RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Nicholas de Ipswich l 



William de Secheford 2 



John de St. Nicholas 3 



John de Kentford, 4 1324 



Thomas de Thornham, 6 1383 



John Pyke, 8 1390 



John Gylmyn, 7 1411 



John Mauncer, 8 1417 



John Pyke, 9 1424 



Thomas Hadley, 10 died 1437 



John Bestman, 11 1437 



Thomas Gundolf, 12 1470 



Richard Forth, 13 1479 



Robert, 1 * occurs 1513 



Thomas Whighte, 16 occurs 1526 



John Thetford 16 (alias Colyn), occurs 1535 



The priory of Holy Trinity was sometimes 

 known as Christ Church ; it bore this name as 

 early as the days of Richard II. 17 A circular seal 

 of this house shows Our Lord seated, with 

 crucifix nimbus, right hand raised in blessing, 

 left hand resting on a book. The seven candle- 

 sticks are shown, four on one side and three on 

 the other. The whole is enclosed in a quatre- 

 foil, outside which are the Evangelistic symbols. 

 Legend : 



SIGILL : CUMMUNE : SCA 



XPI 



GIPEWICENSIS 



IS 



24. THE PRIORY OF IXWORTH 



The priory of St. Mary, Ixworth, was first 

 founded for Austin canons about the year noo, 

 by Gilbert Blundus or Blunt. The buildings 

 and chapel, which were erected near the parish 

 church, were ere long destroyed during an out- 

 burst of civil war ; whereupon William, the son of 

 the founder, rebuilt the priory on a different site. 19 



The exact endowment bestowed on the priory 

 by the founder is not known. In 1228 Ralph 

 de Montchesny gave the advowson of the Norfolk 

 church of Melton Parva to this priory ; * the 

 advowson of Hunston was given in 1 235," and 

 that of Sapiston in I272. 22 



1 Harl. MS. 6957, fol. 107. 



2 Ibid. 6958, fol. 88. 'Ibid. 



4 Norw. Epis. Reg. i, 105-6. These are dates of 

 election. 



5 Ibid, vi, 90. 6 Ibid, vi, 149. 

 ' Ibid, vii, 46. 8 Ibid, viii, 25. 

 9 Ibid, viii, 80. I0 Ibid, x, 12. 

 "Ibid. "Ibid, xi, 174. 



" Ibid, xii, 71. " Wodderspoon, Ipswich, 302. 



15 Jessopp, Visit, 220. 16 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.). 



17 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, 245-7. 



18 Engraved for Wodderspoon's Ipswich, opp. p. 300. 

 In the B. M. Catalogue of Seals this seal is termed the 

 second seal of St. Peter's priory. 



19 De Fundatione et progenie fundatoris. Kniveton 

 MSS. cited in Dugdale, Man. vi, 311. 



20 Feet of F. Norf. 1 2 Hen. Ill, 56. 

 81 Ibid. Suff. 19 Hen. Ill, 56. 



" Ibid, i Edw. I, 39. 



The taxation roll of 1291 shows that the 

 priory was by that date well supplied with appro- 

 priated churches. The rectories of Ixworth, 

 Thorp, Walsham, ' Lynterton,' Badwell, ' Bykyn- 

 hall,' and ' Aysforth ' belonged to the priory, 

 and they also held portions of two other churches ; 

 the total income from spiritualities was 70 i6s. 

 The temporalities in twelve different parishes 

 brought in 11 is. n^., 23 so that the total 

 annual income was jf 8 1 I "js. II ^d. 



There was a further accession of endowment 

 in 1362, when half the manor of Ixworth was 

 bestowed on the canons, as well as three messuages 

 and 360 acres in Hunston, Langham, &c. 24 In 

 1377 the convent obtained the alienation to them, 

 by Richard de Pakenham and others, of a moiety 

 of the manor of Ixworth, for finding two canons, 

 in addition to the established number, to perform 

 divine service in the priory church for the good 

 estate of the king and of his soul after death, 

 and for the soul of the late king, of William 

 Crikecot, and of others. 25 Richard II, in 1384, 

 granted the priory a market and two fairs at 

 Ixworth. 26 



The Valor of 1535 shows that the gross 

 income was ^204 9*. 5 jd. ; but there were large 

 deductions, including ^20 1 5*. definitely assigned 

 to the poor, so that the net value was brought 

 down to ji68 iqs. "]\d. The temporalities 

 produced ^152 Js. ^\d. a year. The spiritu- 

 alities at that time consisted of the rectories of 

 Ixworth, Badwell with Ashfield, Sapiston, Den- 

 ham, and Melton Parva, with the altarage of Wal- 

 sham (6 8s. 5^.) and portions from three other 

 churches; the total amounted to ^52 2J. i^-d. 27 



A commission was issued in October, 1283, 

 to two justices to inquire into the charge pre- 

 ferred against William, prior of Ixworth, John, 

 the cellarer of Ixworth, and a large number of 

 persons of Ipswich and the district, of assaulting 

 Ralph de Bonevill, the Serjeant of Otto de 

 Grandison and Peter de Chaumpvent at Ixworth, 

 and committing depredations on their goods 

 whilst Otto and Peter were with the king in 

 Wales. 28 



Nicholas Gold well, as commissary for his 

 brother the bishop, visited Ixworth in February, 

 14923, when Prior Godwin Bury and fourteen 

 canons (of whom four were not yet professed) 

 were privately and separately examined, with the 

 result that no reform was needed. 29 



Bishop Nykke visited in June, 1514, when 

 John Gerves, the prior, stated that all the brethren 



* Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 96, 97, 101, 

 1206, 121, 127, 127^, 130, 131, 132, 132^, 133. 



24 Pat. 25 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 18 ; Inq. p.m. 

 25 Edw. III. 



25 Pat. i Ric. II, pt. i, m. 5. 



' 6 Chart. R. 7 and 8 Ric. II, No. 14. 

 K Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iii, 482-3. 

 18 Pat. 2 Edw. I, m. 2. 

 M Jessopp. Visit. 44-5. 



105 



