MASTER NEGA TIVE NO. 93-81410- MICROFILMED 1993 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or other reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.** If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of **fair use,** that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR: [BEECHENO, F. R.] TITLE: NOTES ON CARROW PRIORY, COMMONLY PLACE: [NORWICH] DATE: [1 886] COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT Master Negative # ■V BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record •042 ^Beocheno, F R ^ C237 Notes on Carrow priory, commonly callod Cnrrow Q abbey... [Norwich, Fletcher and son, printers. 18863. 15 p. 23 cm. Printed for private circulation. Added Illustrated titTe-pi{^c. Bound with! Ryo, V/altor. Carrow abbey ... insp n:^\^ f Restrictions on Use: FILM SIZE:__J5.?^i'^ IMAGE PLACEMENT: L\ DATE FILMED: ^ - g FILMED BY:.TLE3e^iZ^Ji TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO: ( 3X IB IIB , 3_ INITIALS_!:::^i2C^ BMiLiCjQXXCiy.^ ^^ c Association for inffonnation and imago Hanagomont 1100 Wayne Avenue. Suite 1100 Silver Spring. Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 V .?, / 6> Centimeter 12 3 4 5 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiliiiiliiiil TTT Inches 1 ffrt 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 mm iiil | iiil|iiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliii[liii|l iii|li|id^ 3 4 5 y ID 1.0 [^> Ui I.I ! 140 2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 v <9 / > -^y ^ MRNUFPCTURED TO PIIM STONDRRDS BY PPPLIED IMRGE, INC. Carrow Abbey / -^ >■*^r^|l'^^ \ i I \ iccel\€lv€^^ C4n\il>i^. w%.. n.im lif , HSh ixAl^r U. \%%k i^ ' ^r*«>ic f iiV»rw3C—3m-Tr _"*»>•*•• i. (( ' 4> • ^- **>tv>r 'it sr ~\ ^^^ t i V\ / \ ' ■--■> / ( V^ /I 5\ /' ^\\ '« f> w V n ;'j> '^j> u^ / ■^fe-!"Ki ^^ \ VI i > 1 i^MM ti^c-cA^-eM F. »^. %i» W" i % >' a v^ f : NOTES ON Carrow Priory, fe COMMONLY CALLED Carrow Abbey. PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. ■ \ r i '-■•1 - Carrow Abbey. |rITING a century and a half ago, the great Norfolk historian Blomefield says, that the Priory Church of Carrow was so totally demolished that it was with difficulty he found its site. The estate upon which the Church and Priory stood adjoins the Works of Messrs. J. & J. Colman, who acquired it in 1878, for the purpose of using a portion for the enlargement of their business premises, and in 1 88 1 some workmen having accidentally uncovered part of the shaft of a Norman column, considerable interest was excited, and extensive excavations were made. These resulted in the foundations of the greater portion of the buildings being laid bare. The words Priory Church will be at once noticed. By a curious blunder, from very early times, Carrow Priory (for it was never anything more) has been called Carrow Abbey. Carrow was anciently a parish of itself, and had a Church dedicated to St. James the Apostle, before C arrow Abbey, Carrow A bbey. whose image a light burned during divine service, and at the west door of the church was an image of St. Christopher. It was served by parochial chaplains appointed by the prioress, who received all the profits and paid them for their service. It was still standing in 1556, for in that year Lady Anne, widow of Sir John Shelton, Knight, directed her body to be buried in it* In Blomefield's time there were no apparent ruins, but, he says, the site was still called the church- yard. Where it stood is now a mystery, but, perhaps, near the bottom of Carrow Hill. Just a word as to the etymology of " Carrow." The name has been spelt in every conceivable way. and its derivation disputed; but its present form seems to carry the true explanation with it. Car meant a marshy spot, and Iutju, a hill rising above it; and these two words taken together no doubt well expressed the ancient state of the place. It would seem that King Stephen, by charter, freely gave this meadow in which the Priory stands, and lands around it, to the nuns of a church or hospital dedicated to SL Mary and St. John, in Norwich (now lost sight off), and desired them to found a church upon it, and in 1 146 two of the nuns, Seyna and Lescelina, probably sisters, founded this Benedictine