A HISTORY OF NORFOLK to all his faithful friends. It was witnessed by his brothers Ralph and Reginald.^ Hamelin, Earl Warenne, who married Isabel, the founder's daughter and heir, confirmed this grant, and also gave them a third fair on the festival of the Holy Sepulchre, 20s. in rent, and the tithes of two mills. He died in 1202. William, Earl Warenne, Hamelin's son, gave the canons sixty acres of lands, and los. rent out of his mill at Brendmilne. Henry II also gave sixty acres of demesne lands of Thetford to the priory. Early in the reign of Henry III, Sir Geoffrey de Furneaux, lord of Middle Harling, died, and was buried in the priory church by the side of his wife Amy. He gave the canons, for this privilege of sepulture among them, the ninth sheaf of all his demesnes in Bircham (Cambridge- shire) and Middle Harling, together with a messuage and twelve acres of land. About 1 2 50 Alice, wife of Sir Michael Furneaux, a grandson of Sir Geoffrey, was also buried in this church, as well as many subsequent members of the family. In 1272 William Nunne of Thetford granted to Prior Ralph and the canons a messuage in the town towards procuring habits for the canons, and Thomas de Burgh in 1274 granted the ninth sheaf of his demesne lands in Somerton, Suffolk, and Burgh in Cambridge- shire, in exchange for the advowson of Somerton. The taxation of 1 29 1 showed that this priory was of the annual value of ;^20 os. i^d. ; it then held possessions in fourteen Norfolk and five Suffolk parishes, in addition to small incomes from the dioceses of Ely and London. The hospital of God's House, Thetford, was definitely settled on the priory in the year 1 347. In 1 33 1 Edward III licensed the appropriation to the priory of the church of Gresham, the advowson of which had been granted by John, Earl Warenne, in 1281, but the bishop of Norwich refused his consent. In 1339 the prior and canons appealed to Rome, and Pope Boniface granted them leave to appropriate the revenues on the next vacancy, provided they ser'ed it by one of their own canons and paid all episcopal dues. The bishop would not, how- ever, give his consent without the formal ordination of a vicarage. A survey of this house, taken on 20 December, 1338, shows that the priory held the Thetford churches of SS. Cuthbert, Andrew, Giles, Edmund, Lawrence, and the Holy Trinity, the last two being served by the canons. They also ' There is no known chartul.iry of this priory. The ch.irter is recited in a confirmation ch.irter of John, Earl Warenne, given in Dugdale, Moit. ii, 574, Ex autogr. in bibl. Deuvesiana a. 1640. Martin's Hhr. of Thetford (1779), 174-95, '^^sa painstaking ac- count of this house ; the statements in this sketch are chiefly taken therefrom, where no other reference is given. held 293 acres of meadow and arable land in the neighbourhood of Thetford, of the united value of ;^io I2J. od. They had liberty of one foldcourse in the field of Westwick, wherein they might feed 500 sheep, and might remove those sheep to Brend for change of pasture when the shepherd pleased and had convenience for washing them ; also another foldcourse for 320 sheep, and various other pasturage rights for cattle and swine. The total annual value of the priory at the time of this survey was ^62 9J. In 1394 Abbot Cratfield, of Bury St. Edmunds, licensed the prior to purchase the tenement called Playforth in Barnham, with its services, rents, foldcourse for 400 sheep, and 133 acres of arable land worth d. an acre, of Master Walter ofElveden, who held it of the fee of St. Edmund. For this the prior was to pay a yearly rent to the abbey of 22^., and id. on the election of a new abbot. ^ In 1442 the earl of Suffolk obtained licence to alienate to the priory 240 acres of arable land, 600 of pasture and heath, four fold- courses in Croxton, and a messuage and garden in Thetford, to found a chantry in the con- ventual church. The prior sued John Legat, rector of Tuddenham, in 1464, for an annual pension of £b from that church, which he had detained for two years ; the prior recovered it by proving that he was always taxed at I2j. tenths for the portion. When the Valor of 1535 was drawn up the clear annual income was then only ;^39 6j. ^d. This was a great falling-off from the income of 1338 ; several items of income were much re- duced, for instance the pension of ^^6 a year from Tuddenham church stood only at 40J. in the last Valor. The priory was visited by Archdeacon Gold- well, on behalf of the bishop, on 12 November, 1492. Prior Reginald and seven canons were present ; the visitor found that no reform was needed.' Bishop Nicke visited the house on 21 June, 1 5 14. The record of this visit is incomplete. The prior, Thomas Vicar, said that Canon William Brigges, then at Snoring, was an apos- tate and of evil life. Richard Skete complained that no one had been appointed sacrist, that the beer was of poor quality, that the prior had re- turned no account since his appointment, that Stephen Horham, the prior's servant in charge of the dairy, had the spending of the profits of seven or eight cows, that Stephen was married, and he had suspicions as to his wife, and that Stephen had laid violent hands hands on him. Richard Downham made some like complaints, and also spoke of the bad repair of the buildings and nave of the church, and that there were not sufficient vessels in the kitchen, and that spoons ■ Cott. MS. Tib. B. ix, fol. 30. ^ jessopp, Korw. Visit. (Camd. Soc), 32. 392
