RELIGIOUS HOUSES 49. THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS OF LYNN The house of the Grey Friars was founded at Lynn by Thomas Feltham in the latter part of the reign of Henry III.^ John Stanford, provincial of his order, who died in 1264, was buried at the Franciscan house of Lynn.^ Licence was obtained in 1 3 14 for the warden and Friars Minor of Lynn to retain a mill in North Runcton, called ' Bukenwelle,' which they had acquired without the leave of the late king, from Thomas Bardolf and Robert de Scales, and to lead the water from the well by an underground conduit to their house in Lynn.^ In 1365 the friars obtained a patent to add two messuages to their sites.* The house was surrendered on I October, 1538 ; the surrender was signed by Edmund Brygat, warden, and nine others.' 50. THE CARMELITE FRIARS OF LYNN The house of the White Friars or Carmelites stood on the south side of the town, close to the River Lynn. According to Blomefield it was founded by Lord Bardolph towards the close of the reign of Henry III.^ The earliest record mention of it occurs in 1261 in a document relative to the obstruction of a lane.' In 1277 Edward I gave the Carmelite Friars of Lynn six oaks for timber from the forest of Sapley, for the works of their church in that town. The order for these trees was dated 17 March, and addressed to Roger de Clifford, justice of the forest on this side Trent. How- ever, Roger reported that there were no trees fit for timber for such a purpose in the Sapley forest. Whereupon, on 17 April, the king ordered Richard de Holebrok, his steward, to let the Carmelites have six suitable trees from the king's woods in his bailiwick, wherever it might be done with least damage to the king and greatest convenience to the friars.' Licence was granted in 1285 to the Carmelites of Lynn to close a lane adjoining the churchyard of their church on the north, and to enclose the ' Blomefield, Hist ofNorf. viii, 526. ' Colled. Angl. Mitt, cited by Tanner ; Notitia, Norf. xli, 8. ' Pat. 7 Edw. II, pt. ii, No. 3. ' Ibid. 38 Y.dvi. Ill, pt. i, m. i6, 8. » L. atidP. Hen. nil, xiii (2), 196. ' Blomefield, Hisl. of Not/, viii, 525 ' Escaet Norf 45 Hen. Ill, ti. 3 I, cited in Tanner, Notitia. A document of the same year quoted by Blomefield, making a benefactor give these friars land; in six different parishes, must be a blunder ; none of the mendicants could accept such a gift.
- Cal. of Close, 5 Edw. I, m. 10.
42 same with a wall for the enlargement of the churchyard; on condition that they make another lane of the same length and breadth over their own land adjoining the wall.' In the 9 Richard II, William Lord Bardolph died and was buried in the church of the Carmelites of Lynn.'" From a deposition made by Friar Peter of Lynn, sub-prior of the Carmelites, it appears that the family of Hastings were benefac- tors of the house. He swore, at a trial begun 9 Henry IV, that the arms of Hastings were painted in the priory for forty years past, and that they had a banner of the arms forty- eight years before ; Friar AUeyn, aged fifty-nine, deposed to the like effect." The Valor of 1535 gives 331. as the annual value of the parcel of land within the precinct wall, whilst a plot without it was worth 2s. 4^.'- The house surrendered on 30 September, 1538. The surrender was signed by Robert Newman, prior, and ten others.*' The fourteenth-century circular seal (i in.) of this house has two canopied niches ; on the left is the standing Virgin and Holy Child ; on the right is the standing figure of St. Margaret trampling on the dragon, piercing his head with a long cross held in the right hand and holdings book in the left. Legend : — s' commun' frum d' carmelo len 51. THE AUSTIN FRIARS OF LYNN The Austin Friars settled at Lynn early in the reign of Edward I, on the north side of the town. They were well established by 1295, for in that year Margaret de Suthmere obtained licence to alienate a messuage in Lynn to the Austin Friars of that town, containing 100 ft. by Soft, of land.'* In 1306 Thomas de Lexham obtained licence to alienate to the friars a messuage adjoining their site." There was a further licence to the same benefactor, for a like purpose, in 1 3 1 1 ,** and in 1329 Humphrey de Wykene gave the Austin Friars a plot of land adjoining their house for its enlargement. Soon after this there was evidently a con- siderable extension of their premises, followed probably by a rebuilding of their house and church ; for in 1338 licence was granted to Robert de Wykene to add to their premises a plot • Cal. of Pat. 13 Edw. I, m. i. '" Blomefield, Hist, of Norf. viii, 523. " Le Neve MS. cited by Blomefield " Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iii, 297. " Dep. Keeper's Rep. viii, App. 2, 3. " Pat. 23 Edw. I, m. 12. '^ Ibid. 34 Edw. I, m. 34. " Ibid. 4 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 14. Ibid. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 27. 7