Priory, which consisted at first of a prioress and nine nuns, but had increased • Rye and Tillett's Account and Description, fol. 33. t Rye and Tillett, fol. 39. : at the time of the Dissolution to twelve. It was dedicated to the Virgin and St. John, while the Church was dedicated to St. Mary. In 1 199 King John granted the nuns a four-day fair, to be held on the eve and day of the Virgin's nativity and the two following days, by virtue of which they had the toll of all that came through the City. This occasioned disputes, till in 1289 Amabil de Ufford, the prioress, compromised the matter with the citizens. In 1244 William de Burgh, chaplain to Henry III., was consecrated Bishop of Llandaff here, as was also Walter de Suffield, Bishop of Norwich. In 1273 Pope Gregory the Tenth, says Blomefield, ** inhibited their receiving more nuns than their income would maintain, upon their representation that the EngUsh nobility, whom they could not resist, had obliged them to take so many sUters in, that they could not support them." The convent and parish and parts belonging to it in Trowsc Millgate and Bracondale were an exempt jurisdiction belonging to the prioress, and in 1327 Nicholas de Cnapton, her chaplain and official of her jurisdiction, proved wills and exercised all spiritual authority whatsoever in it. In 1385 the Norwich saddlers and spurriers instituted their guild here. Edith Wilton, prioress in I39S» was prosecuted by the Prior of Norwich and Brother Thomas Roughton. Carrow Abbey, monk there, for harbouring in sanctuary the murderers of William Koc, of Trowse, at the appeal of Margaret his wife, and was committed to gaol, tried, and acquitted. In this connection it may be remarked that the nuns had, amongst their other privileges^ a common gallows standing near their windmill, which was situated on the hill by Ber Street Gates. Later on the nunnery became, it seems, quite an educational establishment for the daughters of the neighbouring gentry, and it is, possibly, to one of these young ladies, a Miss Jane Scrope, that John Skelton, the poet laureate to Henry VIII., and rector of Diss, who died in 1529, refers in his " Litle Boke of Phyllyp Sparow." This young lady is supposed, in the poem, to lament the untimely fate of her pet sparrow, killed by Gilbert, or rather " Gib," the Priory cat Miss Scope excommunicates the cat — '* That vengeaunce I aske and cry By way of exdamacion. On al the whole nacion Of Cattes wilde and tame God send them sorow and shame ; That Cat specially That slew so cruelly My litle prety Sparow That I brought vp at Carow." • U11530 Elizabeth Yaxley left "a clothe of tappestry wofke, scored wt the Nativite, Resureccon, and Epiphany, to hai^ in tfaeyr Church at solempne feestes, to • Skdton's Worio^ ed. 1736^ fol. 223. Carrow Abbey, remember myn husbandes soule and myn." She also gave to the prioress a " gylte spone and my clothe of the iij Kynges of Coleyn." * The names of twenty-two prioresses are recorded, the last being Cecily Stafford, who had a pension of £^ per annum assigned to her at the Dissolution. The Priory was endowed, according to Dugdale, with revenues to the amount of £%^ i6s. 4jd. per annum, and according to Speed to the amount of £%At 12s. ijd. ; but Blomefield remarks that these sums did not exceed the third part of the real value of its revenues. Amongst the other possessions of the Priory were the advowsons of the following Norwich Churches — besides the parish church of St James at Carrow: — All Saints, St. Catherine, St. Julian, and St Edward, as likewise that of Earlham, etc. In 1539 the site was granted to Sir John Shelton, who made it his residence. From the Sheltons it passed to Charles Cornwallis, through his marriage with Anne, widow of Sir Ralph Shelton. It was afterwards the property, successively, of Sir Humphrey May, Judith May, widow, Nathaniel Axtell, Robert Moreton, John Drinkwater, Dr. Martineau, Miss Martineau, and now belongs, as already stated, to Messrs. J. & J. Colman. In 1727 Francis Quarles, brewer, advertises that he is going to live at " Carew- Abbey," and sell "nogg"t there. Lately the Abbey was the residence of J. H. Tillett, Esq. • Rye and Tillett, foL 12. f A kind of strong ale. ■>^ » -"•B^ Carrow Abbey. boundaiy walls of the Priory are still to a large standing, and, according to Blomefield, contained within them about ten acres. The noble church was cruciform, and consisted of a UX9C loi feet long and 24 feet 3 inches wide ; north and south aisles of similar length, 1 1 feet wide ; a central tower, 32 feet square on the outside ; choir and chancel, 62 feet 6 inches by 23 feet wide ; a south chapel, dedicated to St. John the Baptist ; a north chapel, dedicated to St Catherine ; and north and south transepts, extending 42 feet beyood the tower, and 23 feet wide.