A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



Walter,' occurs 1296 



William de Somerton,' occurs 13 1 8 



Nicholas de Flamstede,^ 1323 



John de Caldewell,* elected 1337 



Adam/ occurs 1354 



Robert Stoke,^ occurs 1396 



Michael Cheyne/ elected 1424 



William Bryt/ elected 1430 



William Spygon,' elected 1436 



Nicholas Wellys,'" elected 1438 



Henry Halstead," elected 1454 



William Dixwell,'- occurs 1 46 1 



John Peyton," LL.D., elected 1464 



Richard Whitingdon,'* elected 1480 



Thomas Sudbury, 1481 



William FreselV' elected 1585 



John Albon,'^ elected 1509 



Thomas Williams, last prior, 1539 



There is a twelfth-century cast of the pointed 

 oval seal of this priory at the British Museum 

 bearing the Annunciation legend : 



-f- SIGILLUM . ECCLE . SCE . MARIE . DE . BINE- 

 HAM " 



9. THE PRIORY OF ST. FAITH, 

 HORSHAM 



The priory of Horsham, dedicated to the 

 honour of St. Faith, and usually known by the 

 name of that Virgin Martyr, was founded by 

 Robert Fitz-Walter and Sybil his wife, daughter 

 and heiress of Ralph de Cheney, in the year 

 1 105. An old English MS., quoted by Dug- 

 dale, gives an interesting story as to the origin 

 of this foundation. Robert and Sybil, returning 

 through France from a joint pilgrimage to Rome, 

 were set upon by brigands and imprisoned in 

 their stronghold. Offering devout prayers to 

 God and St. Faith, the saint appeared to them 

 in a vision, loosed their chains, and brought them 

 out of prison bearing their fetters with them. 

 Thereupon they made their way to the abbey of 

 Conches, in the diocese of Evreux, where 

 St. Faith was enshrined, and there offered up 

 their fetters, ' which remain within this place at 

 this day (1598)."* The abbot and his brethren 

 of this renowned Benedictine house, which had 



» Harl. MS. 970, fol. 113. 



' Rymer, Foedera (Rec. Com.), iii, 364. 



' Gata Abb. S. J /bam (Rolls Ser.), 187. 



* Norw. Epis. Reg. iii, 8. 



' Cott. MS. Chud. D., xiii, 53. 



^ Newcome, Hut. of St. Albans, 277. 



' Norw. Epis. Reg. viii, 87. 



* Ibid, ix, 87. » Ibid. 

 '"Ibid. X, 18. " Ibid, xi, 77. 

 " Blomefield, Hist. ofNotf. ix, 211. 



" Ibid. " Ibid, xii, 81. 



" Ibid, xiv, 36. '« Ibid. 90. 



" B.M. Ixix, 8 ; given in Dugd.ile, Mon. iii, 345. 

 " Dugd.ile, Mon. ; taken from a MS. ' Penes samp- 

 sonem Leonard fecialem.' 



been founded in 1050, received them joyfully 

 with great cheer for twelve days. During their 

 rest at the abbey, Robert and Sybil ' reade the 

 life of Saint Faith and the miracles that God 

 shewed for her ther daily and hourely ' with the 

 result that they vowed, on their return to their 

 manor of Horsford, to build there a monastery 

 in the worship of God and St. Faith, which 

 should be a cell to the abbey of Conches. 

 They took with them, on their departure, two 

 of the monks, Barnard and Girard. When they 

 had come home building was begun upon a 

 certain ground at Horsford, ' called at this day 

 Kirkescroft,' but the work that was done in the 

 day fell down in the night, so that it was 

 removed to a site at Horsham where the enter- 

 prise prospered. 



By the foundation charter, this priory or cell 

 was endowed with the advowsons of Horsford, 

 Reydone, and Moi, and certain tithes from six- 

 teen other churches. In 1 1 63 the foundation 

 charter was confirmed by Pope Alexander III. 

 The revenues were afterwards considerably 

 increased, chiefly by successive lords of Horsford 

 and Horsham. 



At the time of the 1291 taxation, this priory 

 had possessions, mostly of a small amount, in no 

 fewer than seventy-seven of the Norfolk parishes, 

 yielding an annual income of _|^78 6j. io\d. 



In 1325 an extent of the land and possessions 

 of this alien priory was drawn up. The site of 

 the priory was valued at 5j. ; arable lands, 

 meadows, pastures, dovecote, wind and water 

 mills, rents and court perquisites of Horsham and 

 Horsford were valued at a yearly income of 

 ^^24 75. ; the church of Horsham, j^ii ; the 

 church of Horsford, £"] lOs. ; tenements in 

 Helgheton, 62;. ; tenements, rents, and services 

 in Ryburgh, 265. id. ; rents in Styberdde, ioj. ; 

 the church of Helgheton, £^0 ; the manor of 

 West Rudham, 1045. 8^. ; the church of Hoxton, 

 £"] lOi. ; the church of Heveringland, j^i4 ; 

 the church of Corpusty, lOOi. ; the church of 

 Freethorpe, £"] lOs. ; the church of Runham, 

 ^^12; the church of Tibenham, ^^15 ; a portion 

 (of the church) of Wellingham, 6j. 8^. ; of the 

 church of Faverham, 3^. ; of the church of 

 Branston, 13J. 4^. ; of the church of East Tud- 

 denham, bi, 8d. ; of the church of Saxlingham, 

 20s. ; of the church of Newton Flotman, 20s. ; 

 of the church of Ling, lOs. ; rents in Norwich, 

 5 05. ; and a tenement at Intwood, 401.^' 



The clear annual income of the priory, as 

 certified for taxation in i535,was ^^162 16s. ii^d. 

 An unusually large share of this income came 

 from spiritualities ; there were appropriations or 

 pensions from twenty-three churches in Norfolk, 

 from fourteen in Suffolk, and from one in 

 London. 



St. Faith's being thus dependent upon the 

 foreign abbey of Conches, its priors were not 



Add. MS. 6164, fol. 130. 



346 



