A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



churches of Tuddenham, Foxhall, Rushmere, 

 Bentley, Caldwell, and Preston, together with 

 considerable proportions of three other rectories. 1 

 But possibly there was some error in these 

 entries, as it seems scarcely likely that the 

 priory would have lost so many appropriations 

 between this date and the time of Henry VIII, 

 when the Valor of 1535 gave the clear value of 

 the temporalities of the house as £69 14s. 8^., 

 but showed the spiritualities reduced to the 

 rectories of Mend ham, Rushmere, St. Laurence's 

 Norwich, and Tuddenham, with a portion in 

 Morning Thorpe, of the clear value of 

 £18 12*. id. Thus the total net income was 

 assessed at £82 6j. yd. 2 



The prior and convent of the Holy Trinity 

 obtained licence, in 1327, to acquire in mort- 

 main lands or rents to the yearly value of £10. 

 In 1335 a variety of small plots of land and rents 

 were alienated to the canons at Preston, Rush- 

 mere, Bentley, and in Ipswich and the suburbs, 

 to the annual value of i6j. 2d. under cover of 

 the 1327 licence. 3 On payment of £20 the 

 priory obtained leave in 1392 to accept the 

 alienation to them, by Roger de Wolferston and 

 others, of land and meadow in Ipswich and 

 Rushmere ; to find five tapers to burn daily at 

 the Lady mass in the conventual church, and one 

 lamp to burn continually day and night in the 

 Lady chapel. 4 



In 1393 the royal pardon was granted to John 

 Bendel, a canon of this house, for causing the 

 death of Godfrey Neketon, cook. 5 



Trinity priory was visited by Archdeacon 

 Goldwell, as commissary of his brother the bishop, 

 on 22 January, 1493, when Prior Richard and 

 six canons were present. Nothing was found 

 worthy of reformation. 6 The next recorded 

 visitation was held by Bishop Nykke in August, 

 1 5 14, when eight canons were examined. 

 Almost the only complaint, against which the 

 bishop directed an injunction, was the insolence 

 of some of the servants. The words that two 

 of the servants addressed to certain of the canons 

 are set forth in English : ' Yf soo be that ye 

 medyll with me I shall gyff the such a strippe 

 that thou shallt not recover yt a twelvemonyth 

 after.' 7 



At the visitation held by Bishop Nykke in 

 June, 1526, Prior Thomas Whighte complained 

 of the disobedience of John Carver, but other- 

 wise all was good. Of the four canons examined, 

 two testified omnia bene ; but Thomas Edgore 

 said that the prior did not render annual accounts, 



1 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 84, 114^, 115, 

 117^, 119*, 122, 124, 129*, 133. 

 * Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iii, 423. 



3 Pat. 1 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 23 ; 9 Edw. Ill, pt. i. 

 m. 10. 



4 Ibid. 16 Ric. II, pt. i, 36. 

 s Ibid. pt. iii, m. II. 



6 Jessopp, Visit. 34. ' Ibid. 135-6. 



and John Shribbs complained that daily chapters 

 were not held, and there was no correction of 

 excess in the chapter. The latter also stated 

 that the canons confessed to whom they liked, 

 and that they went out of the priory precincts 

 without asking leave of the prior. The bishop's 

 injunction ordered Carver to be obedient to the 

 prior under pain of imprisonment, the holding 

 of a chapter according to rule, the making of an 

 annual account before two of the canons, the 

 appointment of a confessor, the better observance 

 of silence, and the non-departure of the brothers 

 from the precincts save by leave of the superior. 8 

 The last visitation was in June 1532, when five 

 canons were examined besides Prior Whighte. It 

 was complained that the food and cooking were 

 bad, the cook dirty, and no annual account 

 rendered. The bishop issued injunctions as to 

 each of these defects. 9 



The priory fell with the lesser monasteries 

 which were condemned in 1536. On 24 August 

 of that year the commissioners drew up an in- 

 ventory of its goods and chattels. The con- 

 ventual church, which was popular with the 

 townsfolk of Ipswich, was well furnished. The 

 plate included two cruets, a censer with ship, 

 three chalices, and a cross, all of silver-gilt or 

 parcel-gilt ; the cross was valued at £5. In the 

 quire were a great and a lesser pair of standards of 

 latten, 'a deske of latten to rede the Gospell at,* 

 and a pair of organs. There were another pair of 

 organs and a small pair of latten standards in the 

 Lady chapel. The supply of vestments in the 

 vestry was ample. In the pantry there was a 

 salt, two standing cups, ' a lytell cruse,' and six 

 spoons all of silver. The furniture of the hall, 

 parlour, and chambers was simple and of little 

 value. The cattle and corn, which were jointly 

 valued at £42 8s. 8d., declared at £86 5J. 10 



The actual suppression of the house took place 

 on 9 February, 1536-7. 11 On 20 February 

 John Thetford (alias Colyn), the last prior, was 

 assigned a pension of £i$. 12 The site and lands 

 were shortly afterwards granted to Sir Humphrey 

 Wingfield and Sir Thomas Rushe. 13 



Priors m of Holy Trinity, Ipswich 



Alan, 15 occurs 1 180 



William, 10 occurs 1239 



William de Colneys, 1 ' occurs 1248 



8 Ibid. 220-1. s Ibid. 293-4. 



10 Proc. Suff. Arch. Inst, viii, 91-4. 

 " L. and P. Hen. VIII, xii, pt. i, 510. 



12 Misc. Bks. (Aug. Off.), ccxxxii, fol. 48. 



13 Ibid, ccix, fol. 40^. 



14 Several of the names of priors assigned to Holy- 

 Trinity priory in the lists of Dugdale and Wodder- 

 spoon are really priors of St. Peter's, Ipswich ; but 

 one or two canons seem to have held in turn the office 

 of superior at each priory. 



15 Wodderspoon, Ifstvich, 302. ,6 Ibid. 

 "Harl. MS. 6957, fol. 98. 



04 



