seems to have been only a chapelry; and there is reason to believe that it was included in the lordship of Brunden or Brundon, which at an early period belonged to the family of Limesei. It is observed by Mr. Morant, that " Balingdon has had the credit of being set down in the maps as a distinct parish; whereas Brundon, that is really one , hath been generally forgotten ; and so it hath in the land-tax rates, Balindon alone being set down there and rated. " *

This district is populous, compared with its very limited extent; and the inhabitants, consisting chiefly of labourers and shopkeepers, occupy the village, which extends south-westward from the bridge of Sudbury, † along the road to Halstead, that town being distant six, and London fifty-five miles. The soil of the neighbourhood has the same characteristics as are generally found on the borders of the Stour; in some instances stiff , clayey , an