RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



lower division shows an embattled fortress 

 flanked on either side by a tower in which is a 

 figure, that on the right is shooting a crossbar 

 (that on the left is injured) ; in the centre of the 

 building an arched compartment in which is a 

 crowned female figure stooping to raise up a 

 woman sitting on the ground. Legend : — 



SIGILLVM : COMUNE : CAPITU 



AM 



10. THE PRIORY OF MODENEY 



In the parish of Hilgay, about a mile south- 

 west of the church, near the River Ouse, stood 

 the small Benedictine priory of Modenev, which 

 was a cell of the Huntingdonshire abbey of 

 Ramsey. 



Nothing is known of its foundation ; both 

 Blomefield and Dugdale are practically silent as 

 to its history. 



The taxation roll of 1 29 1 enters the annual 

 value of the temporalities of the ' prior of Med- 

 menaye,' in the parish of Hilgay, at ^^3 i8s., 

 and the prior of ' Modmenei ' is noted in 1 304 

 as paying ()s. 10^. for yearly tithes to the abbey 

 of Ramsey.^ The Valor of 1535, under the 

 abbey of Ramsey, names the ' Sella de Modney 

 in Com. Norff. ' as worth 43^. 4J. per annum. 



The suppression commissioners simply re- 

 ported, in 1536, that 'the Priory of ]\Iodney 

 namyed to be a cell to Ramsey hathe a Privy 

 Seale to appere.' " 



II. THE PRIORY OF MOLYCOURT^ 



The small Benedictine priory of St. Mary of 

 Molycourt, also called the chapel of St. Mary de 

 Bello Loco, stood in the parish of Outwell, on 

 the right hand of the road from Downham to 

 Outwell. According to Blomefield it was 

 founded in pre-Norman days, but very little is 

 known of its histor)'. In the time of Henry- III, 

 Adam, son and heir of Sir John de Brancastre, 

 granted the patronage of this prior)' to Robert de 

 Hale, rector of Aylington, for the sum of ten 

 marks. 



In September, 1273, the sheriff of Norfolk 

 , was directed to restore to the monks of Moly- 

 court the lands and chattels of the prior)', which 

 had been taken into the king's hands by reason of 

 the larceny and other trespasses of Oliver, keeper 

 of the priory, a clerk, whereof he was indicted 

 before the justices, and he had purged his inno- 

 cence before the bishop of Norwich according to 

 the ecclesiastical manner. A like document 

 was sent to the sheriff of Cambridge.* 



The taxation of 129 1 gives its annual value at 

 £() 2s. 8d. ; it then held possessions in three 

 Norfolk townships. 



' Cartul. de Ramesela (Rolls Ser.), ii, 256. 

 » Chant. Cert. Norf. No. 90. 



' Blomefield, Hist, of Notf. vii, 4767 ; Dugdale, 

 Mon. iv, 588-9 ; Taylor, Index Mcnasticus, 6. 

 ' Close, I Edw. I, m. 3. 



In 1 3 13, Henr)' de Hale, clerk, granted the 

 patronage of the priory to John FitzGilbert de 

 Beaupre, of Outwell. Nicholas, the great- 

 grandson of John FitzGilbert, by his will, dated 

 1380, left his body to be buried in the conven- 

 tual chapel of Molycourt, and the residue of his 

 movable goods to his wife Margaret, and to 

 Thomas de Walton, prior of Molycourt, to be 

 disposed of for the honour of God and for his 

 soul's health. Nicholas died in 1402, and was 

 succeeded by a son of the same name, whose will, 

 dated 24 September, 1428, leaves 20s. to the 

 monks of Molycourt. Thomas de Beaupre, son 

 and heir of the younger Nicholas, married Mar- 

 garet, daughter of John Meers. Margaret, by 

 her will of the year 1439, left her body to be 

 buried in the chapel of the priory of St. Mar)', 

 before the image of St. John Baptist. 



The great storm and inundations of the four- 

 teenth centur)' were most disastrous to the low 

 lying lands of this poorly endowed priory. On 

 23 February, 1385, the bishop of Ely granted 

 forty days' indulgence to all benefactors of the 

 prior)' on account of its poierty. Though the 

 prior)' site was in Norfolk, most of the parishes of 

 Outwell and Upwell, including the greater part 

 of the prior)' lands, were in Cambridgeshire, in 

 the Isle of Ely, and hence under that bishop's 

 jurisdiction. 



On the death of Prior Walton, in 1427, there 

 was only one monk left in the house, namely 

 Stephen de Wyse, and the bishop out of pure 

 favour {gratlose) collated him as prior.' 



E\entually the lands became so impoverished 

 by the continued incursions of water, both salt 

 and fresh, that there was barely maintenance 

 enough for a single monk. Licence was, there- 

 fore, obtained, in 1446, from Henry VI to 

 permit the appropriation of this prior)' by the 

 prior and convent of Ely. Its chief endowment 

 at that time consisted of a messuage and 24 acres 

 of land in Wiggenhall, and eight messuages in 

 Outwell, Upwell and Downham in the counties 

 of Cambridge and Norfolk.* 



There was some delay in carrying out the 

 formal appropriation, but the bishop of Norwich's 

 consent was obtained on 4 December, 1449, the 

 church of Ely paying to the church of Norwich 

 a yearly pension of 3J. ^d. 



Henceforth Molycourt was a cell of Ely. It 

 would not have obtained that title unless divine 

 worship had been carried on in the old prior)' ; 

 probably, therefore, one or two Ely monks lived 

 in the old house, the senior of whom would be 

 termed the prior. 



A Valor of Ely monastery, taken soon after 

 the dissolution, names under Outwell, the houses 

 and site, with lands and tenement of the late cell 

 of Molvcourt, and declares its clear annual value 

 at £6 I4f. lid. 



' Norw. Epis. Reg. ix, 25. 

 ' Dugdale, Mon. i, 490. 



349 



