A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



last, surrendered to the king and was dissolved 

 on 27 January, 1554. To the surrender two 

 si<;natures are attached, namely those of John 

 Heithe, master of ' Goddeshouse,' and John 

 Burwyll.i 



72. THE HOSPITAL OF HORNING 



At the head of the causeway going down from 

 Horning to the abbey of Holm St. Benet, 

 stood the hospital of St. James, of which there 

 are still considerable remains. It was founded 

 early in the reign of Henry III, and its govern- 

 ment was under the direction of the almoner of 

 the abbey. - 



73• 



THE HOSPITAL OF ICKBURGH 



In the reign of Edward I William Barentun 

 granted to Henry Scharping and his heirs, for 

 the health of his soul and the souls of his 

 parents, 145 acres of land, and a fair on 

 St. Lawrence's Day, for the maintenance of a 

 chaplain to celebrate in the chapel of St. Mary 

 of ' Newbrigge.' This chapel stood on the 

 north side of the River Wissey, in the parish of 

 Ickburgh, by a bridge that led to Mundford. 

 This considerable grant was confirmed in 1323 

 by John, son of William Scharping, cousin and 

 heir of Henry, at which time there was in con- 

 junction with this chapel of St. Mary a leper 

 hospital for a master and brethren.' 



A lazar-house, dedicated to St. Mary and 

 St. Lawrence, was, in all probability, in exist- 

 ence long before the founding of the chantry in 

 the adjoining chapel in the reign of Edward I. 

 The patronage of this house and chapel was 

 transferred by John Scharping to John de la 

 Bokele, who in 1373 became a considerable 

 benefactor to the extent of upwards of 59 acres 

 of land with other rights and privileges.* Pope 

 Gregory XII in 1409 granted to this lazar-house 

 exemption from tithes for all their lands. The bull 

 was addressed to the master and brethren of the 

 ' domus leprosorum de Novo Ponte de Ykeburgh.' ^ 

 This privilege of exemption from tithes was 

 confirmed by Pope Nicholas V in 1449, by 

 which date the rule of the house had apparently 

 been conferred on the Friars Eremite, or Austin 

 Friars. This latter bull was addressed to the 

 master, wardens and ' fratribus heremitis domus 

 olim leprosorum de Novo Ponte de Ykeburgh.' 

 In this case, however, it seems scarcely possible 

 that ' fratribus heremitis ' can be understood as 

 implying the Austin Friars, for they were a men- 



' Dtp. Keeper's Rep. viii, App. 2, 23. 

 ' Cott. MS. Cilba E, ii, 67 ; Blomefield, 

 o/Norf. xi, 56. 



' BJomefield, His/. o/Norf. ii, 239-40. 



* Ibid. ' Norw. Epis. Reg. xi, 269. 



' Ibid. 



Hist. 



dicant order, and incapable of holding property 

 such as belonged to this house. 



The confusion that caused this equivocal ex- 

 pression to find a place in a papal bull (or its 

 transcript) and which has led writers to make 

 mention of a priory of Austin Friars at this 

 place, probably arose from the fact that there 

 was an old hermitage attached to this bridire. 

 The hermit of ' Newbrigge,' Ickburgh, was 

 doubtless, as elsewhere, responsible for the re- 

 pairs of the bridge and its 'causeys,' and sought 

 alms from travellers for the purpose, undertaking 

 to pray for a safe journey. 



In course of time, during the first half of the 

 fifteenth century, the office of bridge hermit be- 

 came united to that of chantry chaplain of the 

 hospital. Leprosy was extinct in the neighbour- 

 hood, and therefore the duty of the inmates in 

 general became connected with the wayfarers 

 using the route which led them over the bridge 

 from Suffolk into Norfolk. Hence, as seems 

 probable, came the somewhat misleading phrase- 

 ology of the bull of 1449, wherein they are 

 termed ' hermit brethren,' which did not imply 

 in this instance any kind of friars. 



The diocesan registers of the fifteenth century 

 record several institutions to the joint office of 

 ' hermit and chaplain of Newbrigge,' as is ex- 

 pressed in each appointment. Richard was in- 

 stituted as hermit and chaplain in 1446 ; John 

 Batti a few years later ; William Dane in 1481; 

 John Canon in the time of Henry VII ; and 

 John Lyster in the days of Henry VIII.' 



John Lyster, hermit, by will of the year 

 1526, left his body to be buried in the neigh- 

 bouring church of Mundford, bequeathing 16 

 acres of land and the West Close to that parish 

 — an impossibility if he had been any kind of 

 friar.' 



The Valor Ecclesiasticus enters the annual 

 value of what the commissioners termed the 

 Free Chapel of ' Newbrigge ' as only ^^3 Js. 

 This estimate, however, could merely have 

 applied to some special part of the endowment 

 of the chapel, as separate from the house or 

 hospital. In 1548 the whole estates were 

 annexed by the crown and sold for ;^900 to 

 Osbert Montford of Feltwell and Thomas Gawdv 

 of Shotesham.' 



74. THE HOSPITAL OF LANGWADE 



At Langwade Cross, the boundary between 

 the parishes of Oxburgh and Cley, there used to 

 stand a hospital for lepers of early foundation. 

 Thomas Salmon, chaplain of Oxburgh, left 6^. 

 to the lazars of Langwade in 1380.''* 



' Norw. Epis. Reg. 



' Lib. Atmore, fol. 19. 



' Tanner, Notitia, Norf. xlviii. 



'° Blomefield, Hist. o/Norf. vi, 181. 



440 



