RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



27. THE PRIORY OF THE HOLY 

 SEPULCHRE, THETFORD 



Thetford was in the hands of Stephen in 

 1 139. Soon after this date the king gave all the 

 lands and advowsons on the Suffolk side of the 

 river, both within and without the borough, 

 to William de Warenne, the third earl of 

 Warenne and Surrey. Immediately after he 

 had received this grant, the earl founded a 

 monastery on that side of Thetford for canons 

 of the order of St. Sepulchre, of the Austin rule, 

 which order had been introduced into England 

 about 1 1 20. By the foundation charter the 

 earl bestowed on the canons the church of St. 

 Sepulchre, with a quadrigate of land in the ad- 

 joining fields, together with all the lands, 

 churches, tithes, and manorial rights in Thetford 

 that he had obtained from the king. He further 

 granted them two yearly fairs, namely at the 

 Invention (3 May) and the Exaltation of the 

 Holy Cross (14 September). The earl was at 

 this time about to set forth on a crusade, and 

 the concluding sentences of the charter solemnly 

 commend the maintenance of his new founda- 

 tion to his brother palmers, to the burgesses, and 

 to all his faithful friends. It was witnessed by 

 his brothers Ralph and Reginald. 1 



Hamelin, Earl Warenne, who married Isabel, 

 the founder's daughter and heir, confirmed this 

 grant, and also gave them a third fair on the 

 festival of the Holy Sepulchre, 205. in rent, and 

 the tithes of two mills. He died in 1202. 

 William, Earl Warenne, Hamelin's son, gave 

 the canons sixty acres of lands, and I Of. rent out 

 of his mill at Brendmilne. Henry II also gave 

 sixty acres of demesne lands of Thetford to the 

 priory. 



Early in the reign of Henry III Sir Geoffrey 

 de Furneaux, lord of Middle Harling, died, and 

 was buried in the priory church by the side of 

 his wife Amy. He gave the canons, for this 

 privilege of sepulture among them, the ninth 

 sheaf of all his demesnes in Bircham (Cambridge- 

 shire) and Middle Harling, together with a 

 messuage and twelve acres of land. About 1250 

 Alice, wife of Sir Michael Furneaux, a grandson 

 of Sir Geoffrey, was also buried in this church, 

 as well as many subsequent members of the 

 family. 



In 1272 William Nunne of Thetford 

 granted to Prior Ralph and the canons a 

 messuage in the town towards procuring habits 

 for the canons, and Thomas de Burgh in 1274 

 granted the ninth sheaf of his demesne lands in 



1 There is no known chartulary of this priory. 

 The charter is recited in a confirmation charter of 

 John, Earl Warenne, given in Dugdale, Mon. ii, 574, 

 'Ex autogr. in bibl. Deuvcsiana, a. 1620.' Martin's 

 Hist, of Thetford (1779), 174-95, hasa painstaking ac- 

 count of this house ; the statements in this sketch are 

 chiefly taken therefrom where no other reference is 

 given. 



Somerton, Suffolk, and Burgh in Cambridge- 

 shire, in exchange for the advowson of Somerton. 



The taxation of 1 29 1 showed that this priory 

 was of the annual value of £20 Of. \\d. ; it 

 then held possessions in fourteen Norfolk and 

 five Suffolk parishes, in addition to small incomes 

 from the dioceses of Ely and London. 



The hospital of God's House, Thetford, was 

 definitely settled on the priory in the year 1347. 



In 1 33 1 Edward III licensed the appropriation 

 to the priory of the church of Grcsham, the 

 advowson of which had been granted by John, 

 Earl Warenne, in 1 28 1, but the Bishop of 

 Norwich refused his consent. In 1339 the 

 prior and canons appealed to Rome, and Pope 

 Boniface granted them leave to appropriate the 

 revenues on the next vacancy, provided they 

 served it by one of their own canons and paid 

 all episcopal dues. The bishop would not, how- 

 ever, give his consent without the formal 

 ordination of a vicarage. 



A survey of this house, taken on 20 December, 

 1338, shows that the priory held the Thetford 

 churches of SS. Cuthbert, Andrew, Giles, 

 Edmund, Lawrence, and the Holy Trinity, the 

 last two being served by the canons. They also 

 held 293 acres of meadow and arable land in 

 the neighbourhood of Thetford, of the united 

 value of £10 I2f. oW. They had liberty of one 

 foldcourse in the field of Westwick, wherein 

 they might feed 500 sheep, and might remove 

 those sheep to B rend for change of pasture when 

 the shepherd pleased and had convenience 

 for washing them ; also another foldcourse for 

 320 sheep, and various other pasturage rights 

 for cattle and swine. The total annual value 

 of the priory at the time of this survey was 

 £62 9 f. 



In 1 394 Abbot Cratford, of Bury St. Edmunds, 

 licensed the prior to purchase the tenement 

 called Playforth in Barnham, with its services, 

 rents, foldcourse for 400 sheep, and 133 acres of 

 arable land worth id. an acre, of Master Walter 

 of Elveden, who held it of the fee of St. Edmund. 

 For this the prior was to pay a yearly rent to the 

 abbey of 22f., and 2d. on the election of a new 

 abbot. 2 In 1442 the Earl of Suflolk obtained 

 licence to alienate to the priory 240 acres of 

 arable land, 600 of pasture and heath for fold- 

 courses in Croxton, and a messuage and garden 

 in Thetford, to found a chantry in the con- 

 ventual church. The prior sued John Legat, 

 rector of Tuddenham, in 1464, for an annual 

 pension of £6 from that church, which he had 

 detained for two years ; the prior recovered it by 

 proving that he was always taxed at I2f. tenths 

 for the portion. 



When the Valor of 1535 was drawn up the 

 clear annual income was only £39 6f. Sd. 

 This was a great falling-off from the total of 

 1338; several items of revenue were much 



• Cott. MS. Tib. B. ix, fol. 30. 



109 



