A HISTORY OF NORFOLK Layton waxed wroth on this subject, and in a letter to Cromwell from West Acre, three days after its ' surrender,' he wrote : — As for Westacre, what falsehood in the prior and convent, what bribery, spoil, and ruin contrived by the inhabitants it were long to write ; but their wrenches, wiles, and guiles shall nothing them prevail.' Prior Wingfield, notwithstanding his reputed sins and trickery, had the handsome pension granted him of £,^0 per annum, of which he was still in receipt in 1555 ; he also held the rectory of Burnham Thorpe. The'surrender'of West Acre was accompanied by a vaguely but extravagantly worded ' confes- sion ' of lax living. The better known and absurd so-called ' confession ' of the monks of St. Andrew's, Northampton, has been dealt with in another volume of this series.^ The private correspondence of the visitors with the Lord Privy Seal makes it quite clear that these two confessions (the only ones on record) were written by them ; it is more than probable that neither the canons of the one house nor the monks of the other had any knowledge whatso- ever of the documents in question. This is a grave charge to make against Ap Rice, Legh, and Layton ; but those who have studied the Cromwell correspondence at the Public Record Office at first hand cease to be surprised at any depth of moral turpitude displayed by his active agents.^ Priors of West Acre Oliver* Richard,^ c. 1 193 Hubert, c. 1200 Godwin,' c. 1 2 10 William,8 1228 Robert de Alenzun,' c. 1235 Simon,^" c. 1249 Robert,^^ c. 1257 John,i2f. 1268 ' i. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii (i), 28, 29, 34, 35, 85, 86, loi, 102 ; Abbot Gasquet, Hen. Fill and the Engl. Mon. i, 349-52. ' y. C. H. Northants. ii. ' Writers who have approached this subject from such different standpoints as Mr. James Gairdner, Canon Dixon, Abbot Gasquet, and Dr. Jessopp, are equally severe in their judgments on the compilers of the comperta of 1 5 3 5-6. Dr. Jessopp, in his preface to the Horw. Visit, of the Camd. Soc. (xii, xiii), writes : — ' They called themselves visitors ; they were in effect mere hired detectives of the very vilest stamp, who came to leiy blackmail, and if possible find some excuse for their robbery by vilifying their victims. . . . The comperta of 1535-6 can only be received as the horrible inventions of the miserable.'
- Dugdale, Bar. vi, 576.
'Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A 2907. "Blomefield, Hist. Norf. ix, 160. ' Ibid. « Ibid. 'Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A 287. "• Blomefield, Hist, of Nor/, ix, 160. "Ibid. "Ibid. Hubert,^' occurs 1285 Richard," occurs 1288 Henry de Acra,^' elected 1 300 William de Wesenham,^^ elected 1323 William de Waplode, elected 1328 John de Swaftham,'* elected 1349 Geoffrey de Warham,'^ elected 1367 Nicholas de Butle,-" elected 1373 Peter Bisshop,^^ resigned 1382 Nicholas de Buttele,"- elected 13S2 John de Acre,*' elected 1390 John de Watlyngton,-* elected 14 1 4 John de West Acre," elected 14 17 John Fakenham,^* elected 1450 John Cosin,*' elected 1460 Richard Palle,-* elected 1466 Richard Clark,-' elected 1 49 1 William Sowthe,'" elected 1520 William Wingfield, '^ occurs 1526, last prior Of the first seal, late eleventh century (21 in. X 2^ in.), there is a very imperfect im- pression, showing the seated Virgin. Legend : — DE : WEST. ACRIA '^ The second seal, thirteenth century (3jin. X 2 1 in.), is a fine pointed oval example of a most unusual design. Obverse. — The Holy Trinity, in a niche up- held between the emblems of the four evangelists ; below is the Virgin seated with the Holy Child standing on a bench to her left, and her feet upon a dragon. On the left side, in a smaller niche, is a priest, and on the right side, in a like niche, an armed knight. Legend : — s' CAPITULI . ECCLl' . BE . MARIE . ET . OMMIUM . SUR . DE WESTACRE Reverse. — A small pointed oval counter-seal, with the impression of an antique intaglio of an imperial bust ; above the gem, an estoile, below a crescent. Legend: — + MUNDUS ABIT : MUNDUM CONTERE : MUNDUS ERIS 33 36. THE PRIORY OF WEYBOURNE The Austin priory of Weybourne, or Waburn, was founded in the reign of King John by Sir Ralph Mainwaring, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and All Saints. It was at first subordi- nate to the priory of West Acre. "Assize R. 580, m. 47. "Ibid. 1282, m. 20. '^Norw. Epis. Reg. i. 'Mbid. i, 102. "Ibid, ii, 21. 'Mbid. iv, 98. "Ibid. V, 74. *nbid. vi, 19. "Ibid. 87. "Ibid. "Ibid. 151. " Ibid, vii, 89. "Ibid, viii, 24. Ibid, xi, 24. "Ibid. 119. '-Ibid. 159. "Ibid, xii, 149. '"Jessopp, Norzv. Fisit. 164. "Ibid. 249. '= Add. MSS. 23021 ; Blomefield, Hist, of Norf. ix, 160. '^ B.M. Ixix, 57, 58 ; Fet. Mon. i, pi. 60 ; Dugdale, Mon. vi, 576 ; Ackn. of Supr. (P.R.O.), II 7. 404
