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 A HISTORY OF NORFOLK The founder and his wife Avice also granted to the priory the church of All Saints, Ditton, which was confirmed to them by the bishop of Norwich in an undated charter.^ In 1209 Innocent III granted protection to the prior and brethren of Hickling, present and future, together with confirmation of their pos- sessions, namely : the parish church of All Saints, Hickling, with St. Mary's chapel, the church of St. Mary, and chapel of St. Andrew's, Parham ; All Saints church and chapel of Hasketon ; the church of Hanwich and tithes of Runcton ; the rights they had in St. John Baptist's church, Waxham, and in St. Margaret's, Westwick, Norwich ; the patronage of St. Margaret's Pall- ing, the lands they had of the fief of Palling and Waxham ; lands and rents in the city of Nor- wich and town of Yarmouth, and a yearly rent of 14 marks due to them by gift of Hamon de Valoines from the monks of Gerwalle, in the name of the town of Runcton.' In 1227 Henry III granted to the priory of Hickling the right to hold a three days' fair at All Saints' tide at Hasketon.^ The priory had possessions in no fewer than thirty-two Norfolk parishes at the taxation of 1 291, but their total annual value was only lis 12s. f)d. The advowson of the church of Raveningham was given to the priory of Hickling, in 1339, by Katharine, widow of Walter de Norwich, and her son John.* The heavy fine of ^^24 was paid by the priory in July, 1380, to obtain licence for alienation in mortmain by John de Eccles and Geoffrey de Somerton of the reversion of a third part of the manor of Hickling called ' le Netherhall,' which was held by trustees during the life of Edward de Berkale, for finding a lamp to be kept burn- ing daily before the high altar in the priory church.* In October of the same year, the further sum of ;r20 was paid in a hanaper by the prior for the alienation in mortmain by the same donors to the convent of a messuage, 40 acres of land, 30 of pasture, and 10 of rush bed, and 60J. of rent in Palling and Waxham for finding a chaplain to celebrate daily in the priory church for the souls of John de Toucestre, Richard de Pouche, chaplain, and others.* The priory paid 20 marks to the king in 1384 for licence to hold a third part of the manor of Hickling, a moiety of the church of Catfield, and the manor called ' Boylondeshall ' in North Walsham.' In 1397 Pope Boniface confirmed the bishop's sanction to the priory that, on the resignation or death of the perpetual ' Cott. MS. Vit. F. iv, fol. 11. • Cal. Papal Reg. , 34. ' Close, 1 1 Hen. Ill, m. 26. ' Cal. of Pat. 13 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 9. ' Ibid. 4 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 39. ' Ibid. m. 13. ' Ibid. 8 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 12. vicar of All Saints, Hickling — in consideration of impoverishment through frequent hospitality and great exactions — they might cause the vicarage to be served by one of their canons.* The Valor of 1535 gives the clear annual value of the priory as ;^I00 i8j. "J^d. Their most valuable possession was the manor of Hick- ling, which was estimated to be worth annually ^45 0J.iif^. Hickling was one of the townships that suf- fered most severely from the tremendous storm of December, 1287, no fewer than nine score persons being drowned there. In the priory the water rose more than a foot above the high altar, and all the canons fled away except two, who stayed behind and managed to save the horses and other property by bringing them up into the dormitory over the vaulted undercroft.' A still worse disaster befell the priory in 1349, when the prior, Richard, died of the plague, as did his elected successor, Simon Wodewale, who passed away even as the brethren were informing him of his election. Such havoc did the pestilence work that only two canons were left alive, one of whom, John, became prior, though only a novice and not even professed.'** Another epi- demic in 1439 ^'isited Hickling and carried off three or four of the brethren." Nor did all go well with the religious life of the house, for the chronicler records that after the death of Prior William Wroxham in 1390 all signs of true religion disappeared from the priory and had scarcely been restored more than forty years later, adding that with the fall of the bell tower in 1400 perished also nearly all regular discipline at Hickling. In September, 1343, Martin de Hapesburgh, canon of the priory of Hickling, petitioned the pope to order the abbot and convent of St. Bene- dict, Holme, to receive him as a monk according to the mandate of Benedict III from which the abbot, at the suggestion of the prior of Hickling, did remove the bull. The petition was granted, provided it was found that Pope Benedict did make a special mandate. In the following December Clement VI issued his mandate to the bishop of Norwich, the dean of Lincoln, and the chancellor of Hereford to cause Martin de Hapes- burgh to be received into the monastery of Holme.'* A faculty was granted in 1364, by Pope Urban V, to Prior Richard to dispense four of his canons, provided they had completed their twenty- second year, to be ordained priests, there being but few by reason of the pestilence." Archdeacon Goldwell, as commissary of the bishop, visited Hickling on 23 October, 1492. Thomas Greggs, the prior, and eight canons ' Cal. Papal Reg. v, 19. ' Oxenedes, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), 270. '"> Ibid. 437. " Ibid. 439. " Ibid. 438. " Cal. Papal Pet. i, 74. " Cal. Pap. Reg. iii, 144. " Ibid, iv, 41. 384