A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



who died in their house or within its jurisdiction, 

 and who were probably buried there. The 

 mortuaries were chiefly gowns or mantles ; thus 

 Sir Ralph Hersent, a gown of violet colour ; 

 Isabel Cooper, a gown of cloth of gold ; John 

 Dolman, his best russet gown ; Cecil Narburgh, 

 a gown of blood colour furred with minever ; 

 Matilda de Marham, a mantle furred with white; 

 Lady Eleanor, relict of Sir William Ingoldes- 

 thorpe, a mantle furred with grey. But the 

 mortuary of Thomas Rynstede was a sorrel horse 

 and that of Sir John Champeney, a priest who 

 had a chamber in the abbey precincts, a book, 

 v.'hich was sold for eight marks. 



The abbess of Marham had the privilege of 

 proving the wills of those who died within the 

 precincts or jurisdiction of the house. In 1401 

 there was a dispute as to this privilege, but it 

 was confirmed to them by the bishop of 

 Norwich. 



A return made to the crown of the appro- 

 priated churches of the diocese in 14 1 6, names 

 the churches of Carleton St. Mary, Doddington, 

 Hackford, Marham, Rockland, and Stow Bedon 

 as appropriated to Marham Abbey.* 



The scandalous comperta of Legh and Ap Rice, 

 drawn up in 1536, allege that the Abbess Barbara 

 Mason and four of her nuns had confessed to 

 grave incontinency. There seems to have been 

 some foundation for these charges in this par- 

 ticular case, for when the county commissioners 

 visited Marham later in the same year they re- 

 ported that there were * Religious persons of 

 slaunderous Reporte whereof iij of them doue 

 require ther Dispensacions, and the residue wvll 

 contynue in Religione.' They further reported 

 that there were twelve other persons having their 

 living there, namely one priest, three women 

 servants, and seven hinds ; that the lead and the 

 bells were worth ^^4 4;. ; that the house was 

 ' in sore decaye ' ; that the goods were worth 



;^32 1 35. bd. ; and that \ios. were owing to the 

 convent. 



An inventory was taken of this house on 

 6 August, 1535. It is difficult to understand 

 why church ornaments should have found their 

 way to the dormitory ; their presence there 

 points to much disorder. In the church there 

 were two altar cloths and another hanging, a 

 ferial vestment, a mass book and six other books, 

 a latten censer, a sacring bell, and five small 

 standards (candlesticks) of latten. In the dormi- 

 tory, across plated with silver-gilt, a cope of green 

 satin of Bruges, various old altar cloths and vest- 

 ments and hangings, two candlesticks of copper- 

 gilt, a silver-gilt chalice, ' a rounde bezall gar- 

 nyshed with iiij fete of sylver and guylt,' and 

 another bezall similarly garnished.' 



The goods and chattels of this house were sold, 

 according to the county commissioners' certifi- 

 cate of 16 February, 1537, for £2^ 19;. St/., 

 save the plate in Richard Southwell's custody, 

 which was valued at 6u. 8</. 



A lease of the site of the abbey and its demesne 

 lands was granted in 1537 to Thomas Bukworth, 

 serjeant-at-arms.'' On 3 July, 1546, this pro- 

 perty was granted to Sir Nicholas Hare and 

 John Hare, citizens of London. 



Abbesses of Marham* 



Mary, the first abbess 



Mary,' occurs 1305 



Sarah,^ occurs 13 10 



Agatha Howard 



Mary de Ingham,* elected 1365 



Egidia Howard, occurs 1380 



Eleanor Weyland, occurs 1384, 1 41 9 



Margery, occurs 1435 



Joan Narburgh, occurs 1453, 1467 



Joan Heigham, occurs i486, I 50 1 



Barbara Mason, occurs 151 1-35 



HOUSES OF AUSTIN CANONS 



21. THE ABBEY OF CREAKE = 



In a meadow of forty acres, on the right of 

 the road leading from North Creake to Burn- 

 ham Market, a house of Austin Canons was 

 founded in 1 206, in honour of the Blessed 



' Norw. Epis. Reg. viii, 127. 



' There are articles on this abbey by the late 

 Mr. Carthew, F.S.A. in Norf. Arch. (vi. 314-59 ; vii, 

 153-69), which give many interesting extracts from, 

 and accounts of, charters and rolls among the muni- 

 ments of Christ's College, Cambridge. The state- 

 ments in this sketch, where no reference is given, 

 are taken from these articles. There is a short thir- 

 teenth-century chartulary of Creake, opening with 

 .an account of the foundation, which is given, with 

 two early charters in the Mon. (vi, 487-8). Bishop 

 Kennett's extracts from it are in Lansd. MS. 1040, 

 fols. 203-4. 



Virgin, by Alice, widow of Sir Robert de Ner- 

 ford, governor of Dover Castle. At an earlier 

 date, in the reign of Henry II, Sir Robert and 

 Alice, his wife, had founded here a hospital, 

 dedicated to the honour of St. Bartholomew, for 

 a master, four chaplains, and thirteen poor 

 brethren. The first master, William de Geyst, 

 a secular priest, soon after its establishment, with 

 the consent of Lady Alice (Sir Robert having 

 died), became an Austin Canon and changed the 

 foundation into a priory of that order, becoming 

 himself the first prior of St. Mary de Pratis by 



11 

 7 • _ 

 Books, ccix. 



Ch. Gds. K.R. 



Aug. Off. 



From the Chartul. 

 ' Assize R. 591, m. 16. 



Ibid. 593, m. 12. 

 ' Norw. Epis. Reg. v, 65. 



fol. 95. 



370 



