8. PRIORY OF FELIXSTOWE
Roger Bigod, in the reign of William Rufus,
gave the church of St. Felix at Walton to the
monastery of St. Andrew, Rochester. Some
monks from that priory soon established a cell at
Walton, (fn. 1) to which the founder gave the manor
of Felixstowe, and the churches of Walton and
Felixstowe. (fn. 2)
There was a grant, c. 1170-80, to the monks
of St. Felix by Robert de Burneville, of his man
Eluric Pepin with his children, which was confirmed by William de Burneville. (fn. 3)
The taxation of 1291 shows that this priory
had then an income of £6 12s. 1½d. from lands
and rents in eight different parishes. (fn. 4)
In 1291 there was a commission from Thomas
the prior and the chapter of Rochester to John,
warden of the cell of St. Felix, Walton, and
others, as to the election of a bishop of
Rochester. (fn. 5)
A roll of 1499, when William Waterford
was warden of the cell of St. Felix, gives a full
account of the year's receipts and outlay. The
rents and court fees amounted to £10 16s. 10½d.,
and tithe portions from three parishes to 12s.
The sale of corn brought in £13 12s. 2d., and
the farming of pasture and mills and certain
other details brought the total receipts to
£33 9s. 10½d. Among the smaller payments
of the outgoings are 20d. to the friars of Ipswich towards building their church, 2d. for
cleaning the churchyard, and 6d. for oil for the
church lamp. The chief payments were for
repairs to the conventual and farm buildings and
mills, and for wages of the servants. Among the
gifts and rewards were 8d. at Christmas to a harpplayer, three bushels of wheat and three of barley
to the three orders of friars at Ipswich, one bushel
of each to the friars of Orford, and half a bushel
of wheat to the anchorite of Orford. There
were also various donations of corn to the lights,
&c., of the churches of Walton and Felixstowe.
The last entry under this head is the gift to
Thrum's wife of a bushel of both wheat and barley, inasmuch as her house was burnt, and her
husband and two children burnt by the fire. (fn. 6)
This priory was suppressed in 1538 towards
the founding of Cardinal's College, Ipswich,
under the bull of Clement VII. (fn. 7) On 29 August,
1528, Thomas duke of Norfolk wrote to
Wolsey, asking if 'the house of Fylstowe' of
his foundation is really going to be suppressed for
the college, and if in that case it would be left
in fee farm for him and his heirs. (fn. 8)
Eventually on 9 September in the 'priory of
Felixstowe alias Fylstowe', before Stephen Gardiner, LL.D., archdeacon of Worcester, and
Rowland Lee, canon of Lichfield, sitting as
judges, there was presented a commission of
Cardinal Wolsey, the effect of which Gardiner
declared to the prior and two other monks, by
which with the authority of the pope, and the
consent of the founder's kin, he proceeded to the
suppression of the monastery, applied the goods
both movable and immovable to the college at
Ipswich, and ordered the prior and his monks to
enter other monasteries of the same order. The
prior and monks being asked what monastery
they would choose, they begged time for consideration, which was allowed them till the
arrival of the legate at London. Thomas
Cromwell was one of the witnesses. (fn. 9)
The formal grant of the site of Felixstowe
priory, with its appurtenances, was made to
Wolsey on 30 December, 1528. On the
following day the cardinal's agent entered into
the barn of corn at Felixstowe, and met with no
resistance. (fn. 10) On 6 January, 1528-9, the Duke
of Norfolk made a formal grant of Felixstowe
to the cardinal. An unsigned memorandum
sent to Cromwell about that date of ' certain
utensils that I saw at Filstou,' mentions in the
hall, old hangings of little value, stained, of the
life of Job. The contents were very poor
according to this summary; for instance, in the
cellar, ' nothing'; in the chamber over the
parlour, a small bedstead, and a ' noghty lok';
'all the locks about the house been nought.' (fn. 11)
William Capon, the dean of Wolsey's Ipswich College, writing to the cardinal on 12 April,
1529, mentions a visit from the Duke of Norfolk, who was at first very rough with him as
he had been informed that the house at Felixstowe was spoiled, and lead and stone conveyed
away; but he was able to assure him that this
was not the case.
On the speedy ending of Ipswich College,
owing to the fall of Wolsey, the crown granted
this priory and its appurtenances to the Duke of
Norfolk.
Wardens or Priors of Felixstowe
Robert de Suthflete, prior of Rochester, 1352 (fn. 12)
John Hertley, prior of Rochester, 1361 (fn. 13)
Richard Pecham, 1496 (fn. 14)
William Waterford, occurs 1499