35. THE PRIORY OF WEST ACRE
Ralph de Toni, the great Norman baron, to
whom were granted by the Conqueror twentytwo 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. (fn. 1)
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 Godwick.
Richard the prior of West Acre, (fn. 2) in 1198,
obtained the church of Runhall. (fn. 3) Gifts to this
priory multiplied at a rapid rate in the thirteenth
century. When the taxation roll of 1291 was
drawn up, it was found that the canons of
West Acre had property in seventy-four parishes,
and that their annual income was £140 5s. 7¼d.
In 1305 Alexander de Wallpoll of Wiggenhall gave to the priory a toft, 35 acres of land,
and 10 acres of pasture in Wiggenhall and Tilney. (fn. 4)
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 5s. of rent in West Acre,
Walton, Tilney, &c., paying a fine of 5 marks
for the licence. (fn. 5)
In 1315 the priory paid a fine of 10 marks
for having appropriated the church of Rougham,
in their patronage, without licence. (fn. 6)
Licence was granted in 1320 for the alienation to the priory by Maud de Tony of 3 messuages, 100 acres of land, 100 acres of pasture,
and 10s. 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. (fn. 7)
In 1339 the priory of West Acre obtained
licence to appropriate the church of Bodney of
their advowson. (fn. 8)
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,
provided he find common in two other acres
of his land. (fn. 9) During the time that John de
Westacre was prior (1417-50) the temporalities
of the house were valued at £140 5s. 7¼d. per
annum, and the spiritualities at £115 5s. 5¼d.,
giving a total annual income of £256 11s. 0½d. (fn. 10)
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). (fn. 11) Amongst the Cambridge
University MSS. is a small paper book of fortyfour pages containing an account of the property
of West Acre Priory, taken in the reign of
Henry VII. (fn. 12) The Valor of 1535 estimated
the annual clear income of the priory at
£260 13s. 7¼d.
A great disaster befell the priory in September, 1286, when the church and the adjacent
conventual buildings were destroyed by fire. (fn. 13)
Edward II, in 1310, 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. (fn. 14)
Bishop Goldwell visited the priory on 11 August,
1494, 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 Tolle
could not with a clear conscience live in peace
with Geoffrey, though he could get on excellently with Patrick; that the sons of gentlemen
(at school) in the house do not pay their expenses; 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 adjournments 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. (fn. 15)
Bishop Nicke visited West Acre in 1514.
Richard Clarke, prior, was much embarrassed
by lack of money. He was in debt £20, and
was not able to pay the small stipends of the
canons; the stock of sheep had considerably
diminished, then numbering 3,000; the prior
had sold nine score sheep at the last shearing;
they had no grain except that which they
bought; there had been no distribution made
of the effects of the late prior, whose will
ordered the distribution among the brethren.
There were also complaints against William
Smythe, the sub-prior. Some of the younger
canons were pursuing their studies at Cambridge,
but there were complaints that they had not
received the full amount of the exhibition that
had been granted. The visitation shows that
there was a good deal of bickering in the convent, but apparently no grave evils. Some of
the complaints testify to the strictness with
which the services were kept up. For Robert
Pepyr, the only canon who could play the organ,
could never get the prior to grant him leave of
absence. The principal injunction that followed
this visitation was the bishop's order to elect a
new sub-prior, for the four senior canons presented Spillman and Pallmer to the prior for him
to choose one, and his choice fell on Canon
Spillman. (fn. 16)
During the next six years the debts and
difficulties of the house had increased. William
Lowthe was prior at the visitation of 4 July,
1520, having been appointed earlier in that year.
There was ho schoolmaster to teach the boys.
The number of canons had diminished, but three
were at their studies at the University. The
prior was spoken of by three of the canons as
a sensual person, but their meaning is difficult to
understand. There was not a breath against
him of any kind of scandal. Sixteen canons
were examined at this visitation, but two of
them belonged to the cell of Great Massingham.
This visitation led to the deposing of the subprior and the appointing of Thomas Pallmer in
in his place. (fn. 17)
The priory was visited on 1 August, 1526,
when William Wingfield was prior. Seven of
the fourteen canons who were present agreed
with the prior that all was going on well. But
the debts were increasing and the number of
canons decreasing; and a grievous scandal had
to be reported of one of the canons. (fn. 18)
The last visitation was held in July, 1532.