* These are Mr. Phipson's measurements, but his views on the extent of the nave westwards are different to those of Mr. Loftos Brock. The construction of the church was evidently com- meooed at the east end, and continued from time to time fintiier west The chancel is entirely Norman. The cast wall is cxtemallydividedinto three bays by stone piers, with columns at their angles, the bays themselves being flint-faced. A plinth can also be traced nearly all round the exterior, and a portion of one with the same divisional profcctioas is visible in the interior, so no doubt there were here three windows. The chancel was approached from the choir by steps, which may still be seen. In 1531 William Aslak, Esq., was buried between the h^ altar and the im^e of Our Lady of Pity.f The dioir (on the south side of which may be seen a • Mr. FkipKMi*s Not««, fcL 4. t Blomefield, toI. 4, foL 526. Carrow Abbey. brick vault) opened on the north side into the chapel of St Catherine. [Robert, son of John de Stanford, gave eight acres by this church, and six shillings in rents in Norwich, to find a lamp burning for ever at St Catherine's altar, in her chapel in the monastery church, by his mother's grave.*] The floor here consists of yellow and red glazed tiles. A wall a little north, and another a little east of this chapel, have wells formed in them, and are puzzling. Two more wells were found to the north of the church. On the south side the choir opened into St John the Baptist's chapel. [Here John Dowes requested he might be buried, in I439-+] This chapel is also Norman and arcaded, but underwent some considerable alteration when the altar was erected, the base of which still stands, hiding some of the original work, and the floor level was partially raised. Four massive piers, the base of one of which remains, supported the central tower ; and the base of the rood-loft was met with between the two western piers, while the space between the piers on the south side seems to contain foundations for stalls. The foundations of the north transept are not now to be traced ; but the south transept is also part of the Norman building, as evidenced by much of the work, some of which, however, is Early English. The floor consisted of large red tiles. A small portion of the • Blomefield, vol. 4. fol. 526. t Rye and Tillett, foL 12. Carrow Abbey. Carrow Abbey. , of Ais transept seems to have afterwards ««^ putitioiied off. for some reason or other, by a wall i. miiidi are two doorways. Mr. Loftus Brock thinks space was obtained for a descending flight of steps iTOtn the dormitory into the church, upon ^K rebuilding of the former. Tl« Eariy English sacristy opens into this transept «a Ike ca^ side, and when it ^^as first exposed there m«s red and blue cokniring to be seen on its walls. The cross cast wall connecting the sacristy wth St. John's d thus forming a small compartment between a later addition, and Mr. Phipson thinks, may a treasuiy or closet The flooring of the ^^^^^^ ^ seems to have consisted of glazed black and y^Bkm tiVHL Tlic nave is Eariy English, vide the beauti- M wiiii fi^ pier; but as to its extent west\vards, is _ walls here have given rise to various ^ , and Mr. Loftus Brock suggests that a teciitoo my have stood beb^een the two mural bones cf cortcntion. The south doorway here is blocked, and IJbeR are traces of arcading. more or less perfect, along the vr^ wan. The north aisle is almost altogether Oi*r piece of a pattern tile was found : it was relicC of a reddish-brown colour, and glazed. of colour on many of the numerous found. In one of the wells were found a pw of spurs and a large quern. Whether the roof t i of the church had stone groining or not is a matter of conjecture. In 1392 William de Eton left ;^io towards covering the nuns' church at Carrow.