RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Nicholas, when they were declared of the Henry III granted the priory, in 1229, a fair 



annual value of ^^6 os. lod. At the Valor of on Holy Cross Day and two days after, and a 



Monday market" 



Henry VIII, Normansburgh was included under 

 the priory of Castle Acre. Simon (1166) and 

 Roger (f. 1190) were priors before the house 

 -was handed over to the Cluniac monks.' 



Hugh occurs as prior in 1204, and Simon II 

 in 1227. 



A visitation of the English Cluniac founda- 

 tion, made in 1390, states that the community 

 of Normansburgh comprised a prior and two 

 monks, and was a cell directly subject to the 

 priory of Castle Acre.^ 



This priory and its possessions passed with 

 those of Castle Acre to the Duke of Norfolk at 

 the dissolution. 



17. THE CELL OF SLEVESHOLM 



The small priory of Slevesholm, dedicated to 

 the honour of the Blessed Virgin and St. Giles, 

 in the parish of Methwold, was founded by 

 William de Warenne, third earl of Surrey, in 

 the reign of Stephen. The founder gave to 

 Paul and his brother monks the island of Sieves- 

 holm in the fen of Methwold, providing that after 

 Paul's death a prior should be elected from the 

 monks of Castle Acre, who was to be presented 

 to and admitted by the Earl of Warenne and his 

 heirs. In 1309, John, earl of Warenne, con- 

 iirmed the gifts of his ancestor.' 



In 1 29 1 the annual value of this small cell 

 was merely ^^i 10;. "j^d. ; in the Valor of 1535 

 it was included with Castle Acre. 



A visitation of the English Cluniac founda- 

 tions, undertaken in 1390, mentions Slevesholm 

 •or Slevsham as a cell of Castle Acre, consistin» 

 of a prior and one monk. There was a daily 

 •celebration. 



Blomefield mentions four priors of this cell — 

 Paul; Thomas; Thomas II, 141 5; and Stephen, 



I4I9-'' 



18. THE PRIORY OF BROMHOLM 



The priory of Bromholm, dedicated to the 

 honour of St. Andrew, was founded in 1 1 1 3 by 

 William de Glanvill, and was made subordinate 

 to the Cluniac house of Castle Acre. Bartholo- 

 mew de Glanvill, son of the founder, confirmed 

 and increased his father's endowments. The 

 charter enumerates the lands of Stanard, the 

 priest of Keswick together with the church, 

 the churches of Bromholm, Dilham, and Paston, 

 with the tithes of many neighbouring estates. 

 He also bequeathed to the priory, after his death, 

 ■Gristcombe and all he possessed in the fields 

 there, with his villeins.' 



' Harl. MS. 2 1 10, fol. 76b. 

 ' Dtickett, Chart, and Rec. ofClunl, ii, 213. 

 ' Harl. MS. 21 10, fols. 7, 14. 

 * Blomefield, Hist. ofNorf. ii, 210. 

 ' Dugdale, Mon. v, 63 ; cited from Register of 

 Castle Acre, fol. 62. 



The same king m 1234 

 granted them rights of tumbrel and pillory, and 

 relieved them of various tolls and duties.' An 

 indult was granted to the prior and convent of 

 Bromholm in 1239 to hold to their uses the 

 church of Haninges, value under 20 marks, the 

 patronage of which they already possessed. 

 This grant was to take effect on the next void- 

 ance of the rectory, and a vicar's portion was to 

 be reserved.' 



The taxation of 1 291 shows that this priory 

 was then valued at ^^109 15J. wd.., and owned 

 property in fifty-six Norfolk and sixteen Suffolk 

 parishes. Pope Celestine in 1295 confirmed to 

 the priory the appropriated churches of Bacton, 

 Keswick, Paston, Witton, and Dilham.' 



The Valor of 1535 estimated the clear annual 

 value at ;^I00 51. i\d. The endowment at that 

 time comprised the impropriation of seven Nor- 

 folk and two Suffolk churches, and the manors, 

 pensions, lands or interests in fifty-eight parishes. 

 The offerings at the cross of Bromholm amounted 

 that year to ^^5 I2i. 9^. 



As early as 1 195 Bromholm was relieved by 

 Pope Celestine of most of its subjection to 

 Castle Acre.*" In 1225 a dispute arose between 

 the priories of Bromholm and Castle Acre as to 

 the right of the latter to impose a prior on the 

 former, and next year Pope Honorius III issued 

 his mandate to commissioners with power to sum- 

 mon both parties and to adjudicate in the dispute 

 between the two priories. Castle Acre asserted 

 that Bromholm was subject to them, and that 

 they had in the past obtained papal letters with 

 regard to the election of a prior of Bromholm, 

 when it was decided that the prior of Acre 

 should nominate three monks of Acre, one of 

 whom was to be chosen prior. The convent of 

 Bromholm had, however, petitioned the pope to 

 allow them on the death of their present prior to 

 have a free election notwithstanding the previous 

 composition." The dispute now became further 

 complicated by the interference of the prior of 

 Lewes, of which house Castle Acre was in its 

 turn a cell. In 1229 Gregory IX referred tiie 

 matter to the judgement of the abbot of Olveston 

 and the deans of Stamford and Rutland, with 

 the result that the prior of Castle Acre was for 

 the future, on a vacancy arising, to nominate six 

 monks, three of Acre and three of Bromholm, 



* Chart. 13 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 12. 



' Ibid. fols. I, lb. ' Cal. Papal Reg. i, 183. 



' Chartul. fol. 9. 



'" Ibid. fol. 59^. There is a small chartulary of 

 Bromholm in the University Library, Cambridge 

 Dugdale, Mon. ii, 20), consisting of 9 I folios, in a hand 

 of the first half of the fourteenth century ; the first 

 two charters are illegible. For an analysis of this 

 chartulary see Catalogue of Camb. University Library 

 MSS. iv, 144-72. 



" Cal. Papal Reg. i, 108. 



359 



