SUFFOLK


BRAMFIELD.

Parish Church. Memorial in the chancel to Bridgett Applewhaite, who died in 1737, aged 44. The inscription gives a detailed-and sometimes amusing- account (obviously based on close observation) of the fatal progress of the "Apoplectic Dart" which struck her down.

BURY St EDMUNDS.

Risbygate Street. Plague stone, in which payment for goods was placed in vinegar to guard against spreading contagion. The date of this stone is unclear. (q.v. ZENNOR)

William Hyde Wollaston practised medicine at 1, Angell Hill before removing to London in 1794 where he subsequently became president of the Royal Society. Hyde Wollaston, b. Aug. 6, 1766, d. Dec. 22, 1828, was an English chemist and physicist who discovered the elements palladium and rhodium and first reported the dark lines in the spectrum of the Sun. His consideration of geometrical arrangements of atoms led him into crystallography and the invention of the reflecting goniometer to measure angles of crystal faces. He also proved the elementary nature of niobium and titanium, developed a method of making platinum malleable, proved the identity of voltaic and frictional electricity, and invented the camera lucida to aid microscopists.

There is a commemorative plaque on the house.

CLARE.

The monastic infirmary of the former Augustinian priory is still roofed and can be seen

DUNWICH

A victim of coastal erosion, almost the entire town of Dunwich has fallen into the sea. The remains of a leper hospital is still visible in the church grounds.

LAVENHAM.

Dr John Sibley's "Famous Reanimating Solar and Lunar Tinctures which will cure all ills, sudden death, consumption, toothache" were made at 19-20 High Street at the end of the 18th century. From 1879 the business was carried on by a Mrs Mary Ann Gurling.

MELTON.

St Audrey's Hospital. Built in 1765, it became one of the early asylums to employ humane methods of care during the first part of the 19th century.

STOWMARKET.

Museum of East Anglian Life has on display a mobile bath (on wheels) which was used in a local hospital. It is one of the kind recommended in the 19th century for cholera and isolation hospital. It could be wheeled alongside the patient's bed, filled with water and the patient lowered in.

 

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