RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Wolsey on 30 December, 1528. On the 

 following day the cardinal's agent entered into 

 the barn of corn at Felixstowe, and met with no 

 resistance. 1 On 6 January, 1528-9, the Duke 

 of Norfolk made a formal grant of Felixstowe 

 to the cardinal. An unsigned memorandum 

 sent to Cromwell about that date of ' certain 

 utensils that I saw at Filstou,' mentions in the 

 hall, old hangings of little value, stained, of the 

 life of Job. The contents were very poor 

 according to this summary ; for instance, in the 

 cellar, ' nothing ' ; in the chamber over the 

 parlour, a small bedstead, and a ' noghty lok ' ; 

 'all the locks about the house been nought.' ' 



William Capon, the dean of Wolsey's Ips- 

 wich College, writing to the cardinal on 12 April, 



1529, mentions a visit from the Duke of Nor- 

 folk, who was at first very rough with him as 

 he had been informed that the house at Felix- 

 stowe was spoiled, and lead and stone conveyed 

 away ; but he was able to assure him that this 

 was not the case. 



On the speedy ending of Ipswich College, 

 owing to the fall of Wolsey, the crown granted 

 this priory and its appurtenances to the Duke of 

 Norfolk. 



WARDENS OR PRIORS OF FELIXSTOWE 



Robert de Suthflete, prior of Rochester, 1352* 

 John Hertley, prior of Rochester, 1361 7 

 Richard Pecham, 1496 

 William Waterford, occurs 1499 



HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE NUNS 







9 . THE PRIORY OF BUNGAY 



About the year 1160 Roger de Glanville and 

 the Countess Gundreda, his wife, founded the 

 priory of Bungay, in honour of the Blessed 

 Virgin and the Holy Cross, for nuns of the 

 Benedictine order. The first endowment con- 

 sisted of benefices, lands, and rents, the greater 

 part of which had been part of the dower of 

 Gundreda on her marriage, and included the four 

 churches of All Saints, Mettingham, Ilketshall 

 St. Margaret, Ilketshall St. Andrew, and Ilket- 

 shall St. Laurence. 3 An elaborate charter of 

 confirmation by Henry III in 1235 marks a 

 great variety of other benefactions chiefly of small 

 plots of land, made since the foundation, including 

 the church of St. Mary Roughton, by Roger 

 de Glanville, and the mill of Wainford by Roger 

 Bigod, earl of Norfolk. 4 



It is not a little remarkable that there is no 

 mention of the possessions of the nuns of St. Cross, 

 Bungay, throughout the taxation roll of Pope 

 Nicholas in 1291. We can only conclude that 

 the house obtained at that date the rare privilege 

 of exemption from such taxing. 



On the complaint of the prioress of St. Cross, 

 Bungay, a commission of inquiry was issued in 

 February, 1299, as to Robert, prior of Coxford, 

 with various men, carrying away her goods at 

 Roughton and Thorpe Market, county Norfolk, 

 and assaulting her men. 6 On the other hand, in 

 May, 1301, a commission was appointed on the 

 complaint of the abbot of Barlings, that Joan, 

 prioress of Bungay, Simon, parson of the church 

 of St. John by Mettingham, and many others, 



1 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, iv, 5075, 5077. 



'Ibid. 5144, 5145. 



3 A confirmation charter of Henry II, cited in 

 inspection charter 3 Edw. Ill, No. 48. 



1 Chart. R. 19 Hen. Ill, m. 13. Cited in Dug- 

 dale, Mm. iv, 338-9. 



6 Pat. 27 Edw. I, mm. 37 d. 25 d. 



had carried away the abbey's goods at Bungay 

 and other places. 9 



The prioress obtained licence in 1318 to appro- 

 priate the church of St. John Baptist, Ilketshall, 

 which was of their own advowson, 10 and in con- 

 sideration of their poverty the prioress and 

 convent obtained licence, without fine, in 1327, 

 to acquire in mortmain land and rent to the 

 yearly value of jTiO. 11 Edward de Montacute 

 and Alice his wife assigned the advowson of the 

 church of Redenhall to the priory of Bungay in 

 1 346, together with licence for its appropriation. 18 

 In 1441 this church was disappropriated, a pen- 

 sion of 40*. being reserved for the nunnery. 13 



In 1416 a list was drawn up of all the churches 

 of Norwich diocese appropriated to nunneries, with 

 the date of the appropriation. Under Bungay 

 priory appear the names of the four churches 

 originally given by the founder, as well as Bungay 

 St. Thomas and Roughton, and the date assigned 

 to the appropriation of these six and the establish- 

 ment of vicarages is temp. Lot. Cone. 1 * To these 

 six the list adds Redenhall, giving 1349 as the 

 year of the ordaining of a vicarage. 15 



The Valor of 1535 gives the clear annual 

 value of the temporalities, which were chiefly in 

 Suffolk, as 28 is. 8|rf. The clear value of the 

 spiritualities came to 33 ids. o|*/., giving a 

 total income of 61 us. 9^. The spiritualities 

 included the appropriated churches of St. Mary 



6 Angl. Sacr. i, 394. ' Ibid. 



8 Cole MS. xxvii, 691 b. 



9 Pat. 3 1 Edw. I, m. 24 d. 



10 Ibid. 1 1 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 27. 



11 Ibid, i Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 1 6. 



18 Ibid. 20 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 6 ; Norw. Epis. Reg. 

 iv, fol. 27, 28. 



13 Norw. Epis. Reg. x, fol. 48. 



14 The fourth Lateran Council, 1215, insisted on the 

 proper founding of vicarages in the case of appropria- 

 tions. 



14 Norw. Epis. Reg. viii, fol. 28. 



Si 



