24. CRUTCHED FRIARS, BARHAM
From the time of the Domesday Survey until
about 1250 Barham was the chief manor of the
family of Furneaux, (fn. 1) who possessed a chapel there
during the 13th century. This they had endowed in about 1250 with 32 acres of land and a
messuage, which was therefore held by its chaplain, William de Haverhill, in alms in 1279, when
the Abbot of St. Jacut in Brittany also held 32
acres of arable and ½ acre of meadow by the service
of keeping the roof of the chapel thatched with
reeds. (fn. 2) The earliest indication of a connexion
with St. Margaret is the grant obtained by Simon
de Furneaux in 1282 of a fair on the vigil, day,
and morrow of St. Margaret. (fn. 3)
Certain fratres cruciferi had presented themselves at a diocesan synod at Rochester in 1244
seeking permission to settle in England: they
were in London in 1249, (fn. 4) and in 1265 a simple
protection was granted to the Friars of the Holy
Cross. (fn. 5) About 1274 one of the de Bures family
founded a house of Crutched Friars at Welnetham
in Suffolk, (fn. 6) and in 1330 Andrew de Bures
founded a chantry in the London house, conveying the property for its support to the Prior and
friars of Welnetham. (fn. 7) Meanwhile, on 24 January
1293 a writ had been issued to the Sheriff of
Cambridgeshire to inquire concerning a proposed
grant of the chapel at Barham to the Friars of the
Holy Cross of Welnetham. Robert de Furneaux,
heir of Simon in Barham, had succeeded him as
patron and consented; the jury, which found the
chapel and its lands worth 2 marks a year, knew
nothing of the consent of rector or diocesan; the
chapel owed two appearances at the sheriff's turn
and they assessed the loss to the king by its transfer
at 12d. yearly. (fn. 8) No licence for the grant can be
traced, but it is probable that not long after this
date a small house of Crutched Friars was established at Barham, perhaps as an offshoot from
Welnetham. In 1323 John, son and heir of
Robert Furneaux, had licence to give 52 acres
of land, ½ acre of meadow, and foldage for 120
sheep to the Prior and friars of the Holy Cross at
Barham, the whole gift being valued at £20. (fn. 9) In
1339 the friars of Barham, having lost the original
deed, obtained an exemplification of the patent. (fn. 10)
After this the history of the small priory seems to
have been uneventful, and little is heard of the
friars beyond occasional records of the ordination
of one of them, (fn. 11) or of bequests in their favour
during the last 50 years of the house. In 1406
when, in addition to the clerical tenth, half a mark
was required from all priests, John Westwode,
frater crucis, was acting as chaplain at Linton. (fn. 12)
In 1487 William Harsent left 3s. 4d. to the
'house of St. Margaret at Great Linton', (fn. 13) and
Thomas Clement, butcher, left 2s. to 'the chapel
of the Crutched Friars of Barham' in 1503. (fn. 14)
Nicholas Wykham, priest, left 10s. each to the
'Prior of Barham and Sir William' in 1507, (fn. 15)
and in 1516 Thomas Rowning gave a sheet to
St. Margaret of Barham: (fn. 16) all the testators were
of Linton. In 1527 William Mylsent, founder of
the Linton almshouses, and father of John Mylsent
'the puritan squire' who bought the priory from
Philip Parys in 1540, left 3s. 4d. 'to Master Prior
of Barham, to pray for me and all Christian souls
in Linton Church'. (fn. 17)
In 1531 a terrier drawn up by John Bybe, the
prior, accounts for 23 acres of ploughland, 2¾ acres
of meadow, foldage for 120 sheep, and 2 swathes
in Whless meadow, Ashdon, for thatching the
priory church and strewing it on St. Margaret's
day. (fn. 18) No houses or buildings are mentioned in
this document, apart from the church, but there
is a reference to 'Fryers' Green'. The acreage
accounted for is less than John Furneaux's benefaction. In the following year John Bybe witnessed the will of William Ashby of Linton, by
which 6s. 8d. was left to his priory. (fn. 19) Bybe was
succeeded by Henry Reynoldes, (fn. 20) the only other
prior whose name is known.
The Crutched Friars were included with the
'four orders' whose convents were not suppressed
with the lesser monasteries in 1536. When Ingworth was commissioned on 6 February 1537 to
visit all houses of Mendicants in England the
Crutched Friars were expressly included in the
five Orders under his jurisdiction, (fn. 21) but it was not
until 12 November 1538 that the Crutched Friars
house in London was surrendered with all its
possessions in England and Wales, including land
in Welnetham (fn. 22) and the site of the late priory of
Barham. No separate surrender of Barham Priory
has been found, but during the same year all its
possessions were farmed by John Miller, (fn. 23) and on
3 July 1540 the site was granted to Philip Parys
and his wife Margaret as parcel of the possessions
of the Crutched Friars in London. (fn. 24) On 20
February 1551 Parys sold the whole of the Barham property to John Mylsent for £40. (fn. 25)
All trace of St. Margaret's Priory is now
gone, though until the 18th century the priory
still retained much of its original form, being
built round a square court, having on the south
side 'a cloister terminated by a small chapel, a hall,
buttery etc.', and the chapel was still in use as a
church. (fn. 26)
A 14th-century seal of a prior of Barham (fn. 27) is
oval, and shows St. Margaret, crowned, standing
upon the dragon, transfixing his jaws with a long
cross held in her right hand and having in her left
hand a book; before her kneels the prior, his large
tonsure and the detail of his habit clearly shown:
the latter seems to be a tunic without scapular or
girdle of any kind: the hood, which hangs behind,
is small. Over the prior's head there is a cross
fleury; under the dragon is a diapered cushion.
Legend: S' . PRIORIS . IBĒ. CRUCIS . DE . BERHAM