RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



49. THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS OF 



LYNN 



The house of the Grey Friars was founded at 

 Lynn by Thomas Feltham in the latter part of 

 the reign of Henry III.^ 



John Stanford, provincial of his order, who 

 died in 1264, was buried at the Franciscan house 

 of Lynn.^ 



Licence was obtained in 1 3 14 for the warden 

 and Friars Minor of Lynn to retain a mill in 

 North Runcton, called ' Bukenwelle,' which 

 they had acquired without the leave of the late 

 king, from Thomas Bardolf and Robert de 

 Scales, and to lead the water from the well by 

 an underground conduit to their house in Lynn.^ 



In 1365 the friars obtained a patent to add 

 two messuages to their sites.* 



The house was surrendered on I October, 

 1538 ; the surrender was signed by Edmund 

 Brygat, warden, and nine others.' 



50. THE CARMELITE FRIARS OF 



LYNN 



The house of the White Friars or Carmelites 

 stood on the south side of the town, close to the 

 River Lynn. According to Blomefield it was 

 founded by Lord Bardolph towards the close of 

 the reign of Henry III.^ 



The earliest record mention of it occurs in 

 1261 in a document relative to the obstruction 

 of a lane.' 



In 1277 Edward I gave the Carmelite Friars 

 of Lynn six oaks for timber from the forest of 

 Sapley, for the works of their church in that 

 town. The order for these trees was dated 

 17 March, and addressed to Roger de Clifford, 

 justice of the forest on this side Trent. How- 

 ever, Roger reported that there were no trees fit 

 for timber for such a purpose in the Sapley forest. 

 Whereupon, on 17 April, the king ordered 

 Richard de Holebrok, his steward, to let the 

 Carmelites have six suitable trees from the king's 

 woods in his bailiwick, wherever it might be 

 done with least damage to the king and greatest 

 convenience to the friars.' 



Licence was granted in 1285 to the Carmelites 

 of Lynn to close a lane adjoining the churchyard 

 of their church on the north, and to enclose the 



' Blomefield, Hist ofNorf. viii, 526. 



' Colled. Angl. Mitt, cited by Tanner ; Notitia, 

 Norf. xli, 8. 



' Pat. 7 Edw. II, pt. ii, No. 3. 



' Ibid. 38 Y.dvi. Ill, pt. i, m. i6, 8. 



» L. atidP. Hen. nil, xiii (2), 196. 



' Blomefield, Hisl. of Not/, viii, 525 



' Escaet Norf 45 Hen. Ill, ti. 3 I, cited in Tanner, 

 Notitia. A document of the same year quoted by 

 Blomefield, making a benefactor give these friars land; 

 in six different parishes, must be a blunder ; none of 

 the mendicants could accept such a gift. 



* Cal. of Close, 5 Edw. I, m. 10. 



42 



same with a wall for the enlargement of the 

 churchyard; on condition that they make another 

 lane of the same length and breadth over their 

 own land adjoining the wall.' 



In the 9 Richard II, William Lord Bardolph 

 died and was buried in the church of the 

 Carmelites of Lynn.'" 



From a deposition made by Friar Peter of 

 Lynn, sub-prior of the Carmelites, it appears 

 that the family of Hastings were benefac- 

 tors of the house. He swore, at a trial begun 

 9 Henry IV, that the arms of Hastings were 

 painted in the priory for forty years past, 

 and that they had a banner of the arms forty- 

 eight years before ; Friar AUeyn, aged fifty-nine, 

 deposed to the like effect." 



The Valor of 1535 gives 331. as the annual 

 value of the parcel of land within the precinct 

 wall, whilst a plot without it was worth 2s. 4^.'- 



The house surrendered on 30 September, 

 1538. The surrender was signed by Robert 

 Newman, prior, and ten others.*' 



The fourteenth-century circular seal (i in.) 

 of this house has two canopied niches ; on the 

 left is the standing Virgin and Holy Child ; on 

 the right is the standing figure of St. Margaret 

 trampling on the dragon, piercing his head with 

 a long cross held in the right hand and holdings 

 book in the left. Legend : — 



s' commun' frum d' carmelo len 



51. THE AUSTIN FRIARS OF LYNN 



The Austin Friars settled at Lynn early in the 

 reign of Edward I, on the north side of the town. 

 They were well established by 1295, for in that 

 year Margaret de Suthmere obtained licence to 

 alienate a messuage in Lynn to the Austin Friars 

 of that town, containing 100 ft. by Soft, of 

 land.'* 



In 1306 Thomas de Lexham obtained licence 

 to alienate to the friars a messuage adjoining 

 their site." There was a further licence to the 

 same benefactor, for a like purpose, in 1 3 1 1 ,** and 

 in 1329 Humphrey de Wykene gave the Austin 

 Friars a plot of land adjoining their house for its 

 enlargement.'' 



Soon after this there was evidently a con- 

 siderable extension of their premises, followed 

 probably by a rebuilding of their house and 

 church ; for in 1338 licence was granted to 

 Robert de Wykene to add to their premises a plot 



• Cal. of Pat. 13 Edw. I, m. i. 

 '" Blomefield, Hist, of Norf. viii, 523. 

 " Le Neve MS. cited by Blomefield 

 " Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iii, 297. 

 " Dep. Keeper's Rep. viii, App. 2, 3. 

 " Pat. 23 Edw. I, m. 12. 

 '^ Ibid. 34 Edw. I, m. 34. 

 " Ibid. 4 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 14. 



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



7 



