WINGFIELD, a parish in the hundred of HOXNE,
county of SUFFOLK, 5 miles (E. byN.) from Eye, containing
578 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy,
in the archdeaconry of Suffolk, and diocese of Norwich,
endowed with £1000 parliamentary grant, and in the
patronage of the B,ishop of Norwich. The church,
dedicated to St.Andrew, was made collegiate in 1362:
it is built of flints and stones of various colours, exhibiting
a fine and rather uncommon appearance. In
the chancel, of which the architecture is highly enriched,
are some superb monuments and ancient brasses of
the Wingfields and De la Poles: among those of the latter
family is one to the memory of Michael, first Earl of
Suffolk, who, in the reign of Richard II., built the castle,
of which the south front still remains, and the west side
has been converted into a farm-house: these ruins,
which are surrounded by a moat, are situated about a
quarter of a mile north-west of the church, on a thicklywooded
plain. Of the college, founded on the south side
of the church by Sir John Wingfield, in 1362, for a
provost and nine priests, all that remains is the west
side of the quadrangle, now used as a farm-house; it
was valued, at the dissolution, at £50 per annum.