A HISTORY OF NORFOLK Walter,' occurs 1296 William de Somerton,' occurs 13 1 8 Nicholas de Flamstede,^ 1323 John de Caldewell,* elected 1337 Adam/ occurs 1354 Robert Stoke,^ occurs 1396 Michael Cheyne/ elected 1424 William Bryt/ elected 1430 William Spygon,' elected 1436 Nicholas Wellys,'" elected 1438 Henry Halstead," elected 1454 William Dixwell,'- occurs 1 46 1 John Peyton," LL.D., elected 1464 Richard Whitingdon,'* elected 1480 Thomas Sudbury, 1481 William FreselV' elected 1585 John Albon,'^ elected 1509 Thomas Williams, last prior, 1539 There is a twelfth-century cast of the pointed oval seal of this priory at the British Museum bearing the Annunciation legend : -f- SIGILLUM . ECCLE . SCE . MARIE . DE . BINE- HAM " 9. THE PRIORY OF ST. FAITH, HORSHAM The priory of Horsham, dedicated to the honour of St. Faith, and usually known by the name of that Virgin Martyr, was founded by Robert Fitz-Walter and Sybil his wife, daughter and heiress of Ralph de Cheney, in the year 1 105. An old English MS., quoted by Dug- dale, gives an interesting story as to the origin of this foundation. Robert and Sybil, returning through France from a joint pilgrimage to Rome, were set upon by brigands and imprisoned in their stronghold. Offering devout prayers to God and St. Faith, the saint appeared to them in a vision, loosed their chains, and brought them out of prison bearing their fetters with them. Thereupon they made their way to the abbey of Conches, in the diocese of Evreux, where St. Faith was enshrined, and there offered up their fetters, ' which remain within this place at this day (1598)."* The abbot and his brethren of this renowned Benedictine house, which had » Harl. MS. 970, fol. 113. ' Rymer, Foedera (Rec. Com.), iii, 364. ' Gata Abb. S. J /bam (Rolls Ser.), 187.
- Norw. Epis. Reg. iii, 8.
' Cott. MS. Chud. D., xiii, 53. ^ Newcome, Hut. of St. Albans, 277. ' Norw. Epis. Reg. viii, 87.
- Ibid, ix, 87. » Ibid.
'"Ibid. X, 18. " Ibid, xi, 77. " Blomefield, Hist. ofNotf. ix, 211. " Ibid. " Ibid, xii, 81. " Ibid, xiv, 36. '« Ibid. 90. " B.M. Ixix, 8 ; given in Dugd.ile, Mon. iii, 345. " Dugd.ile, Mon. ; taken from a MS. ' Penes samp- sonem Leonard fecialem.' been founded in 1050, received them joyfully with great cheer for twelve days. During their rest at the abbey, Robert and Sybil ' reade the life of Saint Faith and the miracles that God shewed for her ther daily and hourely ' with the result that they vowed, on their return to their manor of Horsford, to build there a monastery in the worship of God and St. Faith, which should be a cell to the abbey of Conches. They took with them, on their departure, two of the monks, Barnard and Girard. When they had come home building was begun upon a certain ground at Horsford, ' called at this day Kirkescroft,' but the work that was done in the day fell down in the night, so that it was removed to a site at Horsham where the enter- prise prospered. By the foundation charter, this priory or cell was endowed with the advowsons of Horsford, Reydone, and Moi, and certain tithes from six- teen other churches. In 1 1 63 the foundation charter was confirmed by Pope Alexander III. The revenues were afterwards considerably increased, chiefly by successive lords of Horsford and Horsham. At the time of the 1291 taxation, this priory had possessions, mostly of a small amount, in no fewer than seventy-seven of the Norfolk parishes, yielding an annual income of _|^78 6j. iod. In 1325 an extent of the land and possessions of this alien priory was drawn up. The site of the priory was valued at 5j. ; arable lands, meadows, pastures, dovecote, wind and water mills, rents and court perquisites of Horsham and Horsford were valued at a yearly income of ^^24 75. ; the church of Horsham, j^ii ; the church of Horsford, £"] lOs. ; tenements in Helgheton, 62;. ; tenements, rents, and services in Ryburgh, 265. id. ; rents in Styberdde, ioj. ; the church of Helgheton, £^0 ; the manor of West Rudham, 1045. 8^. ; the church of Hoxton, £"] lOi. ; the church of Heveringland, j^i4 ; the church of Corpusty, lOOi. ; the church of Freethorpe, £"] lOs. ; the church of Runham, ^^12; the church of Tibenham, ^^15 ; a portion (of the church) of Wellingham, 6j. 8^. ; of the church of Faverham, 3^. ; of the church of Branston, 13J. 4^. ; of the church of East Tud- denham, bi, 8d. ; of the church of Saxlingham, 20s. ; of the church of Newton Flotman, 20s. ; of the church of Ling, lOs. ; rents in Norwich, 5 05. ; and a tenement at Intwood, 401.^' The clear annual income of the priory, as certified for taxation in i535,was ^^162 16s. ii^d. An unusually large share of this income came from spiritualities ; there were appropriations or pensions from twenty-three churches in Norfolk, from fourteen in Suffolk, and from one in London. St. Faith's being thus dependent upon the foreign abbey of Conches, its priors were not Add. MS. 6164, fol. 130. 346
