RELIGIOUS HOUSES lower division shows an embattled fortress flanked on either side by a tower in which is a figure, that on the right is shooting a crossbar (that on the left is injured) ; in the centre of the building an arched compartment in which is a crowned female figure stooping to raise up a woman sitting on the ground. Legend : — SIGILLVM : COMUNE : CAPITU AM 10. THE PRIORY OF MODENEY In the parish of Hilgay, about a mile south- west of the church, near the River Ouse, stood the small Benedictine priory of Modenev, which was a cell of the Huntingdonshire abbey of Ramsey. Nothing is known of its foundation ; both Blomefield and Dugdale are practically silent as to its history. The taxation roll of 1 29 1 enters the annual value of the temporalities of the ' prior of Med- menaye,' in the parish of Hilgay, at ^^3 i8s., and the prior of ' Modmenei ' is noted in 1 304 as paying ()s. 10^. for yearly tithes to the abbey of Ramsey.^ The Valor of 1535, under the abbey of Ramsey, names the ' Sella de Modney in Com. Norff. ' as worth 43^. 4J. per annum. The suppression commissioners simply re- ported, in 1536, that 'the Priory of ]Iodney namyed to be a cell to Ramsey hathe a Privy Seale to appere.' " II. THE PRIORY OF MOLYCOURT^ The small Benedictine priory of St. Mary of Molycourt, also called the chapel of St. Mary de Bello Loco, stood in the parish of Outwell, on the right hand of the road from Downham to Outwell. According to Blomefield it was founded in pre-Norman days, but very little is known of its histor)'. In the time of Henry- III, Adam, son and heir of Sir John de Brancastre, granted the patronage of this prior)' to Robert de Hale, rector of Aylington, for the sum of ten marks. In September, 1273, the sheriff of Norfolk , was directed to restore to the monks of Moly- court the lands and chattels of the prior)', which had been taken into the king's hands by reason of the larceny and other trespasses of Oliver, keeper of the priory, a clerk, whereof he was indicted before the justices, and he had purged his inno- cence before the bishop of Norwich according to the ecclesiastical manner. A like document was sent to the sheriff of Cambridge.* The taxation of 129 1 gives its annual value at £() 2s. 8d. ; it then held possessions in three Norfolk townships. ' Cartul. de Ramesela (Rolls Ser.), ii, 256. » Chant. Cert. Norf. No. 90. ' Blomefield, Hist, of Notf. vii, 4767 ; Dugdale, Mon. iv, 588-9 ; Taylor, Index Mcnasticus, 6. ' Close, I Edw. I, m. 3. In 1 3 13, Henr)' de Hale, clerk, granted the patronage of the priory to John FitzGilbert de Beaupre, of Outwell. Nicholas, the great- grandson of John FitzGilbert, by his will, dated 1380, left his body to be buried in the conven- tual chapel of Molycourt, and the residue of his movable goods to his wife Margaret, and to Thomas de Walton, prior of Molycourt, to be disposed of for the honour of God and for his soul's health. Nicholas died in 1402, and was succeeded by a son of the same name, whose will, dated 24 September, 1428, leaves 20s. to the monks of Molycourt. Thomas de Beaupre, son and heir of the younger Nicholas, married Mar- garet, daughter of John Meers. Margaret, by her will of the year 1439, left her body to be buried in the chapel of the priory of St. Mar)', before the image of St. John Baptist. The great storm and inundations of the four- teenth centur)' were most disastrous to the low lying lands of this poorly endowed priory. On 23 February, 1385, the bishop of Ely granted forty days' indulgence to all benefactors of the prior)' on account of its poierty. Though the prior)' site was in Norfolk, most of the parishes of Outwell and Upwell, including the greater part of the prior)' lands, were in Cambridgeshire, in the Isle of Ely, and hence under that bishop's jurisdiction. On the death of Prior Walton, in 1427, there was only one monk left in the house, namely Stephen de Wyse, and the bishop out of pure favour {gratlose) collated him as prior.' Eentually the lands became so impoverished by the continued incursions of water, both salt and fresh, that there was barely maintenance enough for a single monk. Licence was, there- fore, obtained, in 1446, from Henry VI to permit the appropriation of this prior)' by the prior and convent of Ely. Its chief endowment at that time consisted of a messuage and 24 acres of land in Wiggenhall, and eight messuages in Outwell, Upwell and Downham in the counties of Cambridge and Norfolk.* There was some delay in carrying out the formal appropriation, but the bishop of Norwich's consent was obtained on 4 December, 1449, the church of Ely paying to the church of Norwich a yearly pension of 3J. ^d. Henceforth Molycourt was a cell of Ely. It would not have obtained that title unless divine worship had been carried on in the old prior)' ; probably, therefore, one or two Ely monks lived in the old house, the senior of whom would be termed the prior. A Valor of Ely monastery, taken soon after the dissolution, names under Outwell, the houses and site, with lands and tenement of the late cell of Molvcourt, and declares its clear annual value at £6 I4f. lid. ' Norw. Epis. Reg. ix, 25. ' Dugdale, Mon. i, 490. 349
