RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



hands of John de Cheverston.' Five years later 

 the priory obtained the additional endowment of 

 1 80 acres of land at Anmer from Thomas 

 Balle and others.^ At this latter date there were 

 five canons here, in addition to the prior. In 

 1383 the priory received a grant of lands and 

 rents of the annual value of JOs. 2d. from 

 Thomas de Flitcham and Nicholas Barome, to 

 find a canon-chaplain to celebrate three days a 

 •week for the good estate of the donors whilst 

 living and their souls after death. ^ These and 

 other grants brought the income of the priory up 

 to just double its former amount, the clear annual 

 value in 1535 being ^55 5/. 6\d.* 



Edmund Litchfield, appointed prior of Flitcham 

 in 1498, was consecrated bishop in partibus of 

 Chalcedon in 1502, and acted as suffragan in 

 Norwich diocese ; he was followed as prior by 

 John Martin. 



The priory was visited on 12 July, 15 14, by 

 Bishop Nicke. John Martin, the prior, stated 

 Canon Thomas Hokar had handed £1 1 to the 

 prior of Walsingham. Canon Geoffrey Swaff- 

 ham said that the barns and other buildings of 

 the priory required repair, and that agriculture 

 ■was neglected. He further stated that the prior 

 and John Stinge had made a compact for the 

 delivery to the latter, at a date now passed, of a 

 hundred combs of barley for the sum of £6 or 

 £1 ; and because the prior had failed to deliver 

 the barley at the appointed time he would have 

 to hand over 160 instead of 1 00 combs. He 

 also alleged that the house was in debt for barley 

 to William Fuller, of Castle Acre, and for sheep 

 to Master Fyncham, of Marshland, and that the 

 common seal of the priory was in the exclusive 

 keeping of the prior. As a consequence of this 

 visitation, the prior was summoned to Norwich. 



The brief entry relative to this priory in the 

 visitation of 1530 is illegible through injury to 

 the MS.' 



The county commissioners of 1536 reported 

 that 'the priory of Chanones of Flychame ys 

 namyde to be a cell to the priory of Chanones 

 of Walsynghame.'^ In consequence of this it 

 •escaped at the time of the destruction of the 

 smaller houses, but fell with Walsingham on 

 4 August, 1538.' 



Priors of Flitcham 



Philip,' occurs 1256' 

 Fulk Briton,'" occurs 1300 

 Vincent de Flitcham," elected 1332 



' Inq. p.m. ; 39 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, 20. 

 ' Ibid. 44 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, 44. 

 ' Cal. of Pat. 6 Ric. II, pt. iii, m. 15. 

 * Fa/or Eal. (Rec. Com.), iii. 

 ' Jessopp, Nortv. Fisit. (C.imd. Soc), 1 10, 168. 

 ' Chant. Cert. Norf. No. 90. 

 ' L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii (2), 11. 

 ' Blomefield, Hist, of Not/, viii, 417. 

 ' Assize R. 567, m. 58. '° Blomefield, loc. cit. 

 "' Nonv. Epis. Reg. ii, 53. 



John de Flitcham,'- elected 1349 

 Lawrence de Weston,'' 1374 

 John de Hillington,'^ elected 1375 

 John Flitcham,'* elected 1404 

 Thomas Berdon," died 1438 

 Thomas Pope,''^ elected 1438 

 John Leson,'* elected 1448 

 John Dorking," elected 1458 

 William Wiltshide,-" elected 1467 

 Richard Gottys, LL.B."' elected 1490 

 Edmund Litchfield,^^ elected 1496 

 John Martin," occurs 15 14 

 Thomas Podishe,^^ occurs 1526 

 Richard Vowell,-' occurs 1535 



27. THE PRIORY OF HEMPTON^^ 



This house was at first a hospital, founded in 

 the reign of Henry I by Roger de St. Martin,^' 

 in conjunction with Richard Ward,-' who after- 

 wards became an Austin Canon and the first 

 prior. The house was situate at the end of a 

 dam or causey between the towns of Fakenham 

 and Hempton, and hence was sometimes known 

 as Damnesende. Soon after its first foundation 

 it was changed into a small priory, dedicated to 

 the honour of St. Stephen, for three or four 

 canons of the order of St. Augustine. The 

 priory eventually held the rectory of Hempton, 

 the manors of Hempton, Waterden, and Tofts, 

 parcels of land in various parishes, two fairs, a 

 market, a water-mill, and extensive rights of 

 pasturage for sheep. 



In the year 1 200 John, archdeacon of Wor- 

 cester, gave a palfrey to the king in acknowledge- 

 ment of his grant of a fair to be held on Whit- 

 sun Tuesday for the use of the brethren of 

 St. Stephen's by the causey of Fakenham. 



The taxation of 129 1 showed that this priory 

 held lands or tenements or rents in no fewer 

 than forty of the Norfolk parishes ; but they 

 were mostly small parcels and only produced a 

 total income of ;^29 2;. 0515^. 



Licence was granted to the prior of St. Stephen's 

 in 1302, after inquisition ad quod damnum by the 

 sheriff and payment of a fine, to bring back to 

 its old bed a watercourse which used to run 

 through the court of the priory.-" 



" Ibid, iv, 102. 

 » Ibid. 40. 

 "= Ibid. X, 19. 

 •» Ibid, xi, 15. 

 'Mbld. 161. 

 Ibid. 205. 



" Ibid, vi, 29. 



" Ibid. 308. 



" Ibid. 



" Ibid. 107. 



" Ibid, xil, 144. 



" Jessopp, Nortv. Fisit. 1 10. 



38i 



" Tanner, Norw. MSS. i, 259. 



" Fa/or Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iii. 



'* Blomefield, Hist, of Norf. vii, 1 00-2. The 

 priors are taken from this account, where there is no 

 other reference. 



■' Lcland, Collectanea, i, 60. 



*' Weever, Antient Funeral/ Monuments, 824. 

 Pat. 30 Edw. I, m. 16. 



