48. THE DOMINICAN FRIARS OF LYNN
The priory of Friars Preachers was founded at
Lynn, towards the end of Henry III's reign, by
Thomas Gedney, on the east side of the town,
between Clow Lane and Skinner Lane. The
church was dedicated to St. Dominic, and the
house was large enough to accommodate forty
religious as early as the beginning of the reign
of Edward I. (fn. 1)
The priory site was enlarged in the fourteenth
century. (fn. 2) The house was supplied with fresh
water from a spring called Brookwell, at Middleton, nearly four miles distant; the site of the
well being the gift of William Berdolf. (fn. 3)
When Edward I was at Gaywood in 1277
he sent these friars 13s. 4d. for a day's food, and
also 12s. for another day. John de St. Omer,
mayor of Lynn, in 1285, gave them wine to
the value of 11s. for the feast of St. Dominic.
When Edward I passed through Lynn in 1300
he sent an alms of 15s. for a day's food.
Edward II on arriving at Lynn in 1326 gave a
like sum for the day's food of forty-five friars;
and Edward III, when passing through the town
in 1328, sent 14s. 8d. to the forty-five friars
who were then in the house. Father Palmer
also sets forth at length numerous bequests to the
four orders of friars of this town, and to the
Black Friars in particular up to the year 1505.
Provincial chapters of the Dominicans are
known to have been held here at this house
in 1304, 1344, and 1365; on the first occasion
Edward I gave 20 marks towards the expenses,
whilst Edward III gave £15 on the second
occasion, and £10 on the last. (fn. 4)
About the year 1486 the priory suffered
severely from fire. Twenty years later the
buildings were not fully restored, and the mastergeneral, on 24 June, 1476, empowered the
prior for five years to admit as many as he would
to the benefits and suffrages of the order, provided their alms were applied to the repair of
the convent. (fn. 5)
When the Valor of 1535 was drawn up
there was but rare mention of friars, as their only
property was, as a rule, the land on which their
house and church stood. In this case, Thomas
Lovell being prior, the Dominicans held a
tenement in Lynn let at 10s, a year and a parcel
of meadow at 8s. (fn. 6)
This community was destroyed in 1538.
The day and month are left blank on the
surrender, which is signed by Thomas Lovell,
prior, Robert Skott, bachelor, and trustees of
the order. (fn. 7)
Priors
(Mentioned by Father Palmer)
William de Bagthorpe, 1393
John Braynes, 1488
William Videnhus, 1497
Thomas Lovell, 1535
The site of this house, as well as of the other
three friaries of Lynn, was granted by the king
to John Eyre, who was one of the king's
auditors or receivers. Eyre obtained a large
share of monastic lands, including much of the
great abbey of Bury St. Edmunds; but he did
not prosper and died childless. (fn. 8)
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. (fn. 9)
John Stanford, provincial of his order, who
died in 1264, was buried at the Franciscan house
of Lynn. (fn. 10)
Licence was obtained in 1314 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. (fn. 11)
In 1365 the friars obtained a patent to add
two messuages to their sites. (fn. 12)
The house was surrendered on 1 October,
1538; the surrender was signed by Edmund
Brygat, warden, and nine others. (fn. 13)
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. (fn. 14)
The earliest record mention of it occurs in
1261 in a document relative to the obstruction
of a lane. (fn. 15)
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. However, 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. (fn. 16)
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
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. (fn. 17)
In the 9 Richard II, William Lord Bardolph
died and was buried in the church of the
Carmelites of Lynn. (fn. 18)
From a deposition made by Friar Peter of
Lynn, sub-prior of the Carmelites, it appears
that the family of Hastings were benefactors 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 fortyeight years before; Friar Alleyn, aged fifty-nine,
deposed to the like effect. (fn. 19)
The Valor of 1535 gives 33s. as the annual
value of the parcel of land within the precinct
wall, whilst a plot without it was worth 2s. 4d. (fn. 20)
The house surrendered on 30 September,
1538. The surrender was signed by Robert
Newman, prior, and ten others. (fn. 21)
The fourteenth-century circular seal (1 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 holding a
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 80 ft. of
land. (fn. 22)
In 1306 Thomas de Lexham obtained licence
to alienate to the friars a messuage adjoining
their site. (fn. 23) There was a further licence to the
same benefactor, for a like purpose, in 1311, (fn. 24) and
in 1329 Humphrey de Wykene gave the Austin
Friars a plot of land adjoining their house for its
enlargement. (fn. 25)
Soon after this there was evidently a considerable 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
100 ft. by 60 ft., and there were other extensions
about the same date. (fn. 26)
In 1364 the friars were permitted to add five
tenements to their site, the gift of Thomas Drewe
and others. (fn. 27) The bishop of Norwich, in 1383,
granted the friars a plot of land in Gaywood,
24 ft. by 16 ft., of the yearly value of 1d., for
making a subterranean conduit from a spring in
that plot through the bishop's demesnes to their
house. (fn. 28)
There were further extensions of their premises
in the reigns of Henry IV (fn. 29) and V. (fn. 30)
In 1535, when Thomas Potter was prior, this
house had three tenements in Lynn of the annual
value of 26s. 8d. (fn. 31)
The surrender of the house, dated 30 September, 1538, was signed by William Wilson,
prior, and ten others. (fn. 32)
52. THE FRIARS OF THE SACK, LYNN
The Friars of the Sack, or De Penitentia, had
a house at Lynn in the thirteenth century.
This order, which never attained to much prosperity, was suppressed in France in 1293, the
members being obliged to join the Austin Friars
in consequence of the smallness of their numbers.
In England they came to an end in 1317, when
the members were obliged to join one or other
of the four chief orders of the mendicants. At
the time of their suppression Robert Flegg, the
prior of the house at Lynn, was superior of the
whole order in England. (fn. 33)
There is a reference in the Norfolk Fines of
1277 to the right of the prior 'de Penitentia
Jesu Christi in Lenn' to certain messuages. (fn. 34)