NORFOLK SWAN MARKS. 107 



dissolution of the monasteries* a large proportion of 

 the marks in use belonged to the abbeys, priories, and 

 other religious houses, whose lands, subsequently ab- 

 sorbed by the crown, or apportioned amongst corporate 

 bodies (as in the case of St. Giles' Hospital), favoured 

 nobles,, or other private individuals, carried with them 

 the swan-rights and other privileges attached to the soil. 

 Even at the present time a swan-mark and free fishery 

 in the river (Blomefield " Hist. Norw.," vol. ii., p. 530) 

 belong to the site of the Priory of Carrow, or Carrow 

 Abbey, as it is commonly termed, " as far as the bounds 

 of Carrow extend." The Corporation of Norwich, as 

 before shown, possesses three marks, acquired through 

 different properties ; and a small piece of land at Sur- 

 lingham, part of " Nash's estate," now in the possession 

 of Mr. Robert Pratt, has, by ancient custom, a swan- 

 right and mark attached. 



Of the three other corporate towns in Norfolk 

 Yarmouth, Lynn, and Thetford the latter, according 

 to Martin's history of that borough (1779) possesses 

 three swan-marks, which he figures under the following 

 titles : " The Prior of the Canon's mark, now Lord 

 Petre's ; Binknorth's mark, now the Corporation's ; 

 and the Prioress's mark, afterwards Sir Richard Ful- 

 merstone's, now Henry Campion's, Esq." He also 

 figures two distinct marks as Sir Richard Fulmerstone's 



* On an old and very interesting swan-roll, in the possession of the 

 Rev. T. J. Blofeld, of Hoveton, are the following marks, belonging 

 to ecclesiastical foundations in Norfolk. Bishop of Norwich, Prior 

 of Norwich, Abbott of St. Bennet's, Abbott of Langley, Prior of 

 Bramerton, Prior of Hyngham, Prior of Carrowe, Ospitall of 

 Norwich, Convent of St. Bennett's, Celler of St. Bennett's, and 

 Prior of St. Olaves. This roll, commencing with the King's mark 

 and those of the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, contains about 

 thirty private swan-marks, belonging to various Halls, chiefly 

 situated in the vicinity of the Bure and its tributaries. 

 p 2 



