13. THE PRIORY OF CARROW (fn. 1)
The Benedictine priory of Carrow was originally founded for a prioress and nine nuns, the
number being afterwards increased to twelve.
There is some confusion as to its first foundation. King Stephen granted his lands in the
fields of Norwich to God and the church of St.
Mary and St. John of Norwich, and the nuns
serving there, directing that the mans should
found their church on the land named in this
charter. Thereupon two nuns who were sisters,
by name Seyna and Lescelina, began building the
priory in 1146, and it was dedicated to the
honour of St. Mary of Carhowe. From this
it would appear that the priory of Carrow was
an offshoot of an older Benedictine nunnery in
Norwich, conjointly dedicated to the honour of
the Blessed Virgin and St. John.
King John in 1199 granted the nuns a four
days' fair, to be held on the vigil, the day and
the two following days of the Nativity of the
Blessed Virgin; it was re-granted in an amended
form in 1205. (fn. 2)
Agnes de Monte Ganisio was prioress in 1221,
and as late as 1237, and during her rule, Henry
III granted a confirmation charter. It was
also in her time that the priory obtained from
Margaret de Cheyney the valuable estate of the
manor of Wroxham together with the advowson
of the churches of Wroxham. (fn. 3)
The hundred rolls of the beginning of Edward I's reign have various references to this
priory. (fn. 4) The most interesting statement is that
of the jury of the hundred of Clakelose, who
stated that William de Warenne gave a messuage
and 40 acres of land at Stow Bardolph to the
priory of Carrow at the time that his sister Muriel
became a nun of that house. Reginald de
Warenne and Alice his wife had previously
given to the nuns the advowson of the church of
Stow, a gift which was confirmed by William.
Numerous small benefactions continued to be
made to the priory by some of the more important county families, who doubtless, like William
de Warenne had relatives who were nuns there,
or girls who received their education within the
walls. (fn. 5) The taxation roll of 1291 gives its
annual value at £69 2s. 1d., gathered from possessions in no fewer than seventy-five Norfolk
parishes, and from two in Suffolk.
A return made to the crown in 1416, of the
appropriated churches of the diocese, names the
following which pertained to the priory of Carrow,
with the dates of their appropriation:—East
Winch (1261), Stow Bardolph (1262), Wroxham
(1280), Surlingham (1339), Sulham (1349), and
Swardeston (1361). (fn. 6)
The Valor of 1535 gave the clear annual
value of the priory as £64 16s. 6¼d.
Of the early history of this priory there is
little to record.
On 19 February, 1245, Walter Suffield was
consecrated bishop of Norwich, and William de
Burgh, bishop of Llandaff in the conventual
church of Carrow. (fn. 7)
There is a notice of some trouble in 1250
with a neighbour, one Robert de Stamford, who
held 8 acres near the priory and presumed to
plough up and sow a strip of land between his
field and the church which was used by the nuns
for processions on festivals, (fn. 8) and in 1280 Archbishop Peckham ordered the deans of Norwich
diocese to assist the nuns of Carrow to recover
various rents detained by certain persons, and if
necessary to excommunicate the offenders. (fn. 9) The
most exciting event recorded, however, was the
attack upon the priory on 18 June, 1381, when
the rebellious peasantry, under Adam Smith and
Henry Stanford of Wroxham, forced the prioress,
to surrender her court rolls to be burnt. (fn. 10)
The convent and parish of Carrow, and parts
belonging to it in Trowse Millgate and Bracondale, were an exempt jurisdiction; in 1327
Nicholas de Knapton, chaplain to the prioress,
and the official of her jurisdiction proved wills
and exercised the usual spiritual authority.
An indulgence of four years and four quatornes
was granted by Boniface IX in 1391, to penitents who, on the feasts of the Blessed Virgin,
visit and give alms for the consecration of the
conventual church of Carrow. (fn. 11)
Edith Wilton, who was prioress from 1395 to
1430, was attached in 1416 on a charge of
harbouring in sanctuary the murderers of one
William Koc, of Trowse, at the appeal of
Margaret his widow, who charged the prioress
and one of her nuns named Agnes Gerbald with
the crime. The prioress was arrested and imprisoned and called to answer at Westminster in
Michaelmas term by Henry V. After many
adjournments of the court, she was eventually
acquitted. (fn. 12)
Prioress Mary Pygot (1444-72) attended the
sumptuous funeral of John Paston, at Bromholm, in 1466. The prioress received 6s. 8d.
and the maid that came with her 20d. (fn. 13) There
was also given to the anchoress of Carrow 40d.
