A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



The house was suppressed, with the other 

 Yarmouth friaries, by Richard Ingworth to- 

 wards the end of 1538, 1 and the site was 

 ganted in 1544 to John Eyre, rightly styled by 

 Weever 'a great dealer in that kind of property.' 



42. THE AUSTIN FRIARS OF 

 ORFORD 



A priory of Austin Friars was founded at 

 Orford in the reign of Edward I. Robert de 

 Hewell, in 1295, gave them a plot of ground in 

 Orford, sixteen perches square, whereon to 

 build. 2 



The Austin Friars of Orford obtained pardon 

 in 1 3 14 for having acquired, without licence, a 

 small plot of land from John Engaye for the 

 enlargement of their site. 3 



They had licence in the following year to 

 add another small plot, 30 ft. long by 3 ft. 

 broad, to their area.' 1 



A further plot of land, to enlarge their dwelling, 

 was granted to these friars in 1337, by Walter 

 de Hewell of Orford. 6 



Helen Holder, of Orford, bequeathed, in 

 1526, to the Friars Austin of Orford 10s. to 

 sing a ' trentall of Massis for my soule, the 

 mony to be parted among them that be priests.' 6 



43. THE CARMELITE FRIARS OF 

 IPSWICH 



The Carmelite or White Friars seem to have 

 been established at Ipswich in 1278, for their 

 settlement here was contemporary with that at 

 Winchester, which took place at that date. In 

 that year a provincial chapter of the Carmelites 

 was held at Norwich, and there seems good reason 

 to believe that the founding of a house in the 

 second great town of East Anglia was determined 

 at that chapter, and the members of the new 

 community chosen from those of Norwich. 7 



They were established on land that eventually 

 extended from St. Stephen's Lane to Queen 

 Street on the south side of the Butter Market. 

 The first record of the extension of the site 

 occurs in 1297, when licence was granted for 

 the Carmelite friars of Ipswich to enclose a lane 

 called 'Erodesland,' 26 perches long and 8 ft. 

 broad, for the enlargement of their dwelling- 

 place. 8 



Pardon was granted to the Carmelites of 

 Ipswich in December, 1344, for having acquired 



1 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii, pt. ii, 1021. 

 ' Inq. a. q. d. 23 Edw. I, No. I 20. 

 3 Pat. 7 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 24. 

 ' Ibid. 9 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 30. 

 s Ibid. 1 1 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 32. 



6 Add. MS. 19101, fol. ill. 



7 'The White Friars at Ipswich,' by Rev. Benedict 

 Zimmerman, Proc. Suff. Arch. Inst, x, 196-204. 



'Pat. 25 Edw. I, pt. i, m. 16. 



in fee, without licence from Edward I, various 

 small plots of land adjoining their area for 

 enlarging the conventual buildings and church,' 

 and in 1 32 1 a further extension of their build- 

 ings was begun, for in that year the prior 

 obtained licence to acquire twelve small plots 

 of adjacent land for that purpose. 10 Thomas le 

 Coteler was licensed in 1333 to alienate to the 

 priory of Mount Carmel an adjacent messuage 

 for the enlargement of their house, 11 and Thomas 

 de Lowdham gave a further small plot of adjoin- 

 ing land in 137 7- 12 



The last-known enlargement of their premises 

 occurred in 1396, when John Reppes, the prior, 

 purchased two messuages from John Warton and 

 Margaret his wife for the sum of 100 marks. 13 



Ipswich was often chosen for the meetings of 

 the provincial chapters of the White Friars, so 

 that it may be fairly assumed that the house was 

 of sufficient size soon after its foundation to 

 accommodate a large number of visitors. At 

 the chapter held at Ipswich in 1300, William 

 Ludlyngton, then prior of the Ipswich House, 

 was elected provincial. In 1312 the provincial 

 chapter elected John Berkhamstead, prior of 

 Ipswich, provincial. Several other friars of this 

 house attained, from time to time, to the honour 

 of provincial ; among them were John Polsted 

 in 1335, and John Kynyngham in 1393. 



The conventual church was rebuilt in the 

 latter part of the fifteenth century. It was 

 consecrated by Friar Thomas Bradleyce {alias 

 Scrope), bishop of Dromore, a man noted for 

 his special sanctity, in 1477. 



This friary was celebrated for the number of 

 learned men who were its members. Thomas 

 Yllea, a preacher and writer of merit, entered 

 religion at the time when his father was prior ; 

 he was for some time in Flanders, but died at 

 Ipswich in 1390. John Polsted studied at 

 Oxford, and was provincial from 1335 till his 

 death in 1341 ; he wrote more than twenty 

 works, and was buried at York. Friar John of 

 Bury St. Edmunds rendered this house celebrated 

 by his erudition, eloquence, and piety ; he chiefly 

 wrote commentaries on the Holy Scriptures, and 

 died at Ipswich in 1350. John Paschall, of 

 Suffolk, graduated at Cambridge from this house 

 in 1333 ; he was consecrated bishop of Scutari 

 in 1344 as suffragan bishop of Norwich diocese, 

 but in 1347 was translated to LlandafF. He 

 was a voluminous writer, and several volumes of 

 his sermons are extant. 



Friar Richard Lavingham is said to have 

 written ninety volumes, and Bale considers his 

 literary activity almost miraculous ; he died at 



9 Pat. 8 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 10. 



10 Ibid. 14 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 24. 

 "Ibid. 6 Edw. III.pt. ii,m. 3. 

 "Inq. a.q.d. 50 Edw. Ill, No. 21. 



11 ' The Carmelites of Ipswich,' by V. B. Redstone, 

 Proc. Suff. Arch. Inst, x, 192. 



130 