* The chapel of St John the Evangelist, on the south side of the church of St Mary at Carrow, is mentioned in HS^t The church is separated from the chapter-house by a narrow passage, called the slype, which has doors entering the south transept, the graveyard and the cloisters, but not the chapter-house itself. There was a circular staircase in the south-east corner. Several graves are to be seen in the graveyard, one having a Purbeck marble slab, with a floriated cross in relief. Outside the south chancel wall a stone coffin was dis- covered containing the skeleton of a young female. It had evidently been previously disturbed, for the coffin-lid was gone. Other skeletons have been dug up on the north side of the church. The chapter-house was entered from the cloister on the west Traces remain of a wall-seat here, and there were indications of a raised floor-level to form a dais at the eastern part It is 22 feet wide by about 42 feet long. The flooring here was of red tiles. South of the chapter-house is the day-room of the convent, at the north-east corner of which can be seen the foundations of steps. At the back of these steps is a passage, and the remains of latrina. This day- room had doubtless a groined roof, many groining stones • Rye and Tillett, fol. 11. t Ibid foL 12. \ \ CofTow Abb^. C arrow Abbey. II found h<3«. Along the centre of the room columns ; a portion of one of these still exists, this in fact the \xxy shaft the discovery of which first led to tlK excavations being made. Several indications «f QpcMngs for windows and doors are to be found in titts room, \rhich is 95 feet loi^ by about 23 feet wide. TV infirmary was probably situated somewhere to iIk south-east of the day-room, but this has not been excavated. The refectory, kitchen, and other offices were doubtless situated on the south side of the cloister, but are cntirdy demolished. Fragments of walls have howe\^cr been found from time to time in this direction. la 1452 Robert Blyklyng of Norwich left a legacy of twenty marks towards building the ftfw dormitory, whidi, Blomcficld says, was finished by contribution about 146a This dormitory was probably situated over the day-room, as already indicated ; but in some priories tlie dormitories were placed on the western side of the doisters. in which direction, in all probability, at Carrow stood the original guest-hall, apartments of the prioress, etc, superseded by the building yet to be described. At the entrance into the south aisle of the church, at Ae noith-east angle of the cloister, is a holy-water stoup. An anchoress readed in the immediate vicinity of the Prior>% but the situation of the anchorage is doubtful. In 1428 Lady Julian Lampet was anchoress. The fine edifice standing on the west side of the cloister-garth (now a garden), and commonly called "The Abbey,*' after undergoing since the Dissolution many fearful and wonderful alterations, to suit the various tastes of successive occupiers, has just been carefully restored to something of its original condition, under the direction of Mr. E. Boardman of Norwich. It was doubtless erected in the time of Isabel Wygan, prioress in 15 14, and consists of the strangers' hall, with the parlour of the prioress on the left of it, over which is a chamber, approached by a newel-staircase. The fire-place of the parlour is original, and the mantel has in either spandrel an escutcheon, one being charged with the letter ^, and the other with a gun, the rebus of Isabel Wygan. The ceiling of this apartment has heavily moulded beams and ribs, and the doors have mouldings of the linen-pattern which pre- vailed so greatly during this period. The walls are covered with oak-panelling. The entrance to this room on the west has on the exterior the same rebus in the spandrels. The strangers' hall has a handsome open timber roof, with four whole and two half well moulded principal beams, and framed spandrels filled in with perforated cusped tracery. In each of the two southern- most spandrels is a rose ; the two next contain the Wygan rebus ; the next two have an eagle, the