This anchoress was a woman of great celebrity,
whose religious 'revelations' have been several
times published. Though never canonized, she
was usually known as Saint Juliana of Norwich.
She was termed indifferently the anchoress of
Carrow and the anchoress of St. Julian, because
her ankerhold was in the churchyard of St. Julian-,
Norwich, a church appropriated to the priory.
Very possibly she had been a nun of Carrow in
her youth. It must not be supposed that the
anchoress attended the Paston funeral, for it was
the very essence of the life of these recluses to
live and end their days in a single chamber.
Moreover Juliana must have been nearly a hundred years old at the date of this funeral. Donations to Juliana, the anchoress of Carrow, occur
several times in wills of this period, coupled with
a request for her prayers for the soul of the donor.
Money received by anchorites was usually spent
in alms to the poor. (fn. 14) Other anchoresses, termed
'of Carrow,' seem to have used her cell after
her death.
Bishop Goldwell personally visited Carrow on
10 October, 1492. He was met by the prioress
and nuns in solemn procession, and with the
banner of the holy cross borne before him, amid
the ringing of the bells, proceeded to the altar
and gave the episcopal benediction. Thence the
bishop went at once to the chapter-house, accompanied by Nicholas Goldwell, archdeacon of
Norwich, Thomas Wotton, bachelor of laws,
and John Aphowell, the notary, when the prioress
and twelve nuns were severally and separately
examined. Katharine Segryme was prioress, and
Cecilia Ryall sub-prioress. The respective statements are not given', but the report shows that
there was nothing serious amiss. The prioress
was too partial, and there was not a sufficiency of
bread. (fn. 15)
Bishop Nicke personally visited the priory on
25 August, 1514. Isabel Wigan, the prioress,
who had been elected that year, and seven of the
nuns contented themselves with omnia bene.
Anne Martin sub-prioress said that Margaret
Kidman, one of the nuns, was not gentle in her
behaviour, and Joan Grene thought that the food
was sometimes insufficient. (fn. 16)
On 14 June, 1526, the bishop held another
visitation. Prioress Isabel reported favourably
and denied that the house, was in debt. The
aged sub-prioress Anne Martin, who had been
sixty years in religion, knew of nothing worthy
of reformation, but not unnaturally thought that
the sisters read and sang in the offices quicker
than was seemly and without due pause; she also
complained of the weakness of the beer. Margaret Steward, who had been a nun for thirtyeight years, also complained that there was not
sufficient pause in the offices, and that breach of
silence was not punished. Katharine Jerves,
chantress, who had also been professed for thirtyeight years, reported favourably of everything save
the weakness of the beer. Agnes Warner also
complained of rapidity and lack of pause in the
offices. Agnes Swanton, sacrist, professed for
twenty-one years, stated that they had no clock.
Anne London and Cecilia Suffield had no complaints. Joan Botulph said that the festivals of
the Name of Jesus and of St. Edward were not
observed; that the obedientiaries were held liable
for breakages of the pots and pans; and that at
Christmas there was a game of the assumption of
the functions of an abbess by one of the younger
nuns, the expenses of which were defrayed by
friends. The result was that the bishop enjoined
on the prioress to provide a clock by Michaelmas;
to celebrate the divine service with greater reverence and due pauses; to replace broken vessels
at the general expense; to abandon the girl-abbess
play; to impose penalties for breach of silence;
and to observe the feasts of the Name of Jesus and
of St. Edward as in other parts of the diocese. (fn. 17)
Six years later, namely on 10 June, 1532,
another visitation of Carrow Nunnery, destined to
be the last, took place, and all the aged ladies
were still in their peaceful cloisters. The prioress
simply made a good report, in which she was
joined by Agnes Swanton the sacrist. Anne
Martin was evidently too old to continue to act
as sub-prioress, and was then in charge of the
farmery. Margaret Steward, as sub-prioress,
complained that some of her younger sisters persisted in wearing silk waistbands, and were addicted to gossip. Katharine Jerves and Anne
Langdon referred to the absence of gates between
the quire and nave. Joan Botulph complained
that the festival of relics was not duly observed;
that the nuns did not have their faces veiled
when they left the convent; that they had no
annual pension; that laity could enter the quire
through the absence of gates or doors; that the
priest saying vespers could scarcely be heard by
the sisters in quire, through lack of a desk for his
book. Cecilia Suthefield's one complaint was as
to there being no regular pension. Matilda
Gravell said that the rule of one of the nuns
waiting on the others at table in the fratry was
not observed, and that they did not keep the
octave of St. Benedict.
