RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



The value of the property pertaining to the 

 priory suffered severely from the Black Death of 

 1349, and never recovered from the deterioration 

 that then ensued. There was also much loss 

 experienced from the sea encroachments at 

 Dunwich and on the coast line of Blythburgh 

 parish. 



The Valor of 1535 gives the annual value of 

 the temporalities as ^28 131. 4^., but the out- 

 goings brought the clear value down to 

 £l% 14s. \d. The spiritualities or tithes of 

 the parishes of Blythburgh-cum-Walberswick, 

 Bramfield, Thorington, and Blyford were then 

 worth ^28 a year; but from this deductions of 

 over £6 had to be made for pensions to the 

 abbot of St. Osyth and the prior of St. Bartho- 

 lomew, Smithfield, as well as for procurations 

 and synodals. The clear total value of the 

 priory was thus reduced to ^48 8s. lod. 



The office of prior, notwithstanding its de- 

 pendent position on St. Osyth, was esteemed a 

 position of some importance. Thus in 1217, 

 Pope Honorius III considered the prior of Blyth- 

 burgh to be a sufficiently noteworthy person 

 to be associated with the abbots of Sibton 

 and Leiston in a commission appointed to 

 report as to the conduct of Peter, archdeacon of 

 Lincoln. 1 



Whatever may have been the number of the 

 canons of this house prior to the Black Death, 

 they do not seem to have ever exceeded a total 

 of four, including the superior, at subsequent 

 dates. In 1473 there were three canons and a 

 prior ; for in that year John Woley of Blyth- 

 burgh left 40J. to the prior and convent, viz., 

 20s. to the prior, and 6s. 8d. to each canon. 2 



The injunctions consequent on a visitation in 

 1308 enjoined on the abbot and convent of 

 St. Osyth to be careful in the election of canons 

 suitable to be sent to Blythburgh. 3 In 13 17, 

 when the commissary of the dean and chapter of 

 St. Paul's was holding a visitation at St. Osyth, 

 sede vacante, certain irregularities at the cell of 

 Blythburgh were condemned. 4 The prior of 

 Blythburgh and his canons attended at the elec- 

 tion of an abbot of St. Osyth by scrutiny in 

 1427, when four were present from Blyth- 

 burgh. 6 



The several sixteenth-century diocesan visita- 

 tions of this priory show that the number of the 

 religious was then four. The house was in debt, 

 and the old chapter-house had disappeared. 



Blythburgh was visited by the suffragan Bishop 

 of Chalcedon and other commissaries of the 

 diocesan in 1520, when the prior and brethren 

 assembled in a certain chapel of the conventual 

 church which they used as a chapter-house. 



1 Cat. Pap. Reg. i, 47. 



' Gardner, Hist, of Dunwich, 13 'c. 129. 



3 Lond. Epis. Reg. Baldock, fol. 912. 



4 Ibid. Newport, fol. 7. 



5 Ibid. Grey, fol. 64. 



They were severally examined as to the state of 

 the house and the essentials of religion, and their 

 answers were in every way satisfactory. 6 



Bishop Nykke visited in person in June, 1526. 

 Prior John Righton, Thomas Chapet, sub-prior, 

 and three other canons attended. All made 

 satisfactory replies save Robert Francis, who 

 said they had given up the singing of mass, and 

 complained that the prior was too lenient in 

 correction towards those he favoured, but cruel 

 and severe towards those whom he disliked. 7 

 The bishop again visited Blythburgh in July, 

 1532, when Prior Righton stated that the house 

 was in debt to the amount of £30, of which 

 £10 was due to the bishop. The three brethren, 

 on examination, stated that they knew of nothing 

 worthy of reformation. 8 



Between the two visits of Bishop Nykke this 

 priory narrowly escaped dissolution. It was 

 included in the bull of Pope Clement, granted 

 to Cardinal Wolsey in 1528, among minor 

 houses to be suppressed in favour of his pro- 

 posed college at Ipswich, which was never 

 carried out. 9 



On 6 October, 1534, the priory's acceptance 

 of the supremacy of Henry VIII was signed by 

 John Righton the prior, and by John Baker, 

 George Thurstan, and Robert Sprot, the three 

 canons. 



Although strictly speaking Blythburgh priory, 

 as a cell of St. Osyth's, did not come under the 

 act for the suppression of the smaller monasteries, 

 it was placed in that category, and the suppres- 

 sion was carried out on 12 February, 1 5 3 7 . w 

 In the previous August an inventory of the 

 priory's goods had been drawn up by the three 

 suppression commissioners for Suffolk. The 

 priory was in a somewhat poor plight even for a 

 small house; the total value was only ^8 is. 8d., 

 including 40J. for five horses and an old cart. 

 All the vestments in the vestry were valued at 

 361. 6d. There were two silver chalices with 

 patens and a cross of copper gilt. The contents 

 of the house were apportioned between the 

 kitchen, pantry, hall, and parlour, and there is 

 certainly no sign of luxurious living. 11 



On 29 February, 1537, a pension of £6 was 

 assigned to John Righton the ex-prior ; and the 

 three canons were turned out penniless. 11 



The house, site, and all the possessions of the 

 priory were originally granted by the crown to 

 Walter VVadelond, of Needham Market, for 

 twenty-one years, at a rental of £59 9s., and in 

 November, 1548, the reversion was granted to 

 Sir Arthur Hopton. u 



6 Jessopp, Visit. 177. 7 Ibid. 216. 



8 Ibid. 284-5. ' Rymcr, Foedera, xiv, 240-1. 



10 L. and P. Hen. Fill, xii, pt. i, 5 10. 



11 This inventory is set forth in full in the proceed- 

 ings of the Suff. Arch. Inst, viii, 99-100. 



" Misc. Bks. (Aug. Oft"), ccxxxii, fol. 40. 

 "I. and. P. Hen. fill, xiii, pt. ii, 967 (20). 



93 



