Page:VCH Norfolk 2.djvu/479

 RELIGIOUS HOUSES tion has been found of the name of any warden of this house, nor even of any friar save one, John Rokeby, who was living in 1492, and who must have been a typical 'jolly friar,' as he weighed twenty-four stone, a fact that was con- sidered sufficiently noteworthy to obtain an entry on the Borough Roll.' The house was suppressed in the autumn of 1538 by Richard Ingworth, and possession was given to Mr. Millesent, a servant of Cromwell's.^ Cromwell obtained a grant of it in the following year and transferred it to his nephew. Sir Richard Williams. 65. THE CARMELITE FRIARS OF YARMOUTH The house of White Friars of Yarmouth was founded in 1276 in the north part of the town, Edward I being regarded as their founder. It was dedicated to St. Mary. In 1276, an inquisition ad quod damnum was held at Yarmouth, touching the petition of the Carmelite Friars for licence to inhabit a void place in Great Yarmouth called * Le Denne ' ; containing 500 ft. by 400 ft., and there to build a church for themselves.' On 26 June 1 291, Oliver Wych obtained licence to alienate in mortmain a messuage to the Carmelites of Yarmouth.* Whilst the dread of the Black Death hung over the land, bequests to friars were common throughout England. William Hutte, in 1349, gave to the Carmelite Friars of Yarmouth two coverlets and a silver cup with a pelican ; and to John de Yarmouth, his nephew, a friar of the order, a feather bed and other furniture. In the same year, Simon atte Crosse left them 20/. for masses for his soul ; and Agnes his wife 6j. 8^. Licence was given in 1378, on payment of 20J., to the Carmelites of Great Yarmouth to enclose a lane adjoining their dwelling on the south side for the enlargement of their house, provided they made another lane as good for passers-by.' The following burials in this church occur in a MS. at the College of Arms : — 1309, Nicholas Castle, Esquire, also Elizabeth his wife ; 1330, Dame Maude, wife of Sir Thomas Huntingdon ; 1382, Sir John de Monte Acuto.* On I April 1509, the church and convent were burnt down.' John Tylney, who was prior of this house from about 1430 to 1455, vvas of much repu- ' Palmer, Hist, of Yarmouth, i, 421. - L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii (2), 436, 508. ' Pat. 4 Edw. I, m. 26. ' Ibid. 19 Edw. I, m. 10. ■' Palmer, Hist, of Yarmouth, i, 426. " F. G. Interments. '" Palmer, Hist, of Yarmouth, l, 426. tation as professor of divinity at Cambridge, and wrote various treatises.* This house was suppressed by Richard Ingworth towards the close of 1538.' It was granted in 1544 to Thomas Denton and Robert Nottingham.'" 66. THE AUSTIN FRIARS OF YAR- MOUTH Although the house of these Austin Friars was across the water in Suffolk, in the parish of Gorles- ton, as it stood in Little Yarmouth or Southtown, mention had better be made of it in this place as well as under the religious houses of Suffolk. In several wills, bequests were made to the four orders of friars of Yarmouth ; but Gorleston was not formally joined to the borough until 1688. This friary was founded towards the end of the reign of Edward I, by William Woderove and Margaret his wife." On 28 June 1 131, Roger Woderove, son of the founder, obtained licence to grant to the prior and Augustine friars of Little Yarmouth a plot of land adjacent to their dwelling," and in 1338 a further enlarge- ment of their house was made on a plot of land 240 ft. by 70 ft., the gift of William Man, of Blundeston." In the large and handsome church many dis- tinguished persons were buried. Weever names the founder and his wife ; Richard earl of Clare ; Roger FitzOsbert and Katharine his wife ; Sir Henry Bacon, 1335, and many of his family; Joan, countess of Gloucester ; Dame Alice Lunston, 1341 ; Dame Eleanor, wife of Sir Thomas Gerbrigge, 1353 ; Dame Joan Caxton 1364 ; William de Ufford, earl of Suffolk, 1382 ; Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk ; Sir Thomas Hengrove ; Dame Sibyl Mortimer, 1385 ; Sir John Laune, and Mary his wife ; Alexander Falstolfe ; William March, esq., 141 2, and John Pulham, 1481.'* Lambarde, writing of this house, which he mistakenly terms an abbey, says : ' Here was of late years a librarie of most rare and precious workes, gathered together by the Industrie of one John Brome, a monk of the same house, which died in the reign of King Henry the Sixte.' '* John Brome was prior of the house and died in 1449. His collection of books was famous and said to include several of which there were no other copies in England ; he was himself the author of chronicles and sermons.'* ' Stevens, Contin. ofMon. ' L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii (2), 436. ■» Ibid, xix (I), 373. " Weever, Funeral Monuments, 863. " Pat. 4 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 3. " Ibid. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 15. " Weever, Funeral Monuments, 863. " Lambarde, Topog. Diet. (1730), 136. " Stevens, Contin. ofMon. ii, 176. 437