38. THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS OF DUNWICH
According to Weever, quoting from the
'painfull collections of William le Neve,' the
house of the Grey Friars of Dunwich was
founded 'first by Richard FitzJohn and Alice
his wife, and after by King Henry the third.' (fn. 1)
Its original site was changed and moved
further inland (where the ruins and precinct
walls still remain) by gift of the burgesses of the
town in 1289. An inquisition ad quod damnum
of that year returned that it would not be injurious to the king to allow the corporation of
Dunwich to grant these friars a plot of land for
their convent, containing about seven acres of
ground, situated between the king's highway on
the west and the house of Richard Kilbeck on
the north. (fn. 2) Accordingly a grant was made in
mortmain by the king in August, 1290, to the
Friars Minor of Dunwich of the king's dyke
adjoining a plot given to them by the commonalty of the town to build upon and inhabit,
with licence to enclose the same. (fn. 3)
Licence was granted to the Friars Minor of
Dunwich in 1328 to enclose and hold the vacant
plot there which they used to inhabit, and which
was taken into the king's hands when they removed to another place in the town, because it
would be indecent that a plot of land dedicated
for some time to divine worship, and where
Christian bodies were buried, should be converted to secular uses. (fn. 4)
Further precautions were taken for the preserving of the old site in the year 1415. (fn. 5)
The conventual church seems to have been
under repair or re-construction shortly before its
dissolution, for Katharine Read, by will of
16 June, 1514, left 3s. 4d. to Friar Nicholas
Wicet, or to those that shall rebuild the church
of the Friars Minor. (fn. 6)
The only record of the suppression of these
friars is the communication made to Cromwell
in 1538 by the suffragan Bishop of Dover, which
has already been cited under the Black Friars.
Within their church were interred the bodies
of Sir Robert Valence, Dame Ida of Ilketshall,
Sir Peter Mellis and Dame Anne his wife, Dame
Dunne his mother, John Francans and Margaret
his wife, Dame Bertha of Furnival . . . Austin
of Cales and Joan his wife, John Falleys and
Beatrice his wife, Augustine his son, Sir Hubert
Dernford, Katharine wife of William Phellip,
Margaret wife of Richard Phellip, Peter Codum,
and the heart of Dame Hawise-Ponyngs. (fn. 7)
The site of this convent was granted in 1545
to John Eyre, of the Augmentation Office, who
was so large a holder of monastic lands in the
eastern counties. (fn. 8)
Wardens (fn. 9) of the Franciscan Friars of Dunwich
John Lacey (predecessor of Bokenham)
Nicholas Bokenham, 1482
George Muse, 1505
The pointed oval fifteenth-century seal of this
convent bears St. John Baptist under a canopied
arch, with nimbus, clothed in a camel skin, its
head hanging at his feet; holding in the left
hand the Agnus Dei on a plaque, and pointing
to it with the right hand. By the side of the
Baptist is a kneeling friar, with scroll, S.: JOH:
ORA: P': ME: Legend:—
SIGILLU: GARDIANI: FRATRUM: MINOR:
DONEWYCY (fn. 10)
Gardner gives a reproduction of another remarkable seal of this friary, representing a ship
with large mainsail; at the bow is seated a
crowned king, and at the stern a mitred bishop
with crozier in left hand. Legend:—
SIGILLU': FR'M: MINOR: DONEWIC (fn. 11)