A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 35. THE PRIORY OF WEST ACRE Ralph de Toni, the great Norman baron, to whom were granted by the Conqueror twenty- two manors in Norfolk, in conjunction with his wife Alice and their sons Roger and Ralph, founded a priory at West Acre in the time of William Rufus, under Oliver the parish priest and his son Walter.' Blomefield, Dugdale, Taylor, and others have stated that this priory was originally assigned to the order of Cluni, but this is an error which probably arose from both Castle Acre and West Acre being known as Acre at an early date. The priory, dedicated to the honour of St. Mary and All Saints, was held by Austin canons. The founder gave them the manor and church of West Acre and the manor and church of God- wick. Richard the prior of West Acre," in 11 98, obtained the church of Runhall.' Gifts to this priory multiplied at a rapid rate in the thirteenth century. When the taxation roll of 1 29 1 was drawn up, it was found that the canons of West Acre had property in seventy-four parishes, and that their annual income was ;^I40 ^s. "j^d. In 1305 Alexander de WallpoU of Wiggen- hall gave to the priory a toft, 35 acres of land, and 10 acres of pasture in WiggenhallandTilney.^ In 1313 Constantine, son of Geoffrey de Sutton, made a benefaction of a messuage, 60 acres of land, 12 acres of meadow, 40 acres of pasture, 7 acres of heath, and 5^. of rent in West Acre, Walton, Tilney, &c., paying a fine of 5 marks for the licence.^ In 1315 the priory paid a fine of 10 marks for having appropriated the church of Rougham, in their patronage, without licence.* Licence was granted in 1320 for the aliena- tion to the priory by Maud de Tony of 3 mes- suages, 100 acres of land, 100 acres of pasture, and lOJ. of rent in Grimston, Congham, Roydon, Weavling, Appleton, Marham, and West Acre, to find a chaplain to celebrate daily for the souls of Maud and Robert de Tony, her husband, and of all the faithful, in the chapel of St. Katharine, built by her in the churchyard of Appleton.' In 1339 the priory of West Acre obtained licence to appropriate the church of Bodney of their advowson.* Licence was granted in 1343, after inquest, for the prior to enclose for the enlargement of the priory buildings 2 acres of his own pasture, wherein the men of the town had common, ' The charter is given by Dugdale ; it was then (1638) 'penes H. Spelman.' " Anct. D. A 2907. 'Fin. Rot. Norf. 10 Ric. I, 183.
- Cal. of Pat. 34 Edw. I, m. 40.
'Ibid. 6 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 15.
- Pat. 9 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 31.
'Ibid. 13 Edw. II, m. 8. ^Cal. of Pat. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 3. provided he find common in two other acres of his land.' During the time that John de Westacre was prior (1417-50) the temporalities of the house were valued at ^^140 5s. "J^d. per annum, and the spiritualities at ;^II5 5^. Sk'^-> giving a total annual income of £,2^6 iis.o^d}" Edward IV, on 7 July, 1479, granted the priory an annual fair at West Acre and Custhorp, on the day of the translation of St. Thomas the Martyr (7 July). Amongst the Cambridge University MSS. is a small paper book of forty- four pages containing an account of the property of West Acre Priory, taken in the reign of Henry VII.'- The Valor of 1535 estimated the annual clear income of the priory at ^260 lis. -j^d. A great disaster befell the priory in Septem- ber, 1286, when the church and the adjacent conventual buildings were destroyed by fire.'^ Edward II, in 13 10, sent Benedict de Walford, who had served the late and present kings, to this priory to receive in their house, for life, the necessary sustenance of food and clothing.'* Bishop Goldwell visited the priory on 1 1 August, 1 494, when the prior, Richard Palle, then advanced in years, and nineteen canons were present. The report was to the effect that the commands are not observed or they are contradicted by Edmund Lichfield, the sub -prior, and by William Massingham, and that these two canons administered the temporalities of the house ; that Robert Patrick and Geoffrey Blake take their ease, do not apply to any study, and are a cause of strife among their brethren ; that Henry ToUe could not with a clear conscience live in peace with Geoffrey, though he could get on excel- lently with Patrick ; that the sons of gentlemen (at school) in the house do not pay their ex- penses ; that the sub-prior is not only insolent to his superior but is so given to temporal things that he forgets he is a religious, and gives his chief attention to farming a rabbit warren near the chapel of St. Thomas and to rearing swans on the water near the priory, which he sends as presents to gentlemen, and are therefore no profit to the priory. The bishop made several adjourn- ments of this visitation, and the eventual result is not on record. Judging from the future of the sub-prior, Edmund Lichfield, who here seems so much to blame, it is probable that the prior was worn out and that his subordinate allowed his business capacities to run away with him. Lichfield became prior of Flitcham in 1498, and two years later he was consecrated titular bishop of Chalcedon to enable him to act as suffragan bishop in Norwich diocese.'* 'Pat. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 5. '"Blomefield, ix, 160. "Pat. 19 Edw. IV, m. 23. "Cam. Univ. Lib. Dd. viii, 42. "Cott. MS. Nero D. ii, fol. 232. " Cal. of Close, 4 Edw. II, m. i^d. "Jessopp, Norw. Visit. (Camd. Soc), 49-51. 402