Thereupon the visitor enjoined that the younger
nuns, who were not office-holders, should sit together in the afternoon in a room assigned them
by the prioress according to past custom; that the
sub-prioress should not permit the absence, or call
from quire any of the nuns during compline save
once a week; that after the feast of St. Peter ad
Vincula, no laity should enter through the west
door of the quire; that the feast of relics should
be duly observed as elsewhere as a double, on
the Sunday after the Translation of St. Thomas;
and that the prioress, according to ancient custom,
should see that one of the nuns served her sisters
in the fratry. (fn. 18)
In the Litle Boke of Phyllyp Sparow, by John
Skelton, rector of Diss and poet laureate to
Henry VIII, reference is made to Jane Scrope,
who was probably one of the young ladies brought
up in Carrow Priory. In the poem Jane laments
the untimely fate of her pet sparrow, killed by
Gilbert or Gib, the priory cat. Jane in her
wrath thus excommunicates pussy:—
That vengeaunce I aske and cry
By way of exclamation,
On al the whole nacion
Of cattes wilde and tame
God send them sorrow and shame;
That Cat specially
That slew so cruelly
My litle prety Sparow
That I brought up at Carow. (fn. 19)
The county Suppression Commissioners reported
that they found eight religious persons in the
priory ' of very good name by report of the
country, four of whom desired dispensations and
four preferred to continue in religion.' There
were seventeen other persons who had their living
at the house, two being priests, seven hinds for
the husbandry, and eight women servants. The
house was in very good repair; the bells and
lead worth £145, and the movable goods
£40 16s. 11d.
The site and revenues were granted in 1538
to Sir John Shelton. (fn. 20)
Prioress Suffield obtained a pension of £8,
which she was still enjoying in 1553.
Prioresses Of Carrow
Maud le Strange, (fn. 21) occurs 1196
Agnes de Monte Gavisio, (fn. 22) occurs 1224
Magdalen, (fn. 23) occurs 1264
Petronel, (fn. 24) died 1289
Amabel de Ufford, (fn. 25) died 1290
Katherine de Wendling, (fn. 26) elected 1290
Beatrice de Hulm, (fn. 27) elected 1310
Agnes de Carleton, (fn. 28) elected 1324
Agnes de Lenn, (fn. 29) elected 1328.
Cicely de Plumstede, (fn. 30) elected 1341
Alice de Hedersete, (fn. 31) elected 1349
Margery Cat, (fn. 32) elected 1365
Margery Engys, (fn. 33) elected 1369
Edith Wilton, (fn. 34) elected 1395
Alice Waryn, (fn. 35) elected 1430
Mary Pygot, (fn. 36) elected 1444
Joan Spalding, (fn. 37) elected 1472
Margaret Palmer, (fn. 38) occurs 1485
Katherine Segryme, (fn. 39) elected 1491
Isabel Wygan, (fn. 40) elected 1503
Cecily Stafford alias Suffield, (fn. 41) last prioress, 1535
The first twelfth-century seal (35/8 by 15/8 in.)
represents the crowned Virgin in profile seated
with Holy Child on left knee, and fleur-de-lis in
right hand. Legend:—
S' SANCTE MARIE IUXTA NORWICŪ (fn. 42)
The second seal, thirteenth-century (2½ by
15/8 in.) also bears the seated Virgin with Holy Child;
but on the left is the prioress kneeling in adoration, holding a scroll bearing the words Mater
D'Mem. Over the scroll is a crescent and a star.
Over the Virgin's head a hand of blessing.
Legend:—
✠ SIGILLUM SANCTE MARIE DE KAROWE (fn. 43)