A HISTORY OF NORFOLK The historian of Yarmouth says that these Austin Friars had a cell across the water in Yarmouth proper, the remains of which are to be seen in Howards Street ; the adjoining row is still called Austin Row, though popularly corrupted into Ostend Row.' The house was suppressed, with the other Yarmouth friaries, by Richard Ingworth to- wards the end of 1538,' and the site was granted in 1544 to John Eyre, rightly styled by Weever ' a great dealer in that kind of property.' HOSPITALS 67. THE HOSPITAL OF BECK In the old village of Bee or Beck, in the parish of Billingford, a hospital was founded early in the reign of Henry III, by William de Bee, on the main road between Norwich and Walsingham.^ This hospital, or hostelry, was dedicated to the honour of St. Thomas of Can- terbury, and the adjacent chapel to that of St. Paul ; it was intended for the reception and entertainment for a single night of thirteen poor travellers as they made their pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Immediately on its foundation, the bishop's official admitted Richard, the chaplain of the founder, to the mastership. On 17 November, 1224, William de Bee granted the right of patronage of this hospital to the bishop of Norwich and his successors. In the same year Simon de Hederset was admitted to the master- ship. The hospital was, at an early date in its history, well endowed with the manors of Bee, Billingford, and Howe, and with certain lands and rents in upwards of thirty Norfolk parishes. The masters of the hospital appear on one or two occasions to have come into collision with the powerful family of Curzon, who were owners of considerable estates in this county ; thus Andrew Hokere complained that in 1396 he was illegally disseised of a hundred acres of land by John Curzon, and that when he en- deavoured to recover this by law, the sheriff, Thomas Curzon, packed the jury, and so con- trived that he not only lost his suit, but was further fined ^^44.^ Apparently the Curzons were, or claimed to be, the patrons towards the middle of the fifteenth century, as when John KnoUys — master about 1447 — complained that during the period the hospital was vacant before his appoint- ment, the door was broken down, and certain relics of St. Thomas, a set of vestments and other things, carried away by Edmund Dokking and John Dowe, they made the double defence of denying the accusation and of asserting that the chapel of St. Thomas was the freehold of their master, Sir John Curzon. ' Palmer, Hist, of Yarmouth, i, 428. ' Blomefield, Hist, of Norf viii, 190-1 ; Dugdale, Men. vi, 767 ; Taylor, ItiJe.x Monailicus, 52. ' Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 3, No. 88.
- Ibid. bdle. 17, No. 7.
On 20 April, 1419, the bishop of Norwich formally declared the benefice of Beck hospital compatible, i.e. capable of being held with another benefice. In the official entry, it is stated that the hospital or chapel of St. Thomas of Beck was without cure, and was then held simul et semul by Henry Kays, rector of Fakenham, and that it had been held several times in the days of the bishop's predecessors by clerks in possession of other benefices.^ The Valor of 1535 gave the gross annual value at j^5 6j. fa"., and the clear value ^4 i <,s. 9a'. There had evidently been some alienation of the property by some of the later masters before this valor was taken. The hospital and its possessions were granted to Sir John Perrot in 1556. It was eventually purchased by Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief Justice, whose family built a mansion on this site. Masters of the Hospital of Beck Richard, first master Simon de Hederset, admitted 1224 Robert de Elman, occurs 1250' William, occurs 1268 John de Geiste Thomas, 1286 Gilbert de Burlwell,* admitted 1309 Nicholas de Ayshefield,' admitted 13 14 Ralph de Plechesdone,'" resigned 1332 Roger de Hedersete," admitted 1332 John de Wyneston,'^ resigned 1352 Roger Oslak," admitted 1352 Robert Markaytc,^' admitted 1354 Richard Roche of Lynn," admitted 1358 John de Walsham,'^ resigned 1372 John de Babbyngle," admitted 1372 John Clerevaus, admitted 1375 Andrew Hoken,'^ admitted 1379 John de Haldanby,^ admitted 1387 ' L. and P. Hen. Fill, xii, 1021. ° Norw. Epis. Reg. viii, 1 34. ' Assize R. 560, m. 17. ' Norw. Epis. Reg. i, 34. Ibid, i, 59. Ibid. Ibid. Norw. Epis. Reg. v, 27. Ibid, vi, 18. Ibid. 33. Ibid. 122. " Ibid, ii, 52. " Ibid, iv, 14;. " Ibid. 151. " Ibid. " Ibid. 65. 43^
