RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Christ standing, in his left hand a cross, his right 

 liand raised towards the kneeh'ng figure of Mary 

 Magdalene ; over his head the crescent moon 

 and stars, between the two figures the conven- 

 tional tree, in the field noli me tangere. 

 Below is the half length figure of a monk in 

 adoration.' Legend : 



s' , ECCLESIE . SCE . MARIE MAGDALENE DE 

 PENTENEI AD CAVSAS * 



32. THE PRIORY OF PETERSTONE 



The priory of St. Peter of Peterstone [de 

 Petra S. Petri) was founded in the parish of 

 Burnham St. Clement, or Overy, as a house or 

 hospital under the Austin rule, towards the close 

 of the twelfth century. Blomefield states that 

 it was to some extent subordinate to Walsingham 

 Priory from its foundation, but this is doubtful.^ 



From a return made 2 Henry IV of the 

 appropriated churches of the diocese, we find 

 that the church of Beeston was appropriated to 

 this priory in the year 1200, and the church of 

 West Lexham in 1229.' 



Some time in the reign of Henry III there 

 was a dispute between the canons of Walsingham 

 and Thomas prior of the hospital of Peterstone. 

 The priory of Walsingham, which held the 

 appropriation of the church of Burnham 

 St. Clement, had granted to the master and 

 brothers of the hospital a free chantry in their 

 chapel with right of burial, for which they were 

 to pay a mark yearly. On the refusal of pay- 

 ment, however, it was recovered with the 

 arrears. 



Messuages and lands were granted in 1336 

 to the prior and Austin Friars (sic) of Peterstone 

 to the yearly value of iSs. $d.,* and other small 

 grants were made at different dates. 



The taxation roll of 1 291 returned the tem- 

 poralities of Peterstone at ^^20 loj. lojrt'. a 

 year, and the spiritualities at ^^3 6s. 8d} The 

 temporalities of this priory were valued in 1428 

 at ;^20 I Of. lod. a year, and their spiritualities 

 at £2 J 4.S. 2d.^ When a crown return of the 

 appropriated churches of the diocese was called 

 for, in 1 41 6, the reply from Peterstone Priory 

 was that they had held the rectory of West 

 Lexham since 1229, but that they were in sore 

 straits from the results of the pestilence of 1349, 

 the inundation of 1378, and the still more 

 serious inundation of 1387.' 



This priory having fallen into considerable 

 decay was annexed to Walsingham Priory in the 



' Ackn. of Supr. (P.R.O.), No. 10 1*. 

 ' Blomefield, Hist. o/Norf. vii, 23-25. 

 ' Norw. Epis. Reg. vlii, i 30. 

 ' Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 38. 

 ' Po/>e Nici. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 78, 92, 93, 97-98, 

 100, 103, 105-6. 



« Blomefield, Hist. o/No/f. 

 ' Norw. Epis. Reg. viii, 130. 



year 1449.* In the episcopal registers where 

 the bishop's sanction to the union is recorded, 

 Peterstone, named as a hospital, is described as 

 being insufficient, poverty-stricken, much dilapi- 

 dated, and having its income reduced to twenty 

 marks a year ; a pension of 1 35. ^.d. was reserved 

 to the cathedral priory of Norwich.' 



Priors of Peterstone 



Thomas,'" occur temp. Hen. Ill 



Philip" 



Simon, occurs 1248,'' 1250" 



Geoffrey,'^ occurs 1 270 



Roger,'* occurs 1272 



Eustace de Barsham,'" elected 1 308 



Warin de Reppes," elected 1 3 14 



Thomas de Warham,"* elected 1339 



John de Howhurd," elected 1349 



John de Massingham,"" elected 1365 



John de Dunton,^' elected 1375 



William Bryflet,"^ elected 1393 



Dionysius de Warham,^' elected 1396 



Richard Hulme,-^ elected 1433 



33. THE PRIORY OF THE HOLY 

 SEPULCHRE, THETFORD 



Thetford was in the hands of Stephen in 

 1 1 39. Soon after this date the king gave all the 

 lands and advowsons on the Suffolk side of the 

 river, both within and without the borough, 

 to William de Warenne, the third earl of 

 Warenne and Surrey. Immediately after he 

 had received this grant, the earl founded a 

 monastery on that side of Thetford for canons 

 of the order of St. Sepulchre, of the Austin rule, 

 which order had been introduced into England 

 about 1 120. By the foundation charter the 

 earl bestowed on the canons the church of St. 

 Sepulchre, with a quadrigate of land in the ad- 

 joining fields, together with all the lands, 

 churches, tithes, and manorial rights in Thetford 

 that he had obtained from the king. He further 

 granted them two yearly fairs, namely at the 

 Invention (3 May) and the Exaltation of the 

 Holy Cross (14 September). The earl was at 

 this time about to set forth on a crusade, and 

 the concluding sentences of the charter solemnly 

 commend the maintenance of his new founda- 

 tion to his brother palmers, to the burgesses, and 



^Pat. 28 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 18. 

 * Norw. Epis. Reg. xi, 378. 

 '" Blomefield, Hist. o/Norf. vii, 24. 

 " Called predecessor of Simon, prior in 1250 ; 

 Assize R. 560, m. 1 1. 



" Ibid. " Blomefield, Hist. o/Norf. vii, 24. 



" Ibid. '^ Ibid. 



'" Norw. Epis. Reg. i, 28. 



"Ibid. 1,58. '" Ibid, iii, 31. 



'" Ibid iv, 115. '"Ibid. V, 65. 



" Ibid, vi, 44. " Ibid. 183. 



" Ibid. 225. " Ibid, ix, 63. 



391 



