A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



PRIORS OF SNAPE 



John Colcestre, 1307 l 



Gilbert, occurs 1311* 



Thomas de Neylond, 1327 8 



Simon de Elyton, 1349 * 



John de Colne, 1349 * 



Robert (? Richard) de Colne, 1360' 



Richard de Bury, 1372 7 



John de Grensted, 1385 8 



John de Mersey, 1394 



John Wetheryngsete, died 1439 10 



John Norwych, 1439" 



William Cambrigge, mentioned 1441 u 



Henry Thurton, resigned 1489 13 



John Barney, 1489" 



Thomas Mondeley, 1491 " 



Francis, occurs 1493" 



Richard Bells, 1504" 



Richard Stratford, 1514" 



Richard Parker, 1526" 



A seal of a prior of this house c. I2OO is 

 appended to two charters at the British Museum. 

 It represents a prior standing, holding a book in 

 his hands. Legend : 



+ SIGILLUM PRIORIS DE SNAPE 



20 



8. PRIORY OF FELIXSTOWE 



Roger Bigod, in the reign of William Rufus, 

 gave the church of St. Felix at Walton to the 

 monastery of St. Andrew, Rochester. Some 

 monks from that priory soon established a cell at 

 Walton, 21 to which the founder gave the manor 

 of Felixstowe, and the churches of Walton and 

 Felixstowe. 22 



There was a grant, c. 1 170-80, to the monks 

 of St. Felix by Robert de Burneville, of his man 

 Eluric Pepin with his children, which was con- 

 firmed by William de Burneville. 23 



The taxation of 1291 shows that this priory 

 had then an income of 6 I2s. i^d. from lands 

 and rents in eight different parishes. 24 



In 1291 there was a commission from Thomas 

 the prior and the chapter of Rochester to John, 



1 Norw. Epis. Reg. i, 26. 



I Westm. Mun. (Dugdale, Mm. vi, 557). 



* Norw. Epis. Reg. ii, 18. * Ibid, iv, 93. 



* Ibid, iv, 113. * Ibid, v, 49. ' Ibid, vi, 72. 



8 Ibid, vi, 113. ' Ibid, vi, 196. 10 Ibid, x, 29. 



II Ibid. " De Bane. R. 21 Hen. VI, m. 321. 

 " Norw. Epis. Reg. xii, 1 40. 



"Ibid. "Ibid, xii, 154. 



16 Jessopp, Visit, v, 37. " Norw. Epis. Reg. xiii, 44. 



18 Ibid, xiv, 117. " Ipswich College Chart. 



" Harl. Chart. 431, 1 8 ; 441, 26. 



" Leland, Itia. viii, 66 ; Tanner, Notitia, Suff. xiv. 



M Taylor, Ind. Mon. 83. 



" Bodl. Chart. Suff. 239, 240, Chart. 241-3. In 

 this collection there are also some small grants to the 

 church of St. Felix. 



14 Pofe NicA. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 124, 125, 128. 



cell of St. Felix, 

 the election of 



Walton, and 

 a bishop of 



warden of the 

 others, as to 

 Rochester. 25 



A roll of 1499, when William Waterford 

 was warden of the cell of St. Felix, gives a full 

 account of the year's receipts and outlay. The 

 rents and court fees amounted to i o 165. io$d., 

 and tithe portions from three parishes to 121. 

 The sale of corn brought in ^13 12s. 2d., and 

 the farming of pasture and mills and certain 

 other details brought the total receipts to 

 ^33 9;. lO^d. Among the smaller payments 

 of the outgoings are 2od. to the friars of Ips- 

 wich towards building their church, 2d. for 

 cleaning the churchyard, and 6d. for oil for the 

 church lamp. The chief payments were for 

 repairs to the conventual and farm buildings and 

 mills, and for wages of the servants. Among the 

 gifts and rewards were 8d. at Christmas to a harp- 

 player, three bushels of wheat and three of barley 

 to the three orders of friars at Ipswich, one bushel 

 of each to the friars of Orford, and half a bushel 

 of wheat to the anchorite of Orford. There 

 were also various donations of corn to the lights, 

 &c., of the churches of Walton and Felixstowe. 

 The last entry under this head is the gift to 

 Thrum's wife of a bushel of both wheat and bar- 

 ley, inasmuch as her house was burnt, and her 

 husband and two children burnt by the fire. 28 



This priory was suppressed in 1538 towards 

 the founding of Cardinal's College, Ipswich, 

 under the bull of Clement VII. 27 On 29 August, 

 1528, Thomas duke of Norfolk wrote to 

 Wolsey, asking if ' the house of Fylstowe ' of 

 his foundation is really going to be suppressed for 

 the college, and if in that case it would be left 

 in fee farm for him and his heirs. 28 



Eventually on 9 September in the ' priory of 

 Felixstowe alias Fylstowe,' before Stephen Gar- 

 diner, LL.D., archdeacon of Worcester, and 

 Rowland Lee, canon of Lichfield, sitting as 

 judges, there was presented a commission of 

 Cardinal Wolsey, the effect of which Gardiner 

 declared to the prior and two other monks, by 

 which with the authority of the pope, and the 

 consent of the founder's kin, he proceeded to the 

 suppression of the monastery, applied the goods 

 both movable and immovable to the college at 

 Ipswich, and ordered the prior and his monks to 

 enter other monasteries of the same order. The 

 prior and monks being asked what monastery 

 they would choose, they begged time for con- 

 sideration, which was allowed them till the 

 arrival of the legate at London. Thomas 

 Cromwell was one of the witnesses. 29 



The formal grant of the site of Felixstowe 

 priory, with its appurtenances, was made to 



* Bodl. Chart. Suff. 1304. 



16 Set forth at length in Dugdale, Mm. iii, 563-5. 





17 Rymer, Foettera, xiv, 240. 



18 L. and P. Hen. HII, iv, pt. ii, 4673. 



80 



Ibid. 4755. 



