RELIGIOUS HOUSES St. Peter's, Wiggenhall. In 1422 the prioress spent twenty marks on the precinct walls, and forty marks on the cloister. Taking ad- vice in 1423 as to the bad condition of the conventual church, Joan decided to take it down and rebuild it : ' Trostynge to the helpe of oure Lorde and to the grete charite of goode cristen rnen.' The one who came chiefly to her assist- ance in this and other good works was her cousin Edmund Perys or Pery, rector of Watlington, who by his will of 1427 desired to be buried in the conventual church of Crabhouse. The nuns' new church was over three years in build- ing, and cost 400 marks, 'whereof William Harold that lithe in the chapel of our Lady payde for the ledyinge of the chirche vij skore mark,' Richard Steymour, citizen of Norwich, paid ;^40 for the roof, and he also gave them the stalls and reredos at a cost of ;^20, and two antiphoners of the great value of twenty-six marks, ' whiche lygen in the queer.' Among other contributions were twenty-one marks from 'the gylde of the Trinite whiche Naybores helde in this same chirche.' During the time the work of the church was in progress the prioress also built ' the longe chaumber on the este syde of the halle whiche costes xxiiij mark.' Edmund Perys, the prioress's chief supporter, ' passed to God on the Wednesday next after the concepcyon of Oure Lady,' 1427 ; and then another good friend came to her help, who was also her cousin. Dr. John Wiggenhall, at that time rector of Oxborough. In 1429 he was abbot of West Dereham, and subse- quently held many important offices. His father and mother were buried at Crabhouse. In 1429 he helped the prioress to complete and furnish the church, setting up the images, paving both nave and quire, providing stalls and doors for the quire, and cloths for the altars. The barn at Wiggenhall St. Peter was repaired in 1430 at a charge of ^^, and a new malt-house rebuilt at Crabhouse for ten marks. In 1431 the hall or frater was taken down and built anew at a cost of seventy marks. That same year the new malt-house and an old one, with all the malt, were burnt in a fire caused by a careless woman ; but the prioress, nothing daunted, with the help of Dr. Wiggenhall and others, set to work, and in the course of two years built a new malt- house, with a dovecot over the kiln, of better worth than the two that were burnt, at a cost of
- ^50. In 1434 Joan repaired and heightened
the bakehouse, raised the steeple and re-roofed it with lead at a cost of ;^I0, and spent £^ on rebuilding and slating the north side of the cloister. In 1435 the dorter (the first set up in the place) was in such grievous decay that the prioress, ' dredyinge the perischynge of her sisters whiche lay thereine,' took it down, but was too busy in the other works, such as the cart-house, turf-house and stables, that cost eighty marks, to do more to it that year. In 1436, 'in the xvij yere of the same prioress, be the help of God and of goode cristen men sche began the grounde of the same dortoure that now standith, and wrought thereupon fulli vij yere betynes as God wolde send hir good.' There was a great dearth of corn in 1438, and Joan must needs have suspended all further work, if it had not been for the generosity of Dr. Wiggenhall, who sent her 100 combs of malt and 200 combs of barley, in addition to 20 marks, For the soule of my lord of Exetyr.' ^^40 and 5 marks were at the same time provided. The dorter, and a house at Lynn called Corner Bothe, which had long been ruinous, were completed in the winter of 1444. After an energetic rule of twenty-four years, just when all the work on which she had been so long engaged was accomplished, Joan Wiggenhall died, and was succeeded, early in 1445, by Margaret Dawbeny. In 146 1 Master Stephen Bole, rector of Eccles, built a good house at the west end of the con- ventual church of Crabhouse, at a cost of £Si also in the time of Prioress Margaret ; the same Stephen made other gifts to the convent, par- ticularly in helping with the wall of the porch, to the extent of ^^47 I ox., and after Etheldreda Wulmer was appointed prioress in 1469, on the death of Margaret, Master Stephen continued his charitable gifts to the priory, particularly in the making of a new well. On 9 September, 1476, there was an unusual ceremony in the nuns' church at Crabhouse, which was doubtless celebrated in the nave. By special licence of the bishop of Norwich, Thomas Hunston and Margaret Keroyle were married in the monastery. The vicar of St. Mary Magda- lene, Wiggenhall, received a composition in lieu of his fees.^ The convent was visited on 10 July, I5i4> by Master Thomas as commissary for the bishop. Elizabeth Bredon, the prioress, testified to the general obedience and religious life of the sisters, save one, and to the good repair of the buildings. The house was in debt 10 marks, but was owed 5 marks. Difi^erent nuns mentioned the bad condition of the roof of the Lady Chapel, and the disobedience and quarrelsome character of others, and of the infrequency of confession. A pain- ful scandal of the previous year came to light with respect to one of the sisters.^ The bishop enjoined obedience on the sisters, and on the prioress the granting greater facilities for con- fession. Agnes Smyth, the penitent offender, was ordered to take the lowest seat for a month, and to say in cloister seven times during that period the whole psalter. ' Reg. fol. I.
- This is absolutely the one solitary instance of im-
morality which comes before us in all these visitations of the Norfolk (Norwich diocese) nunneries, which cover a period of just forty years ; Dr. Jessopp's Introd. to Norzv. Fish. xlii. 409 52
