A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



The founder and his wife Avice also granted 

 to the priory the church of All Saints, Ditton, 

 which was confirmed to them by the bishop of 

 Norwich in an undated charter.^ 



In 1209 Innocent III granted protection to 

 the prior and brethren of Hickling, present and 

 future, together with confirmation of their pos- 

 sessions, namely : the parish church of All Saints, 

 Hickling, with St. Mary's chapel, the church of 

 St. Mary, and chapel of St. Andrew's, Parham ; 

 All Saints church and chapel of Hasketon ; the 

 church of Hanwich and tithes of Runcton ; the 

 rights they had in St. John Baptist's church, 

 Waxham, and in St. Margaret's, Westwick, 

 Norwich ; the patronage of St. Margaret's Pall- 

 ing, the lands they had of the fief of Palling and 

 Waxham ; lands and rents in the city of Nor- 

 wich and town of Yarmouth, and a yearly rent 

 of 14 marks due to them by gift of Hamon de 

 Valoines from the monks of Gerwalle, in the 

 name of the town of Runcton.' 



In 1227 Henry III granted to the priory of 

 Hickling the right to hold a three days' fair at 

 All Saints' tide at Hasketon.^ 



The priory had possessions in no fewer than 

 thirty-two Norfolk parishes at the taxation of 

 1 291, but their total annual value was only 

 lis 12s. f)d. 



The advowson of the church of Raveningham 

 was given to the priory of Hickling, in 1339, by 

 Katharine, widow of Walter de Norwich, and 

 her son John.* 



The heavy fine of ^^24 was paid by the priory 

 in July, 1380, to obtain licence for alienation in 

 mortmain by John de Eccles and Geoffrey de 

 Somerton of the reversion of a third part of the 

 manor of Hickling called ' le Netherhall,' which 

 was held by trustees during the life of Edward 

 de Berkale, for finding a lamp to be kept burn- 

 ing daily before the high altar in the priory 

 church.* In October of the same year, the 

 further sum of ;r20 was paid in a hanaper by 

 the prior for the alienation in mortmain by the 

 same donors to the convent of a messuage, 40 

 acres of land, 30 of pasture, and 10 of rush bed, 

 and 60J. of rent in Palling and Waxham for 

 finding a chaplain to celebrate daily in the priory 

 church for the souls of John de Toucestre, 

 Richard de Pouche, chaplain, and others.* 



The priory paid 20 marks to the king in 

 1384 for licence to hold a third part of the 

 manor of Hickling, a moiety of the church of 

 Catfield, and the manor called ' Boylondeshall ' 

 in North Walsham.' In 1397 Pope Boniface 

 confirmed the bishop's sanction to the priory 

 that, on the resignation or death of the perpetual 



' Cott. MS. Vit. F. iv, fol. 11. 



• Cal. Papal Reg. \, 34. 



' Close, 1 1 Hen. Ill, m. 26. 



' Cal. of Pat. 13 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 9. 



' Ibid. 4 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 39. 



' Ibid. m. 13. 



' Ibid. 8 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 12. 



vicar of All Saints, Hickling — in consideration of 

 impoverishment through frequent hospitality and 

 great exactions — they might cause the vicarage 

 to be served by one of their canons.* 



The Valor of 1535 gives the clear annual 

 value of the priory as ;^I00 i8j. "J^d. Their 

 most valuable possession was the manor of Hick- 

 ling, which was estimated to be worth annually 

 ^45 0J.iif^. 



Hickling was one of the townships that suf- 

 fered most severely from the tremendous storm 

 of December, 1287, no fewer than nine score 

 persons being drowned there. In the priory the 

 water rose more than a foot above the high altar, 

 and all the canons fled away except two, who 

 stayed behind and managed to save the horses 

 and other property by bringing them up into the 

 dormitory over the vaulted undercroft.' A still 

 worse disaster befell the priory in 1349, when 

 the prior, Richard, died of the plague, as did his 

 elected successor, Simon Wodewale, who passed 

 away even as the brethren were informing him 

 of his election. Such havoc did the pestilence 

 work that only two canons were left alive, one 

 of whom, John, became prior, though only a 

 novice and not even professed.'** Another epi- 

 demic in 1439 ^'isited Hickling and carried off 

 three or four of the brethren." Nor did all go 

 well with the religious life of the house, for the 

 chronicler records that after the death of Prior 

 William Wroxham in 1390 all signs of true 

 religion disappeared from the priory and had 

 scarcely been restored more than forty years later, 

 adding that with the fall of the bell tower in 

 1400 perished also nearly all regular discipline 

 at Hickling.'' 



In September, 1343, Martin de Hapesburgh, 

 canon of the priory of Hickling, petitioned the 

 pope to order the abbot and convent of St. Bene- 

 dict, Holme, to receive him as a monk according 

 to the mandate of Benedict III from which the 

 abbot, at the suggestion of the prior of Hickling, 

 did remove the bull. The petition was granted, 

 provided it was found that Pope Benedict did 

 make a special mandate.'' In the following 

 December Clement VI issued his mandate to the 

 bishop of Norwich, the dean of Lincoln, and the 

 chancellor of Hereford to cause Martin de Hapes- 

 burgh to be received into the monastery of 

 Holme.'* 



A faculty was granted in 1364, by Pope 

 Urban V, to Prior Richard to dispense four of his 

 canons, provided they had completed their twenty- 

 second year, to be ordained priests, there being 

 but few by reason of the pestilence." 



Archdeacon Goldwell, as commissary of the 

 bishop, visited Hickling on 23 October, 1492. 

 Thomas Greggs, the prior, and eight canons 



' Cal. Papal Reg. v, 19. 



' Oxenedes, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 270. 



'"> Ibid. 437. " Ibid. 439. " Ibid. 438. 



" Cal. Papal Pet. i, 74. 



" Cal. Pap. Reg. iii, 144. " Ibid, iv, 41. 



384 



