RELIGIOUS HOUSES Christ standing, in his left hand a cross, his right liand raised towards the kneeh'ng figure of Mary Magdalene ; over his head the crescent moon and stars, between the two figures the conven- tional tree, in the field noli me tangere. Below is the half length figure of a monk in adoration.' Legend : s' , ECCLESIE . SCE . MARIE MAGDALENE DE PENTENEI AD CAVSAS * 32. THE PRIORY OF PETERSTONE The priory of St. Peter of Peterstone [de Petra S. Petri) was founded in the parish of Burnham St. Clement, or Overy, as a house or hospital under the Austin rule, towards the close of the twelfth century. Blomefield states that it was to some extent subordinate to Walsingham Priory from its foundation, but this is doubtful.^ From a return made 2 Henry IV of the appropriated churches of the diocese, we find that the church of Beeston was appropriated to this priory in the year 1200, and the church of West Lexham in 1229.' Some time in the reign of Henry III there was a dispute between the canons of Walsingham and Thomas prior of the hospital of Peterstone. The priory of Walsingham, which held the appropriation of the church of Burnham St. Clement, had granted to the master and brothers of the hospital a free chantry in their chapel with right of burial, for which they were to pay a mark yearly. On the refusal of pay- ment, however, it was recovered with the arrears. Messuages and lands were granted in 1336 to the prior and Austin Friars (sic) of Peterstone to the yearly value of iSs. $d.,* and other small grants were made at different dates. The taxation roll of 1 291 returned the tem- poralities of Peterstone at ^^20 loj. lojrt'. a year, and the spiritualities at ^^3 6s. 8d} The temporalities of this priory were valued in 1428 at ;^20 I Of. lod. a year, and their spiritualities at £2 J 4.S. 2d.^ When a crown return of the appropriated churches of the diocese was called for, in 1 41 6, the reply from Peterstone Priory was that they had held the rectory of West Lexham since 1229, but that they were in sore straits from the results of the pestilence of 1349, the inundation of 1378, and the still more serious inundation of 1387.' This priory having fallen into considerable decay was annexed to Walsingham Priory in the ' Ackn. of Supr. (P.R.O.), No. 10 1*. ' Blomefield, Hist. o/Norf. vii, 23-25. ' Norw. Epis. Reg. vlii, i 30. ' Pat. 10 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 38. ' Po/>e Nici. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 78, 92, 93, 97-98, 100, 103, 105-6. « Blomefield, Hist. o/No/f. ' Norw. Epis. Reg. viii, 130. year 1449.* In the episcopal registers where the bishop's sanction to the union is recorded, Peterstone, named as a hospital, is described as being insufficient, poverty-stricken, much dilapi- dated, and having its income reduced to twenty marks a year ; a pension of 1 35. ^.d. was reserved to the cathedral priory of Norwich.' Priors of Peterstone Thomas,'" occur temp. Hen. Ill Philip" Simon, occurs 1248, 1250" Geoffrey,'^ occurs 1 270 Roger,'* occurs 1272 Eustace de Barsham,'" elected 1 308 Warin de Reppes," elected 1 3 14 Thomas de Warham,"* elected 1339 John de Howhurd," elected 1349 John de Massingham,"" elected 1365 John de Dunton,^' elected 1375 William Bryflet,"^ elected 1393 Dionysius de Warham,^' elected 1396 Richard Hulme,-^ elected 1433 33. THE PRIORY OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE, THETFORD Thetford was in the hands of Stephen in 1 1 39. Soon after this date the king gave all the lands and advowsons on the Suffolk side of the river, both within and without the borough, to William de Warenne, the third earl of Warenne and Surrey. Immediately after he had received this grant, the earl founded a monastery on that side of Thetford for canons of the order of St. Sepulchre, of the Austin rule, which order had been introduced into England about 1 120. By the foundation charter the earl bestowed on the canons the church of St. Sepulchre, with a quadrigate of land in the ad- joining fields, together with all the lands, churches, tithes, and manorial rights in Thetford that he had obtained from the king. He further granted them two yearly fairs, namely at the Invention (3 May) and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (14 September). The earl was at this time about to set forth on a crusade, and the concluding sentences of the charter solemnly commend the maintenance of his new founda- tion to his brother palmers, to the burgesses, and ^Pat. 28 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 18.
- Norw. Epis. Reg. xi, 378.
'" Blomefield, Hist. o/Norf. vii, 24. " Called predecessor of Simon, prior in 1250 ; Assize R. 560, m. 1 1. " Ibid. " Blomefield, Hist. o/Norf. vii, 24. " Ibid. '^ Ibid. '" Norw. Epis. Reg. i, 28. "Ibid. 1,58. '" Ibid, iii, 31. '" Ibid iv, 115. '"Ibid. V, 65. " Ibid, vi, 44. " Ibid. 183. " Ibid. 225. " Ibid, ix, 63. 391
