A HISTORY OF NORFOLK William Calthorp, of Burnham Thorpe, many of whose ancestors were buried in a chapel of the conventual church, by will dated 31 May, 1495, left ;^74 towards the building of the quire and presbytery and general repairs of Creake Abbey. Giles Shevington, the last abbot of the house, occurs in 1503. He is mentioned in that year in the will of Walter Aslake, who gave to the convent all the lands in Holm and Ringstead that he purchased of Sir Roger Strange, on con- dition of his obit being duly observed. Walter also left $s. to each canon, and to the abbey a complete vestment of white damask, and willed that — the north side of the quire in the said abbey be made with tymber workmanship and nayles of my goods, and mete and drink, and sand and lime, at the cost of the abbot and convent. Not long after this date 'an infectious or epidemical disease ' carried off the several canons of this sm.iU house. Abbot Giles being the laft survivor.^ The abbot himself died on 12 Decem- ber, 1506 ; there was no convent left to elect a successor. The house was, therefore, ipso facto dissolved, and reverted to the crown. Through the intervention of the king's mother, the Lady Margaret, countess of Richmond, the lands and revenues of the abbey were settled upon Christ's College, Cambridge, which was of her founda- tion. Priors of Creake William le Geyst," temp. Hen. II Robert, occurs 1228 Abbots Robert,' occurs 1230 Angerius,* occurs 1237 William,' occurs 1246 Godfrey,' elected 1262; resigned 1281' John Chevre,* elected 1 28 1 Thomas Sutherck,^ elected 1303 John de Harpole,^" elected 1334 Robert de Dokking," elected 1352 Thomas de Redham,'^ elected 1353 Thomas de Brandon, '^ elected 1357 John de Asshe," elected 1360 'Nichols, Leic. ii, 551. Probably the sweating sickness which raged in many parts of England in 1506. ' Norf. Arch, vi and vii. ' Ibid. ' Ibid. ' Ibid. ' Ibid. ' Reg. Episl. Peckham (Rolls Ser.).
- Pat. Edw. I, m. 26, 22.
' Ibid. 31 Edw. II, m. 23, 21, 20. '<• Ibid. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 37, 31, 20. " Ibid. 26 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 24. " Ibid. 27 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 3, 5. 'Mbid. 31 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. i+. " Ibid. 34 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. John de Wighton," elected 1393 Robert Felbrigg,'* elected 1 41 3 Thomas Crakyshyld,^' died 1439 John Stanhow,'* elected 1439 William Raume, aUa% Wyssyngset, elected 1465 John Churche,^ elected 1466 John Debenham,^' elected 1473 John Elvysh,-^ elected 1475 Robert Walsingham,*' elected 1 49 1 Giles Shevington,^* occurs 1 503, last abbot, died 1506 " 22. THE PRIORY OF BEESTON^* The priory of Austin Canons at Beeston-on- the-Sea, dedicated to the honour of St. Mary, was founded by Margery de Cressy about the end of the reign of John.-' The original endow- ment was a messuage and 40 acres of land in Beeston and Runton, together with certain demesne lands, rents, services, meadows, wreck of sea and fisheries.^ Lucy, abbess of Caen, granted to Roger the prior and the convent of Beeston, in 1267, the advowson of the church of Staninghall, Norfolk."' The taxation of 1291 gave the annual value of the temporalities of this priory in Norfolk, which were widely scattered in small parcels throughout the county, as £2'^ 55. lO:^^., and of its possessions in Suffolk at ^2 s. od?'^ Nevertheless, their appropriations could not have been carried out at that date, for when a crown return was called for in 1 41 6 of the ap- propriated churches of this diocese, the reply from Beeston Priory was that they held no appropria- tions, and that their goods had been destroyed or much diminished in the pestilence of 1349 and by a terrible inundation in 1400. The Valor of 1535 gave the clear annual value of the priory at ^i^}, ii. itd., drawn from the manors and court fees of Beeston, Runton, Sher- ingham. Holt Peters, and Ranworth, and from lands at Sparham and Buxton, Norfolk, and Reydon, Suffolk. In 1370 letters patent were granted on pay- ment of lOOJ. for the alienation to the priory of lands and tenements in Upton, Ranworth, " Harl. MS. 6961, fol. 97. "Pat. 14 Hen. IV, m. 13, 8. " Norw. Epis. Reg. x, 25. " Ibid. "Ibid, xi, 147. " Ibid. 157. " Ibid, xii, 29. -' Ibid. 47.
- ' Blomefield, Hist, of Norf. vii, 77.
" Ibid. Nichols, Lelc. ii, 551. "^ See paper by Dr. Jessopp in h'orf. Ant'iq. Misc. iii, 439-61. " Rye, Hist, of North Erpingham, pt. i, 4. '* Blomefield, Hist, of Norf viii, 91. »■■' Fin. Rot. Norf. 52 Hen. Ill, 106. '" Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), fols. 92, 94, 95, cjkb, 99, c)C)b, 100, 1043, 105^, 1261^, 127. " Norw. Epis. Reg. viii, 1 30. 372
