connection with Finchingfield was not severed, and in 1650
Steven Marshall made a bequest of "a messuage and a
tenement" with "Boyton meadow of 3 acres", which yielded
40s. a year, for "wood to the poor".
The next year he left for Ipswich. He died in 1655 and
was buried with great solemnity in Westminster Abbey, but
his remains were disinterred in 1661 and thrown into a pit.
The Kempe family, which had resided at Spains Hall since
the 14th century, died out in the direct male line early in
the 18th century nor are any further monuments to them
to be seen in the chapel which bears their name. They are,
however, remembered by the endowment of the almshouses,
and at the beginning of each year the Robert Kempe Trust
Fund awards ten shillings and a Bible to boys and girls of
good character, who have completed one year in their first
situation after leaving school.
The hatchments and most of the memorials in the chapel
commemorate the Ruggles-Brise family. Samuel Ruggles, a
wealthy merchant whose racing trips to Newmarket led him
past Spains Hall had for many years wished to own the
estate and purchased it in 1760 for the very considerable sum
of £14,400. The family has lived there uninterruptedly since.
One plaque, that to Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise, whose ideas
revolutionised penology in Britain, is especially worth of
note. The words of the memorial are echoed in the inscription
which is placed over the entrance to Borstal, "He determined
to save the young and careless from a wasted life of crime.
Through his vision and persistance, a system of repression
has been gradually replaced by one of leadership and training.
We shall remember him as one who believed in his fellow
men".
The ring of eight bells has long been famous in the county
and only one peal, at Bocking near Braintree, is said to
surpass them in sweetness. In old records there are frequent
entries of payment to the ringers—for example on 16th
April 1776 we read "To Liq (liquor) for Ant. Olives ringge
Day 0.10.0". This was a year when considerable attention
was given to the peal and "Ye 3d Bell" was "Newe Cast"