BRENT-ELEIGH, or ELY, a parish (formerly a market-town) in the hundred of BABERGH, county of SUFFOLK, if mile (B. by S.) from Lavenham, containing 298 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Sudbury, and diocese of Norwich, rated in the king's books at £8, and in the patronage of Robert Frost, Esq. The church is dedicated to St. Mary: at the end of the chancel an apartment was built by Dr. Colman, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in which he placed a collection of useful books for a parochial library. Edward Colman, Esq., a member of the same family, assigned, in 1730, an almshouse comprising twelve apartments, with a small endowment, for six widowers and six widows. Henry III. granted permission to hold a market here, but it has long been discontinued.