RELIGIOUS HOUSES that religion was less duly observed on account •of there being no sub-prioress or proper officials, that the nuns did not have their customary recreation, and that the prioress had had one chaplain for three years. The prioress and Elizabeth Bullwar contented themselves with ■omnia bene} At the visitation of 1520 all things were found satisfactory at Blackborough nunnery, and an inventory of goods was duly exhibited.^ The last visitation of this house before the ■dissolution took place on I August, 1532, when Master Miles Spencer, the bishop's principal official was the visitor. The prioress, Elizabeth Dawney, stated that all was well ^ so far as the condition of the house would allow. Margaret Giggs, sub- prioress, said that the house was in great decay. Agnes Guy, Margaret Colman, Margaret Ha- silley, Elizabeth Bulwere, Katherine Sooge, Dorothy Sturges, Elizabeth Caws, Joan Pyndre, and Joan Bate, all reported favourably and had no complaints to make.* According to the secret report of Legh and Leyton, drawn up early in 1536, Prioress Dawney and two of her nuns (Bulwere and Sturges) were suspected of incontinency ' ; very different was the report of the county gentlemen who drew up a detailed statement of the house later in the same year, which was presented in January, 1537 ; they stated that the priory con- tained nine religious persons ' of good name and fame.' There were also living in the house a priest, eleven men servants and eight women servants. The clear yearly value was estimated at ;^44 Oi. i^d. The house was somewhat in decay ; the lead and bells worth £bo ; the movable goods, stocks and stores, ^^59 45., and 10 acres of wood, ^13 6j. 8^. The debts due by the house amounted to £"]() 4s. ^d.^ The depositions entered by the commissioners at the time of their visit show that the prioress and her eight nuns all asked for dispensation. In this year Anne, Lady Oxford, half-sister to the Duke of Norfolk, wrote to Cromwell, under- standing that religious houses under ;^200 a year were ' at the king's gracious pleasure to •oppress,' requesting to have the farm of a place of nuns in Blackborough, net worth j^ioo a year as she supposed.* On 27 March of the same year Richard Southwell wrote to Cromwell, stating that Blackborough nuns, like those of Crabhouse and Shouldham, were making away with all they could, making such pennyworths that all their goods will be dispersed, and there ' Jessopp, Norw. Visit. (Camd. Soc), 107. » Ibid. 168. ' The list in Dugdale gives by mistaice Margaret Holme as prioress at this date.
- Jessopp, Norzv. Fisii. (Camd. Soc), 311.
» L. and P. Hen. Fill, x, 243.
- Chant. Cert. Norf. No. 90.
' Suppression Papers, ■^. ^ L. and P. Hen. Fill, x, 155. would be nothing left to pay any part of their debts.' The site and possessions of the priory were leased to James Joskyns for twenty-one years '" ; in 1550 they were granted, with the manor and fair of Blackborough, to the bishop of Norwich and his successors at an annual payment of Prioresses of Blackborough Avelina,^^ occurs c. 1 200 Margaret,'^ occurs 1222, 1228 Katherine de Scales, occurs 1238 Alice,'^ occurs c. 1250 Mary de London," occurs 1259, 1261 Katherine de Fitton," occurs c. 1 277 Ida de Middleton, elected 1304 Lettice,'^ occurs 1332, resigned 1 342 Winnesia de Hoyton,-" elected 1342 Isabel de Stanton,*' elected 1344 Isabel de Hynton,^^ elected 1352 Matilda de Dunton,^' 1384 Mary de Bersingham,"' 1389 Elizabeth Beaupre,'^ occurs 1428 Alice Erle,^^ I434 Margaret Geyton,^' 1480 Matilda de Lupe,^' occurs 1482 Margaret Fyncham,^' occurs 1 5 14 Elizabeth Dawney,'" occurs 1532 13. THE PRIORY OF CARROW" The Benedictine priory of Carrow was origin- ally founded for a prioress and nine nuns, the number being afterwards increased to twelve. There is some confusion as to its first founda- tion. King Stephen granted his lands in the fields of Norwich to God and the church of St. Mary and St. John of Norwich, and the nuns serving there, directing that the nuns should found their church on the land named in this ' Ibid. 220. '" Aug. Off. Bks. ccix. fol. 54. " Blomeficid, Hist, of Norf. ix, 33. '■ Chartul. cited Mon. iv, 207. " Ibid. " Ibid. " Ibid. "= Ibid. " Ibid. " Norw. Epis. Reg. i, 16. " Ibid, iii, 63. '" Ibid. " Ibid, iv, 108. " Chartul. " Blomeiield, Hist, of Norf. iv, 656. >* Chartul. " Ibid. ^^ Blomefield, Hist, of Norf iv, 656. >' Chartul. " Ibid. " Jessopp, Norw. Fisit. 107. ^ Ibid. 168. " Blomefield, Hist, of Norf. iv, 525-30 ; Dugdale, Mon. iv, 68-73 ; Taylor, Index Monaslicus, 11, 12 ; Account by Walter Rye and E. A. Tillett, Norf Antiq. Misc. ii, 466-508 ; F. R. Beecheno, Notes on Carrow Priory (1886), privately printed. The account in this sketch is chiefly taken from Messrs. Rye and Tillett's paper, save where other references are given. The chartulary cited by Dugdale and Tanner has been long missing. 351
