RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Blomefield names various benefactions. The 

 chief of these was the manor, with the chapel 

 of Ringshall, granted to this priory by the mother 

 house in 1294. Luke, the parish chaplain of 

 Ringshall, made a return on oath that the chapel 

 was a free chapel belonging to the prior of 

 Norwich, who assigned it to his cell of St. 

 Edmund at Hoxne ; that it was endowed with 

 thirty-two acres of land, and two parts of all the 

 tithe corn and hay of the ancient demesnes of 

 Sir Richard de la Rokele and Robert de la 

 Wythakysham and their tenants in Ringshall j 

 and that the tithes were then of the value of 30*. 

 per annum. 



In 1313 Robert Guer, chaplain, had the whole 

 of the endowments of Ringshall assigned him for 

 life, paying 30;. a year to Hoxne priory, serving 

 the chapel thrice a week, and keeping the houses 

 in repair. 



Gilbert, bishop of Orkney, as suffragan of 

 Norwich, granted a forty days' indulgence to all 

 persons making a pilgrimage to the image of 

 St. Edmund in the priory chapel of Hoxne, 

 and making offerings for the repairs of the 

 chapel. 



Although Hoxne priory was allowed to hold 

 property granted to it independently of the 

 mother house of Norwich, the priors of Hoxne 

 were bound to make annual returns to Norwich 

 of their accounts. Among the obedientiary rolls 

 preserved in the cathedral there are a large 

 number of the annual accounts of this cell. 

 They extend from 1395 to 1399, and from 

 1407 to 1410 ; and there are thirty others at 

 irregular intervals, the last one being for the 

 year 1534. 



In the time of Henry VI the annual value of 

 the lands and rents of this cell was returned at 

 zj. The commissioners of the Valor of 1535 

 made no return of the priory of Hoxne, content- 

 ing themselves with stating that it was a cell of 

 Norwich under Nicholas Thurkill, the prior, and 

 that the accounts would be included in those of 

 the cathedral priory. 1 



This priory obtains occasional mention in 

 wills. In 1375 John Elys, rector of Occold 

 Magna, left 3*. 4^. to the repairs of the chapel 

 of St. Edmund, and a rood of meadow-land near 

 Hoxne Bridge in perpetual alms. Bishop 

 Brown of Norwich, by will of 1445, gave forty 

 marks to the reconstruction of the chapel.* 



William Castleton, the last prior and first dean 

 of Norwich, in view of the coming dissolution, 

 alienated the property of the cell to Sir Richard 

 Gresham, recalling the monks to Norwich. For 

 this act he was pardoned by the king on 

 I April, 1538 ; the patent sanctioning this 

 transfer declared the clear annual value of the 



cell to be 1 8 



Vakr Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iii, 461. 

 Prix. Suf. Arch. Inst. vii, 42. 

 1 L. and P. Hen. rill, xiii (i), 652. 



PRIORS OF HOXNE* 



Hervey 



Richard de Hoxne 



Roger 



William de Acle 



John de Shamelisford 



Geoffrey de Norwich, 1411 



Nicholas de Kelfield, 1424 



John Eglington, 1430 



William Mettingham, c. 1428 



John Elmham, c. 1438 



John Eston, 1441 



John Eshgate, 1452 



Robert Gatelee, 1453 



John Eston (again), 1453 



Robert Bretenham, c. 1460 



Simon Folcard, c. 1473 



Nicholas Berdney, c. 20 Edw. IV, 1480 



Robert Swaffham, removed 1492 



John Attleburgh, 1492 



Thomas Pellis, 1509 



Stephen Darsham, 1523 



Nicholas Thurkill, 1535 



6. THE PRIORY OF RUMBURGH 



The priory of Rumburgh was founded between 

 1064 and 1070 by Ethelmar, bishop of Elmham, 

 and Thurstan, abbot of St. Benet at Holme, and 

 supplied with a few monks, with Brother Blakere 

 at their head, from that Benedictine foundation. 5 

 These monks are named in the Domesday Survey 

 as being then twelve in number. 



Some time in the reign of Henry I, either 

 Stephen, the second earl of Richmond and Bre- 

 tagne, or his son Alan, the third earl, gave this 

 priory as a cell to the abbey of St. Mary, York. 6 

 In the charters relative to this gift the priory 

 church of St. Michael's, Rumburgh, is described 

 as in possession of the churches of Wisset, Spex- 

 hall, Holton, and South Cove, with other lands, 

 tithes, and woods ; to these the earl added the 

 Norfolk churches of Banham and Wilby with 

 all their appurtenances. It was definitely laid 

 down in Earl Alan's charter that the prior and 

 monks of Rumburgh were to be appointed by 

 the abbot and convent of York, and were to be 

 removable at will. 



4 This list is the one drawn up by Blomefield (iii, 

 609-10) from the lost chartulary, &c. ; he was not 

 able to fix the dates or order of the first five. 



* Cott. MS. Galba, E. ii, fol. 59 (Reg. of 

 St. Benet's). 



4 In Bishop Everard's charter the foundation is 

 ascribed to Earl Alan, but in a charter of Geoffrey 

 bishop of Ely, to Earl Stephen. Both charters are 

 given in Dugdale, Man. iii, 612. There is a small 

 roll of charters relating to this cell at the British 

 Museum (L. F. C. ix, 9) ; they are eleven in number, 

 and include that of Stephen earl of Richmond, 

 several episcopal confirmations, and references to the 

 church of Banham. 



77 



