BUNGAY

bungay, a market-town in the lowestoft parliamentary division of suffolk, england; 113 m. n.e. from london on a branch from beccles of the great eastern railway. pop. (1901) 3314. it is picturesquely placed in a deep bend of the river waveney, the boundary with norfolk. of the two parish churches that of st mary has a fine perpendicular tower, and that of holy trinity a round tower of which the lower part is norman. st mary's was attached to a benedictine nunnery founded in 1160. the ruins of the castle date from 1281. they are fragmentary though massive; and there are traces of earth-works of much earlier date. the castle was a stronghold of the powerful family of bigod, being granted to roger bigod, a norman follower of the conqueror, in 1075. a grammar school was founded in 1592. there are large printing-works, and founding and malting are prosecuted. there is a considerable carrying trade on the waveney. bunion (a word usually derived from the ital. _bugnone_, a swelling, but, according to the _new english dictionary_, the late and rare literary use of the word makes an italian derivation unlikely; there is an o. eng. word "bunny," also meaning a swelling, and an o. fr. _buigne_, modern _bigne_, showing a probable common origin now lost, cf. also "bunch"), an inflamed swelling of the _bursa mucosa_, the sac containing synovial fluid on the metatarsal joint of the big toe, or, more rarely, of the little toe. this may be accompanied by corns or suppuration, leading to an ulcer or even gangrene. the cause is usually pressure; removal of this, and general palliative treatment by dressings, &c. are usually effective, but in severe and obstinate cases a surgical operation may be necessary.