emblem of the Evangelist St. John ; the two next the letter # crowned, for the Virgin ; the next two have shamrocks ; and in the two northernmost, the roses are repeated. • •» '■A,- ts Carrow Abbey. Om the ipcst side is a large Perpendicular arch and piers, widi a rectangular bay window beyond. In Blomefield's tHBc tiK windows iR^ere filled with coats of arms, viz., Sbehoa (single), Ai. a cross or, and Shelton impaling all the foUowing coats : — Hakung. IixciGH. Enn. 2 chevs. sa. Meixeks. As. in a bordure per pale wavy gu. and ar. on a fess of the second betw. 3 crowns or as many mascles conjoined of the field. St. Philibert. At. 3 bendlets ax. Vacx- Cheeky ar. and gu. BcaTS. Enn. on a chief indented sa. 2 lions rampt. or. Geddtng. At. 3 mullets sa. UvcDALB. Ar. a cross moline gu. LowDHAM. Ar. 3 escutcheons sa. CocKFfEUx Ax. a cross cheeky ar. and gu. Stafixton. BxMtET. Ar. a fess betw. 3 mullets sa. Ufford. Brewse. CLsas. Maree. Party per pale erm. and ax. a lion rampt. counterchanged a border sa. bexant^. BOLETN. WoDERocsE OP Waxham. Quarterly erm. and ax. in the 2nd and 3rd quarters a leopard's face or qftg. Barrowe. MORIET. Carrow Abbey. 13 5- 6. 7- a. 9- , II. «3- «7- i& »^ There were also two escutcheons of Shelton with blank impalements. In the hall east window were — Shelton and Barrow, and Gu. on a cross engr. sa. 5 escallops. . . . In the west windows were — Bacon, Gu. a boar in fess or qtg. Butts. Calthorpe, Cheeky or and ax. a fess erm. and Drury, Ar. on a chief vert 2 mullets pierced or. Shelton and MoRLEY. Illeigh qtg. WoDEHOUSE of Waxham, and Reppes quartered. Gawdy with a crescent for difference imp. Bassingborne and his quarters. WicHiNGHAM, Erm. on a chief sa. 3 crosses pattte ar., Walcote, Philip Lord Bardolf, and FuRNEAUX, Sa. a pale loxengy ar. Cornwallis and his quarters, Sa. 3 bars gemel and a canton ar. Braham. Jernegan and his quarterings, Gu. a cross engr. ar., Gu. 3 bars gemel or and a canton ar. Ar. a bend betw. 6 crosses crosslet fitchy sa. Tyrrell with a crescent for distinction, . . . • a chev. betw. 3 martlets ar. Mortimer, Or sem^e-de-lis sa. Gonvile, Ar. on a chev. betw. 2 couple-closes indented sa. 3 escallops or. Keldon, Gu. a pale reversed erm. Erminois a lion rampt. ar. Jernegan repeated, etc. All these interesting coats have disappeared. The door by which the offices, etc, are entered has in the spandrels on the exterior the j/ repeated, but here it is ornamented, and the gun is a blunderbuss.* * See woodcut ( Cmwrow Abbey. la BkNBc6^d*s time there were the following arms "■laraoai by the gate-house": — BixxxuiBJisssTT, Gu. a chev. cim. betw. 3 dolphins luaant enbomvd ar., Lowdham, Keldon, Scales, , , « a fiess dancett^ gu. betw. • • • » and Ac. a Koa fampt. ar. crowned or. oa seal of the Priory was inscribed : — *" SigJ f ia Sancte Marie de Karowe.** ppress^** says Blomefield, **is the Virgin holding SavvMi; the prioress 00 her knees before her in her habit, with a label from her mouth, on which * Aw D : Hax: Over her head is a star and crescent, a haad p u iBti i^ at them iix>m a cloud ; the star Saviour s head denotes his Epiphany ; It over her, the increase of his Gospel" moo seal had the prioress kneeling Ike Vivgai aad €3irist, and was inscribed — * S' Piiuiiit et Conventvs de Raihowe.** TIk seal of the €wamfi tfirihiMi jurisdiction of the kad iIk Vofgia cnduooed, holding our Saviour in fee baad, aad a aoqitre ia the other, and — ** S* Fiiiaim S. Marie Ecce de Karhowe ad Causas.** Tlie private sed of the prioress had a crucifix, over the saa, okxmi, and stars darkened ; on one the p riore ss stood, her hands joined and lifted in the other the confessor of the house in Carrow Abbey. 15 The description of these seals is taken from Blome- field ; but in the possession of Mr. Fitch is the leaden matrix of another seal, much older and ruder, which was found among the dSris in St. Paul's Church, Norwich, in 1841, when that church was undergoing reparation. The Virgin is seated and crowned, and holds the Saviour and a sceptre. It is inscribed— •' 4- S* Sancte Marie ivxta Norwicv." ^ HUPBIP^II 1 m ^T|^^B HH In tm f f a Ki Q ^yWil ■ ' ^1 ' w )l ^ FLETCUEa AND SON, PRINTERS, NORWICH. '•< ._ u»-«ri.i ^ \ i =?? [ NT! ,». ^-v '.' ii \ f«;