RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



The account roll of Prior Edmund Norwich for 

 1535-6 shows that the receipts were then only 

 ^^78 $s. 8d. The oblations in St. Margaret's 

 Church, which had amounted to £4.4. a hun- 

 dred years earlier, then only reached the sum of 

 ;^I4 5^. 4.d. Not only did the pension due to 

 the prior of Norwich remain unpaid, but the cell 

 of Lynn was clearly a considerable burden to the 

 mother priory, for its expenses for that year 

 amounted to ;{|ii5 lis. 3i(^. 



Legh and Ap Rice, Cromwell's visitors, were 

 here towards the end of 1535; they reported 

 that all of the house save two desired to be dis- 

 pensed ; two of the number are supposed to have 

 confessed incontinency to the visitors.^ 



This priory at the dissolution became part of 

 the endowment of the dean and chapter of 

 Norwich, and Prior Drake was made prebend of 

 the fourth stall. 



Among the account rolls in the treasury of 

 Norwich Cathedral are annual returns from the 

 priory cell of Lynn for 1331, 1371, 1373, 1381 

 to 1407, and a fair number from Henry VI to 

 the dissolution. Invalid monks or those needing 

 change were sent from time to time, both to this 

 cell and to that of Yarmouth, for a summer 

 outing. The roll for 1407 contains a charge of 

 5 I J. loid. for a conveyance of monks {in cariagio 

 monachorum) with gifts given them. 



George Elingham, prior of Lynn, attended the 

 episcopal visitation of Norwich Priory in 1514. 

 He was examined as to the state of the mother 

 house, but naturally said he knew but little as he 

 was so seldom present.^ 



Priors of Lynn ^ 



William, c. 1200 



Adam de Schipdam, c. 1280 



John de Bromholm, 1309 



John de Stratton, 1325 



William Ralflede Markham, 1378 



Alexander, 1381 



John de Carleton and Walter Ormesby, 1 397 



Richard de Folsham, 1398 



John Elys, 1483 



John de Dereham, 1483 



Thomas Heveringham, 1487 



John Fornsett, 1487 



Nicholas Bardney, 1489 



George Elingham, 1509 



Edmund Norwich, 1535 



Norwich, in Thorpwood, for the accommoda- 

 tion of several Benedictine monks, whilst the 

 cathedral church and priory were in course of 

 erection. It was afterwards continued as a cell of 

 the great monastery under the rule of a prior ap- 

 pointed by the prior of Norwich and confirmed by 

 the bishop. The prior of St. Leonard's had to 

 account annually to his superior for all the 

 offerings in the priory church of St. Leonard, as 

 well as for those of the adjacent chapel of 

 St. Michael on the Mount, which was served by 

 the monks. 



At the visitation of Norwich Priory in I 5 14 

 by Bishop Nicke, it was stated that John Sybbys, 

 prior of St. Leonard's, had not rendered his 

 account as master of the hospital of St. Paul, also 

 that tw.o barns, through his neglect, had fallen 

 to the ground. Another monk testified as to 

 the vicious, opprobrious, and defamatory talk 

 that often went on at the cell of St. Leonard; 

 and two others stated that John Sybbys had 

 brought the office of gardener which he held to 

 almost utter ruin through his culpable careless- 

 ness, inasmuch as sheep and other animals had 

 common access to to the garden grounds. The 

 visitor considered these charges proved, for in 

 the comperta it is declared that quarrels and 

 opprobrious language were rife in the cell of 

 St. Leonard, and that Sybbys had failed to pro- 

 duce the accounts of St. Paul's, &c. The 

 injunctions which followed ordered the prior of 

 Norwich to dismiss Sybbys from the rule of 

 St. Leonard and not to allow him to hold any other 

 office.^ The number of monks accommodated at 

 this cell was usually seven or eight. 



Blomefield states that the church of this 

 priory was noted for a famous image of King 

 Henry VI, which attracted many pilgrims ; ' so 

 that the offerings to this good king and the 

 images of the Holy Virgin, the Holy Cross, and 

 St. Anthony brought in a good round annual 

 sum.' It is rather a curious comment on this 

 statement to note that, under the elaborate 

 accounts of the cathedral priory in the Valor 

 Ecclesiasticus (1535), the only offerings named 

 in connexion with the church of this cell are 

 those that were made at the image of St. Leonard ; 

 and they merely amounted to (:>\d. in the year 



1534. 



At the dissolution the site and demesnes of 

 this priory were granted to Thomas duke of 

 Norfolk. 



4. THE PRIORY OF ST. LEONARD,* 

 NORWICH 



The priory of St. Leonard was built by 

 Bishop Herbert on a hill near the city of 



^ L.andP. Hen. Fill, x, 364. 

 ' Jessopp, Nona. Visit. 73. 

 ^ Blomefield, Hist, of Norf. 



* Ibid, iv, 426-8 ; Dugdale, Mon. vi, 466 ; 

 Taylor, Index Monasticus, 8. 



Priors of St, Leonard,* Norwich 



Richard de Blakeden, occurs 1394 

 Richard Walsham, occurs 1452 

 Nicholas Ayrich, occurs 1472 

 Robert Farmouth, occurs 1496 

 Robert Cotton, i 5 i 7 



' Jessopp, Norw. Visit. 75-9. 

 ' Blomefield, op. cit. 



329 