Several of the canons, as well as Prior Wingfield
and Sub-Prior Stirtewhaite, were satisfied that
there was nothing calling for reformation. All
debts were paid, and the balance-sheet produced
by the prior showed that the cellarer had £45 in
hand. Among the complaints were the payment of an annuity of £4 to Anthony Calibut,
for which he returned no service; a diminution
in the distribution of bread to the poor; and
neglect to keep the lamp burning before the
Sacrament according to custom. (fn. 19)
Prior William and sixteen of his canons subscribed in their chapter-house, on 31 August,
1534, to the king's supremacy. (fn. 20)
On 18 September, 1535, at the suggestion of
Dr. Legh and John ap Rice, a notary public,
two of the most subservient of Cromwell's tools,
the monastic visiting jurisdiction of the bishops
was suspended by the king. The two men who
suggested this were at once made monastic visitors
and speedily entered upon their work in Norfolk.
On 11 November they wrote to Cromwell as
to the progress they were making with their
comperta. (fn. 21)
When these two men presented their report
they actually asserted that the prior and subprior and eleven other of the canons of Westacre had confessed that they were guilty of foul
sins. (fn. 22) It is impossible for any fair-minded person
to give credit to so monstrous and wholesale a
supposition, especially in view of the recent
searching and obviously truthful visitations of
this priory by its diocesans.
At any rate no credence whatever could have
been given to this particular charge made by
these notorious 'visitors'; for although, according to them, West Acre was by far the foulest
lived of all the Norfolk religious houses, in
October of the very year when their report of
the prior of Westacre's personal and conventual
enormities had been rendered, William Wingfield
was one of the fourteen Norfolk gentlemen
specially appointed by the king to abide in their
counties and act as justices to keep good order
during the absence of the rest of the gentlemen
and noblemen during the northern rebellion,
the priors of West Acre and Castle Acre being
the only two ecclesiastics of the county selected
for this honour. (fn. 23)
On 15 January, 1538, West Acre Priory, with
the dependent priory or cell of Great Massingham and all its possessions, was surrendered to
Robert Southwell, attorney of the Augmentation
Office, to be held by him for a year with
remainder to the king. The surrender was
signed by the prior and seven of the canons.
This was the first of the monastic 'surrenders,'
and its farcical character is clear; for a month
earlier (16 December, 1537) Sir Roger Townsend
wrote to Cromwell saying that all the goods of
West Acre Priory had been sequestrated according
to order and inventories taken. On 9 December there had been some endeavour otherwise to
dispose of the monastic property. Commissioner
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. (fn. 24)
Prior Wingfield, notwithstanding his reputed
sins and trickery, had the handsome pension
granted him of £40 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 'confession' 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. (fn. 25) 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 whatsoever 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. (fn. 26)
Priors of West Acre
Oliver (fn. 27)
Richard, (fn. 28)
c. 1193
Hubert, (fn. 29)
c. 1200
Godwin, (fn. 30)
c. 1210
William, (fn. 31) 1228
Robert de Alenzun, (fn. 32)
c. 1235
Simon, (fn. 33)
c. 1249
Robert, (fn. 34)
c. 1257
John, (fn. 35)
c. 1268
Hubert, (fn. 36) occurs 1285
Richard, (fn. 37) occurs 1288
Henry de Acra, (fn. 38) elected 1300
William de Wesenham, (fn. 39) elected 1323
William de Waplode, (fn. 40) elected 1328
John de Swaftham, (fn. 41) elected 1349
Geoffrey de Warham, (fn. 42) elected 1367
Nicholas de Butle, (fn. 43) elected 1373
Peter Bisshop, (fn. 44) resigned 1382
Nicholas de Buttele, (fn. 45) elected 1382
John de Acre, (fn. 46) elected 1390
John de Watlyngton, (fn. 47) elected 1414
John de West Acre, (fn. 48) elected 1417
John Fakenham, (fn. 49) elected 1450
John Cosin, (fn. 50) elected 1460
Richard Palle, (fn. 51) elected 1466
Richard Clark, (fn. 52) elected 1491
William Sowthe, (fn. 53) elected 1520
William Wingfield, (fn. 54) occurs 1526, last prior
Of the first seal, late eleventh century
(21/8 in. × 21/8 in.), there is a very imperfect impression, showing the seated Virgin. Legend:—
. . . . . DE: WEST. ACRIA (fn. 55)
The second seal, thirteenth century (3½ in. ×
21 in.), is a fine pointed oval example of a most
unusual design.
Obverse.—The Holy Trinity, in a niche upheld 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 . ECCLI' . BĒ . MARIE . ET .
OMMIUM . SŪR . 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 (fn. 56)