A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



22. THE PRIORY OF ST. PETER AND 

 ST. PAUL, IPSWICH 



The priory of St. Peter and St. Paul was 

 established in the parish of St. Peter, Ipswich, for 

 Austin canons about the end of the reign of 

 Henry II. It is said to have been founded by 

 the ancestors of Thomas Lacy and Alice his 

 wife j 1 but the crown claimed the patronage as 

 early as the reign of Henry III, and continued 

 to issue a cmgi filire on vacancies down to its 

 suppression. 



Very little is known of its early history. 



The gift of Letheringham, early in the 

 thirteenth century, and the establishment of a 

 small cell of this house, is described under 

 Letheringham priory. 



From the taxation roll of 1291 we find that 

 it was then in possession of a considerable in- 

 come. It held the appropriation of the Ipswich 

 churches of St. Peter, St. Nicholas, and 

 St. Clement, and also the rectories of Creting- 

 ham and Wherstead, and a portion of Swineland ; 

 the annual total of the spiritualities was ^36 los. 

 The temporalities in lands and rents, chiefly 

 in Ipswich and the suburbs, amounted to 

 ^45 ijs. $d. a year, giving a total income of 

 82 7 s. S d. 3 



A grant was made 15 February, 1289, to the 

 sub-prior and convent of the church of SS. Peter 

 and Paul, for a fine of jiO, of the custody of 

 their house during voidance. John de Ipswich, 

 a canon of the church, had brought word to 

 Westminster in the previous week of the resig- 

 nation of William de Secheford, their prior. 

 Licence was obtained for a new election, and 

 the assent of the crown to the election of John 

 de St. Nicholas was forwarded to the bishop on 

 5 May. 3 



Licence was obtained by the prior in 1303 to 

 enclose, with the as r ,ent of Hugh Haraud, a void 

 plot of land, six perches long by three broad, a 

 little distance from the priory, together with an 

 adjoining road, to build on the same for the 

 enlargement of the priory, on condition that a 

 like road was made on their own adjacent 

 ground. 4 The priory obtained licence in 1320 

 to acquire lands in mortmain to the annual 

 value of jCio; in the same year they had bene- 

 factions to the annual value of 41*. \d. a year. 5 

 In 1329 the priory obtained further grants, 

 under this licence, of the annual value of 55*." 



Robert Bishop, at the request of Edward I, had 

 obtained sustenance for life at this priory ; and 



' Weever, funeral Monuments, 752 ; Tanner, 

 Nstitia, Suff. xxviii, z. 



* Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 115^, 117, 119^, 

 124, 1*9^, 133. 



3 Pat. 17 Edw. I, m. 21, 20, 1 8. 



4 Ibid. 31 Edw. I, m. 20. 



J Ibid. 13 Edw. II, m. 14; 14 Edw. II, pt. i, 

 m. 4. 



Ibid. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 1 4. 



on his death Edward II had made a like grant to 

 Gerard de Cessons of sustenance fit for a man of 

 gentle birth, adding that Nicholaa, Gerard's 

 wife, should receive the same for her life if she 

 survived her husband. Edward III, in 1330, 

 granted to the priory that, after the death of 

 their pensioners Gerard and Nicholaa, the house 

 should not be further burdened by the crown 

 after that fashion. 7 



Thomas de Lacy and Alice his wife obtained 

 licence in 1344 to alienate to this priory land at 

 Duxford, Cambridgeshire, and the advowson of 

 the church of St. John Baptist of that town, for 

 the celebration in that church of masses for their 

 souls and their ancestors ; the licence also 

 authorized the appropriation of Duxford church 

 to the priory. 8 



The priory paid in 1392 for licence to accept, 

 from Roger de Wolferston and others, consider- 

 able benefactions in lands at Thurlston and 

 other places, to find a canon-regular to celebrate 

 daily in their church for the souls of Thomas 

 Harold and John de Claydon. 9 



Archdeacon Goldwell visited this priory as 

 commissary of his brother the bishop in January, 

 1493, but no particulars were recorded in the 

 register. 10 The next recorded visitation is that 

 by the vicar-general on behalf of Bishop Nykke, 

 in August, 1514. Prior Godwyn presented his 

 accounts from the time of his appointment, but 

 not as an inventory ; he complained that the 

 brethren did not duly rise for mattins. John 

 Laurence, who was serving the church of 

 St. Nicholas, Ipswich, said that the brethren 

 were disobedient in not rising for mattins. 

 Geoffrey Barnes, who served the church of 

 St. Peter, considered that everything was well 

 and laudably done. William Browne com- 

 plained that the foundation of a chantry within 

 the church of St. Peter was not observed, that 

 the brethren did not have their usual pension and 

 that there was no schoolmaster. There were 

 other complaints as to the absence of a school- 

 master, and as to comparatively small matters, 

 such as no lunch (jentacula) in the morning. 

 Nine canons were examined, in addition to the 

 prior. The injunctions of the vicar-general 

 ordered the canons to rise for mattins and to be 

 obedient to the prior, and the prior to provide a 

 chest with three locks for the custody of the seal 

 before Michaelmas, and a teacher in grammar for 

 the canons. 11 



A visitation was held on 2 August, 1520, by 

 the Bishop of Chalcedon and Dr. Cappe, as the 

 diocesan's commissaries, but no particulars are 

 recorded. 12 The next visitation was held by 

 Bishop Nykke in July, 1526. William Brown, 



7 Pat. 4 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 30. 



8 Ibid. 1 8 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 9. 



9 Ibid. 1 6 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 32. 



10 Jessopp, Visit. 35. 



11 Ibid. 137-8. " "Ibid. 1 8 1. 





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