RELIGIOUS HOUSES Day, 1538. Sir Roger Townsend, in 1564, wrote to Cromwell, telling him of a poor woman of Wells, who imagined a false tale of a miracle done by the image of Our Lady after it had been carried away to London. Sir Roger ex- amined her, and as a result caused the poor old thing on a wintry market day in January to be set in the stocks very early in the morning. At nine o'clock, when the market was fullest of people, she was placed m a cart, with a paper set about her head on which was written ' A reporter of false tales,' and carried about the market place and other streets, tarrying wherever there was a crowd, ' young peoples and boyes of the town castyng snowballes at her.' Then the aged woman was again set in the stocks and kept there till the market closed. It is a sign of the times to find this worthy county justice and tool of Cromwell's concluding thus — Thys was her penans ; for I knewe no lawe other- wyse to punyshe her butt by discretion ; trustyng itt shall be a warnyng to other lyght persons in such wj'se to order their self. Howebeitt, I cannot per- ceyve but the seyd Image is not yett out of sum of ther heddes.' An Elizabethan ballad entitled ' A Lament for Walsingham,' thus concludes : — Level], levell with the ground The Towres doe lye, Which with their golden glitt'ring tops Pearsed oute to the skeye. Where weare gates noe gates are new, The waies unknown, Where the presse of freares did passe, While her fame far was blowen. Oules doe scrike where the sweetest himenes Lately wear songe, Toades and serpents hold their dennes Where the palmers did throng. Weepe, weepe, O Walsingham, Whose dayes are nightes, Blessings turned to blasphemies, Holy deeds to dispites. Sinne is where our Lady sate. Heaven turned is to helle ; Sathan sitte where our Lord did swaye, Walsingham, oh, farewell ! The site of the priory, with the church- yard and gardens, was granted by the crown to Thomas Sidney, master of the hospital of Little Walsingham, immediately after its dis- solution, for the sum of ^^90. Sir Henry Spelman, in his History of Sacrilege^ asserts that he was employed by the townsmen to buy the priory church and the site for the use of the town, but having obtained it he kept it for himself. Priors of Walsingham . 2 ., Length of Rule N^-"^ Years Year of Appointment Ralph 20 "53 Richard 13 "73 Alexander 21 1186 William 47 1207 Peter Alan 16 C. 1254 1263 William 9 1270 John 20 1279 Philip 14 1299 Walter de Wyghtone 22 1313 Simon de Wineton 14 1335 Thomas Clare 10 1349 John Snoring 27 1359 John Harford ' ( ?)i5 (?) 1387 Hugh Wells 35 1402 Thomas Hunt 37 1437 John Farewell 29 1474 William Lowth 10 1503 Richard Vowell 24 1514 Of the first seal, early thirteenth century, there is an indistinct impression attached to an undated charter, showing the priory church with central tower, &c.^ The second seal, late thirteenth century, is a circular seal (2f in.) of bold execution. Obverse : The priory church, from the south, with round- headed doorway containing the half-length figure of an old man ; two round-headed windows, each containing the bust of a saint, or canon ; a crested roof; and a central tower, with two- towers at each end. Legend : — SIGILLUM . ECCLIE : BEATE I WALSINGHAM MARIE : DE Ellis, Orig. Letters (ser. 3), iii, 162. Reverse : The crowned Virgin, with nimbus, seated, has the Holy Child with nimbus, on left knee ; and a fleur-de-lis sceptre in the right hand. Overhead and at the side are curtains. Legend : — |J< AVE . MARIE : GRACIE : PLENA : DOMINUS : TECUM '
- A list of priors, drawn up at the time when Prior
Lowth was compelled to resign (1514), is given in the chartulary (Cott. MS. Nero, E. vii, fol. I49i5). It is without dates, but gives the length of each rule ; the year of Our Lord is supplied in some instances by calculation, and in others from the episcopal registers, &c. ' A note at the end of the chartulary list states that John Harford, the fourteenth prior, bore the name and office of prior during part of the lifetime of John Snoring. A plea was made before the bishop that Harford had not received the major part of the votes of the convent ; but though his election on that account was not episcopally ratified, he was accepted by the priory as their superior. ' Add. Ch. 19275. " B.M. Ixix, 31,32; Ackn. ofSupr. (P.R.O.), 112.* 401 51
