A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



William Calthorp, of Burnham Thorpe, many of 

 whose ancestors were buried in a chapel of the 

 conventual church, by will dated 31 May, 

 1495, left ;^74 towards the building of the 

 quire and presbytery and general repairs of 

 Creake Abbey. 



Giles Shevington, the last abbot of the house, 

 occurs in 1503. He is mentioned in that year 

 in the will of Walter Aslake, who gave to the 

 convent all the lands in Holm and Ringstead 

 that he purchased of Sir Roger Strange, on con- 

 dition of his obit being duly observed. Walter 

 also left $s. to each canon, and to the abbey a 

 complete vestment of white damask, and willed 

 that — 



the north side of the quire in the said abbey be made 

 with tymber workmanship and nayles of my goods, 

 and mete and drink, and sand and lime, at the cost of 

 the abbot and convent. 



Not long after this date 'an infectious or 

 epidemical disease ' carried off the several canons 

 of this sm.iU house. Abbot Giles being the laft 

 survivor.^ The abbot himself died on 12 Decem- 

 ber, 1506 ; there was no convent left to elect a 

 successor. The house was, therefore, ipso facto 

 dissolved, and reverted to the crown. Through 

 the intervention of the king's mother, the Lady 

 Margaret, countess of Richmond, the lands and 

 revenues of the abbey were settled upon Christ's 

 College, Cambridge, which was of her founda- 

 tion. 



Priors of Creake 



William le Geyst," temp. Hen. II 

 Robert, occurs 1228 



Abbots 



Robert,' occurs 1230 



Angerius,* occurs 1237 



William,' occurs 1246 



Godfrey,' elected 1262; resigned 1281' 



John Chevre,* elected 1 28 1 



Thomas Sutherck,^ elected 1303 



John de Harpole,^" elected 1334 



Robert de Dokking," elected 1352 



Thomas de Redham,'^ elected 1353 



Thomas de Brandon, '^ elected 1357 



John de Asshe," elected 1360 



'Nichols, Leic. ii, 551. Probably the sweating 

 sickness which raged in many parts of England in 

 1506. 



' Norf. Arch, vi and vii. 



' Ibid. ' Ibid. ' Ibid. ' Ibid. 



' Reg. Episl. Peckham (Rolls Ser.). 



* Pat. Edw. I, m. 26, 22. 



' Ibid. 31 Edw. II, m. 23, 21, 20. 



'<• Ibid. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 37, 31, 20. 



" Ibid. 26 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 24. 



" Ibid. 27 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 3, 5. 



'Mbid. 31 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. i+. 



" Ibid. 34 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 



John de Wighton," elected 1393 



Robert Felbrigg,'* elected 1 41 3 



Thomas Crakyshyld,^' died 1439 



John Stanhow,'* elected 1439 



William Raume,'' aUa% Wyssyngset, elected 



1465 

 John Churche,^ elected 1466 

 John Debenham,^' elected 1473 

 John Elvysh,-^ elected 1475 

 Robert Walsingham,*' elected 1 49 1 

 Giles Shevington,^* occurs 1 503, last abbot, 



died 1506 " 



22. THE PRIORY OF BEESTON^* 



The priory of Austin Canons at Beeston-on- 

 the-Sea, dedicated to the honour of St. Mary, 

 was founded by Margery de Cressy about the 

 end of the reign of John.-' The original endow- 

 ment was a messuage and 40 acres of land in 

 Beeston and Runton, together with certain 

 demesne lands, rents, services, meadows, wreck 

 of sea and fisheries.^ 



Lucy, abbess of Caen, granted to Roger the 

 prior and the convent of Beeston, in 1267, the 

 advowson of the church of Staninghall, Norfolk."' 



The taxation of 1291 gave the annual value 

 of the temporalities of this priory in Norfolk, 

 which were widely scattered in small parcels 

 throughout the county, as £2'^ 55. lO:^^., and of 

 its possessions in Suffolk at ^2 \0s. \o\d?'^ 



Nevertheless, their appropriations could not 

 have been carried out at that date, for when a 

 crown return was called for in 1 41 6 of the ap- 

 propriated churches of this diocese, the reply from 

 Beeston Priory was that they held no appropria- 

 tions, and that their goods had been destroyed or 

 much diminished in the pestilence of 1349 and 

 by a terrible inundation in 1400.'' 



The Valor of 1535 gave the clear annual value 

 of the priory at ^i^}, ii. it\d., drawn from the 

 manors and court fees of Beeston, Runton, Sher- 

 ingham. Holt Peters, and Ranworth, and from 

 lands at Sparham and Buxton, Norfolk, and 

 Reydon, Suffolk. 



In 1370 letters patent were granted on pay- 

 ment of lOOJ. for the alienation to the priory of 

 lands and tenements in Upton, Ranworth, 



" Harl. MS. 6961, fol. 97. 



"Pat. 14 Hen. IV, m. 13, 8. 



" Norw. Epis. Reg. x, 25. " Ibid. 



"Ibid, xi, 147. " Ibid. 157. 



" Ibid, xii, 29. -' Ibid. 47. 



*' Blomefield, Hist, of Norf. vii, 77. 



" Ibid. '' Nichols, Lelc. ii, 551. 



"^ See paper by Dr. Jessopp in h'orf. Ant'iq. Misc. iii, 

 439-61. 



" Rye, Hist, of North Erpingham, pt. i, 4. 



'* Blomefield, Hist, of Norf viii, 91. 



»■■' Fin. Rot. Norf. 52 Hen. Ill, 106. 



'" Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), fols. 92, 94, 95, 

 cjkb, 99, c)C)b, 100, 1043, 105^, 1261^, 127. 



" Norw. Epis. Reg. viii, 1 30. 



372 



