A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



Thomas Thorp/ 1461 



Thomas Gregg,- 1 485-1 503 



Robert Botyld alias Wyndham,' 1 503 



There is a cast of the pointed oval seal of this 

 house (2 in. by I4 in.) of thirteenth-century date 

 at the British Museum. The seated Virgin 

 bears the Holy Child on the left knee. On each 

 side are three cherubs. Legend : — 



SIGILL ECCE SCE MARIE DE HIK.EL * 



29. THE PRIORY OF GREAT 



MASSINGHAM 



A small Austin priory, dedicated to the honour 

 of the Blessed Virgin and afterwards to SS. Mary 

 and Nicholas, was founded at Great Massingham 

 before 1260, probably by Nicholas le Syre of 

 Massingham. The house was originally termed 

 a hospital, and was doubtless chiefly intended for 

 the relief of the poor, but the master being 

 termed a prior, and the house being placed under 

 the Austin rule, it was also correctly designated 

 a priory. It continued, however, to be referred 

 to occasionally as a hospital and its prior as the 

 warden at least as late as 1405 ' ; and in 1395 

 it is even called ' the king's Domus Dei ' of 

 Massingham, when John Wilton, who had faith- 

 fully served the late king but was now incapaci- 

 tated through leprosy, was sent there to be 

 sustained.* 



In 1260 Nicholas de Massingham granted to 

 the Prior William of the hospital of St. Mary 

 of Massingham, a messuage and mill and two 

 carucates of land in Great and Little Massing- 

 ham, together with 5^. rent and a furlong of 

 heath, with all homages and services, on condi- 

 tion of the hospital paying the donor an annuity 

 of ;^I5 for life, and annuities of ^5 and six 

 marks respectively to his brother John and his 

 sister Joan.' 



The house had but a small endowment. The 

 taxation roll of 1291 shows that it had posses- 

 •sions in six Norfolk parishes, and that its annual 

 >yalue was ^^ 1 8 2s. 



On 12 May, 1293, the prior and brethren of 

 tlie hospital of St. Mary, Great Massingham, 

 obtained licence to hold, of the gift of John 

 Lamberd and others, twenty-five acres of land in 

 Massingham.* In April, 1302, the prior and 

 convent of the hospital obtained licence to 

 enclose a path below their convent on the west 

 side for the enlargement of their buildings.' 



' Blomefield, Hist. ofNorf. ix, 305. 

 ' Ibid. He is called the twenty-first prior by the 

 chronicler. ' Ibid. 



* B.M. Ixix, 25 ; Ackn. of Supr. (P.R.O.), 63. 

 ' Pat. 6 Hen. IV, pt. I, m. 15. 



' Ibid. iS Ric. II, pt. i,m. 21. 

 ' Fin. Norf. 44 Hen. Ill, 33. 



* Pat. 21 Edw. I, m. 17. 



* Ibid. 30 Edw. I, m. 23. 



For several years the priory received a great 

 many small gifts of lands from the inhabitants of 

 Massingham, a clear proof that its services were 

 valued. 



Edward II, in 131 3, granted a licence to the 

 prior and convent of Great Massingham, to 

 acquire in mortmain lands and rents to the value 

 of j^io a year.'" On 22 July of the same year 

 in part satisfaction of this licence, Simon Knout 

 assigned to the priory 6 acres and 3 roods 

 of land in Massingham ; Avice, late wife of 

 GeoiFrey Bartelot, and Reginald her son 2 j acres; 

 Margery and Basilia Chamberleyn, I acre ; 

 Felicia de Narford, a moiety of an acre ; Robert 

 and Emma Cat, 3 roods ; Katherine Bryghtlet, 

 a rood ; and William de Whitewelle, 35J. j^d. of 

 rent.'' In August, 131 5, there was an additional 

 alienation of ii|^ acres of land in Massingham 

 to the priory, on payment of half a mark.'^ 



In October, 1329, sixteen other persons 

 alienated small plots of lands in Massingham to 

 the priory (here termed hospital) of the united 

 yearly value of 13^. /^dP In 1335 eleven others 

 granted somewhat larger plots of the annual 

 value of 24^. 2j(/.," and the advowson of the 

 church of St. Mary, Warham, with ^d. of rent 

 was given to the priory in 1339, by Katherine, 

 widow of Walter de Norwich, and John her son.'* 



On 18 February, 1299, the king signified to 

 the bishop of Norwich the royal assent to the 

 election of brother Geoffrey de Fakenham, 

 cellarer of the house of SS. Mary and Nicholas, 

 Massingham, to be prior of that house, he having 

 been presented by the sub-prior and brethren to 

 the king as patron by reason of the knights' fees 

 and advowsons of churches, late of Richard, son 

 of John, deceased, tcnant-in-chief, being in his 

 hands.'^ 



John de Lenn was instituted to the priory by 

 the bishop in 1325 ; the royal assent had on this 

 occasion also to be obtained, as the patronage 

 was in the king's hands, by reason of the forfei- 

 ture of Thomas de Weyland." 



The buildings of this small priory being much 

 decayed, and its emoluments so small, the 

 bishop's licence was obtained in 1475 to unite it 

 to the priory of West Acre. It was therefore re- 

 established as a cell of West Acre, and maintained 

 two canons and two poor brethren.'* 



There is an elaborate survey and rental of the 

 possessions of Massingham priory at Candlemas, 

 1540, at the Public Record Office, covering 

 twelve closely written folios." The house is 



'" Ibid. 6 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 1 2. 



" Cal. of Pat. 7 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 1 8. 



" Ibid. 

 " Ibid. 

 » Ibid. 

 '^ Ibid. 

 '= Ibid. 

 Pat. 



17 



9 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 25. 

 3 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 18. 

 9 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 9. 

 13 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 9. 

 27 Edw. I, m. 36. 

 18 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 16. 



386 



■' Norf. Epis. Reg. Gold well. fol. 221. 

 '^ Rentals and Surv. portf. xxiv, 4. 



