RELIGIOUS HOUSES The account roll of Prior Edmund Norwich for 1535-6 shows that the receipts were then only ^^78 $s. 8d. The oblations in St. Margaret's Church, which had amounted to £4.4. a hun- dred years earlier, then only reached the sum of
- ^I4 5^. 4.d. Not only did the pension due to
the prior of Norwich remain unpaid, but the cell of Lynn was clearly a considerable burden to the mother priory, for its expenses for that year amounted to ;{|ii5 lis. 3i(^. Legh and Ap Rice, Cromwell's visitors, were here towards the end of 1535; they reported that all of the house save two desired to be dis- pensed ; two of the number are supposed to have confessed incontinency to the visitors.^ This priory at the dissolution became part of the endowment of the dean and chapter of Norwich, and Prior Drake was made prebend of the fourth stall. Among the account rolls in the treasury of Norwich Cathedral are annual returns from the priory cell of Lynn for 1331, 1371, 1373, 1381 to 1407, and a fair number from Henry VI to the dissolution. Invalid monks or those needing change were sent from time to time, both to this cell and to that of Yarmouth, for a summer outing. The roll for 1407 contains a charge of 5 I J. loid. for a conveyance of monks {in cariagio monachorum) with gifts given them. George Elingham, prior of Lynn, attended the episcopal visitation of Norwich Priory in 1514. He was examined as to the state of the mother house, but naturally said he knew but little as he was so seldom present.^ Priors of Lynn ^ William, c. 1200 Adam de Schipdam, c. 1280 John de Bromholm, 1309 John de Stratton, 1325 William Ralflede Markham, 1378 Alexander, 1381 John de Carleton and Walter Ormesby, 1 397 Richard de Folsham, 1398 John Elys, 1483 John de Dereham, 1483 Thomas Heveringham, 1487 John Fornsett, 1487 Nicholas Bardney, 1489 George Elingham, 1509 Edmund Norwich, 1535 Norwich, in Thorpwood, for the accommoda- tion of several Benedictine monks, whilst the cathedral church and priory were in course of erection. It was afterwards continued as a cell of the great monastery under the rule of a prior ap- pointed by the prior of Norwich and confirmed by the bishop. The prior of St. Leonard's had to account annually to his superior for all the offerings in the priory church of St. Leonard, as well as for those of the adjacent chapel of St. Michael on the Mount, which was served by the monks. At the visitation of Norwich Priory in I 5 14 by Bishop Nicke, it was stated that John Sybbys, prior of St. Leonard's, had not rendered his account as master of the hospital of St. Paul, also that tw.o barns, through his neglect, had fallen to the ground. Another monk testified as to the vicious, opprobrious, and defamatory talk that often went on at the cell of St. Leonard; and two others stated that John Sybbys had brought the office of gardener which he held to almost utter ruin through his culpable careless- ness, inasmuch as sheep and other animals had common access to to the garden grounds. The visitor considered these charges proved, for in the comperta it is declared that quarrels and opprobrious language were rife in the cell of St. Leonard, and that Sybbys had failed to pro- duce the accounts of St. Paul's, &c. The injunctions which followed ordered the prior of Norwich to dismiss Sybbys from the rule of St. Leonard and not to allow him to hold any other office.^ The number of monks accommodated at this cell was usually seven or eight. Blomefield states that the church of this priory was noted for a famous image of King Henry VI, which attracted many pilgrims ; ' so that the offerings to this good king and the images of the Holy Virgin, the Holy Cross, and St. Anthony brought in a good round annual sum.' It is rather a curious comment on this statement to note that, under the elaborate accounts of the cathedral priory in the Valor Ecclesiasticus (1535), the only offerings named in connexion with the church of this cell are those that were made at the image of St. Leonard ; and they merely amounted to (:>d. in the year 1534. At the dissolution the site and demesnes of this priory were granted to Thomas duke of Norfolk. 4. THE PRIORY OF ST. LEONARD,* NORWICH The priory of St. Leonard was built by Bishop Herbert on a hill near the city of ^ L.andP. Hen. Fill, x, 364. ' Jessopp, Nona. Visit. 73. ^ Blomefield, Hist, of Norf.
- Ibid, iv, 426-8 ; Dugdale, Mon. vi, 466 ;
Taylor, Index Monasticus, 8. Priors of St, Leonard,* Norwich Richard de Blakeden, occurs 1394 Richard Walsham, occurs 1452 Nicholas Ayrich, occurs 1472 Robert Farmouth, occurs 1496 Robert Cotton, i 5 i 7 ' Jessopp, Norw. Visit. 75-9. ' Blomefield, op. cit. 329
