Monument record FNN 009 - Stoland Abbey

`Stoland Abbey' appears as the name of a building to the west of the circular earthwork in Cromwell's Plantation (see FNN 005) on the 1st edition 1in scale Ordnance Survey map, 1837 (S1). No such abbey or priory is, however, known in medieval Suffolk, nor elsewhere in England.
The building does not appear on the 1804 enclosure map for the Finningham part of Allwood Green, but lay in that part of the former green that was allotted to John Frere Esq of Roydon, Norfolk (S2). A house is, however, shown on the edge of the 1819 enclosure map for Walsham-le-Willows, where it is labelled `cottage' and `Right Honorable John Hookham Frere' (S3). House recorded as `cottage and garden' in the occupation of Benjamin Mullinger and owned by the Rt Hon J H Frere (S4). The parish registers of Finningham show that Benjamin Mulliner was a nurseryman. House shown as two continguous rectangles on OS 1st edition 1:2500 map of 1886, but had gone by the time of the 2nd edition in 1904. A request for information about the site in 1907 produced no response (S5).
Available evidence indicates that the house was built between 1804 and 1819 by John Hookham Frere of Roydon (1769-1846), possibly for his own use as a shooting-box or lodge in connection with his Finningham estate. See also FNN 005.