RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Thetford priory was to hold the advowson and 

 patronage as before, as Thetford was able to 

 show that Wangford was only a cell, and the 

 prior removable at will. 1 



The report of the visitors from Cluni as to 

 their houses of English foundation, drawn up 

 about 1405, stated that Wangford priory, a cell 

 of Thetford, had two daily masses, both with 

 song ; the number of the brethren was fixed by 

 some at five, and by others at only four. 2 



Thomas duke of Norfolk, writing to Crom- 

 well in March 1537, stated that the small cell 

 of Wangford had gone to ruin by the misuse of 

 those to whom it had been committed, and the 

 prior of Thetford had thought good to call home 

 his monks and let the cell to farm. He had 

 offered to lease it to the treasurer of the duke's 

 household, provided he could do so lawfully and 

 with Cromwell's favour. 3 In the following April, 

 William, prior of Thetford, wrote to Cromwell, 



who had written to the prior for the assignment 

 of Wangford cell to one Mr. Felston, begging 

 the visitor general to take no displeasure, for he 

 and his brethren had already granted a lease to 

 Mr. Rouse, treasurer of the Duke of Norfolk, 

 their patron. 6 



The surrender of Wangford was included in 

 that of Thetford, which was signed on 1 6 Feb- 

 ruary, 1539-40, as related under Thetford. 6 



The site of this priory and all its possessions 

 were assigned to the Duke of Norfolk on 9 July, 

 1540.' 



PRIORS OF WANGFORD 

 John, occurs 1218 8 

 William, occurs 1249 

 Reginald, occurs 1275 10 

 Martin, occurs 1308 n 

 Walter, occurs 1402" 

 John, occurs 1536" 



HOUSE OF CISTERCIAN MONKS 



14. THE ABBEY OF SIBTON 4 



The Cistercian abbey of the Blessed Virgin of 

 Sibton was founded by William Cheney, some- 

 times called William Fitz Robert, and was 



1 Pat. 3 Hen. IV, pt. ii, m. 1 2. 



1 Duckett, Vis. cfEngl. Clun. Found. 41. 



1 L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xii (l), 71 1. 



* A register book (Add. MS. 341560) giving an 

 extent of lands, &c., of this abbey, of early fourteenth 

 century date, was purchased by the British Museum 

 in 1 894 of the late Rev. C. R. Manning. It consists 

 of 1 39 vellum folios. 



The most important MS. relative to this abbey is 

 the chartulary or register (Arundel 221) formerly in 

 the Earl of Arundel's collection, afterwards in the 

 library of the Royal Society, but transferred to the 

 British Museum in 1831. It was drawn up towards 

 the end of the fourteenth century, and contains 153 

 parchment folios. 



From fol. 32 to fol. 143 is a chartulary proper ; 

 the charter transcripts are followed by a series of papal 

 bulls granted to the abbey of Sibton, twenty-two in 

 number, ranging from Alexander III, 1 1 60, to 

 Innocent IV, 1254. 



The earlier part of the volume contains a variety 

 of entries, such as copies of Magna Charta and the 

 Forest Charter, the names of the kings of England 

 down to Edward III, list of the towns in Blything 

 hundred, and various pleas and inquisitions relative 

 to the abbey in the reigns of Edward III and 

 Richard II. 



Of this chartulary there are several transcripts. A 

 portion, on paper in an Elizabethan hand, appears in 

 Cott. MS. Vitel. fol. xii. Add. MS. 8172 (vol. v. of 

 Jermyn's Suffolk Collections) is entirely occupied with 

 Sibton parish, and most of it with transcripts of the 

 abbey charters and evidences. Add. MS. 19082 (part 

 of Davy's Suffolk Collections) concerns Sibton from 

 fol. i to 249, mainly about the abbey. Most of 

 Davy's transcripts correspond with Arundel 221, but 

 others, with some variants, are taken from a chartu- 



2 89 



colonized by an abbot and twelve monks from 

 the abbey of Warden in Bedfordshire. 



The advowson of the church of Westleton 

 was given to the abbey in 1272," and it was ap- 

 propriated in 1 332." 



The taxation roll of 1291 shows that this 

 abbey held lands or rents in ten parishes of the 

 city of Norwich, and in twelve parishes of the 

 county of Norfolk, which brought in an income 

 of 29 7*. $\d. There were also considerable 

 temporalities in upwards of twenty-five Suffolk 

 parishes, yielding 103 8j. 6^d. The spirituali- 

 ties consisted of the rectory of Sibton with the 

 chapel of Peasenhall, and portions from four 

 other churches, producing 1 1 7.5. 4^. The 

 total income of the abbey was thus ^144 3*. 4^. 16 



lary and two bursar's account books of the fifteenth 

 century, then in possession of the Bishop of Salisbury. 

 Rawlinson MS. B. 419, of the Bodleian, is a tran- 

 script of Arundel 221. A further chartulary, cited by 

 Jermyn and Davy, in the possession of Mr. Scrivener 

 of Sibton, appears also to correspond with the Arundel 

 register. Other miscellaneous extracts are to be found 

 in the Dodsworth MSS. of the Bodleian, and in the 

 Harley Collection (2044 and 2101) of the British 

 Museum. 



4 L. and P. Hen. VI 11, xii, pt. i, 836. 



6 Rymer, FoeJera, xiv, 666. 



7 Pat. 32 Hen. VIII, pt. iv, m. 3. 



1 Add. MS. 19803, fol. 66. ' Ibid. 6-jb. 



10 Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 149. 



" Pat. 2 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 7. 



18 Pat. 3 Hen. IV, pt. ii, m. i 2. 



" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, x, 1257 (2). 



14 Feet of F. SufF. i Edw. I, No. 83. 



" Pat. 5 Edw. Ill, m. 5. 



16 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 91, 95^, 99^, 103, 

 103^, 104, 104^, 105, 108, 115, 118^, 125, 125^, 

 126, 126^, 127, 127^, 128, 128^, 130, 132^. 



12 



