HOUSE OF CISTERCIAN NUNS
20. THE ABBEY OF MARHAM
This abbey of Cistercian nuns was founded
by Isabel, widow of Hugh de Albini, earl of
Arundel. It was dedicated to the honour of the
Blessed Virgin, St. Barbara, and St. Edmund, on
27 January, 1249, by Richard, bishop of
Chichester. The original endowment was the
lands of the foundress at Marham, together with
the manor and all its services; they were granted
for the good of the souls of William Earl
Warenne and Surrey her father, of Maud her
mother, daughter of William Marshall, earl of
Pembroke, of Hugh her husband, and of all her
ancestors and successors.
On St. Bartholomew's Day, 1252, this nunnery,
with, the sanction of the pope and the bishop of
Norwich, was formally incorporated into the
abbey of Waverley, the first and mother-house
of the Cistercian order in England; the nunnery
making an offering to Waverley of four marks
and a cask of wine. (fn. 1) On 3 September of the
same year the gifts of the foundress were confirmed by Henry III, and they received further
confirmation at the hands of Isabel's brother,
John, Earl Warenne. (fn. 2) Walter, bishop of Norwich,
in 1251, with the consent of the prior and convent of West Acre, and of Nicholas, vicar of the
churches of the Holy Trinity and St. Andrew in
Marham, licensed this house to have free sepulture in their own church by their own priests,
and right to say mass and perform divine service
there, on condition that none of the parishioners
of the two churches were admitted to any sacrament or were buried in the conventual church.
There was also a special reservation of the rights
of the parochial churches in case of strangers
desiring burial in the abbey church. The prior
and convent of West Acre were rectors of the
two parish churches.
The advowson of the church of Carleton St.
Peter was given to the convent by the foundress,
with an acre of land there; the rectory was
appropriated and a vicarage ordained in 1274.
A papal mandate was granted in May, 1290,
on the petition of Queen Eleanor, to the abbot
(bishop) of Norwich to appropriate to the prioress
and convent of Marham the church of Stow
Bedon, with the consent of the bishop and
dean and chapter. (fn. 3) In March, 1291, a further
mandate was received by the abbot to at once
proceed in this appropriation, notwithstanding
that in former letters the word ' prioress' had
been written in error for that of ' abbess ' and
' dean and chapter' for ' prior and chapter' in '
the clause requiring their consent to the said
appropriation. (fn. 4)
In consequence of the smallness of its endowments, the abbey was excused payment of tenths
at the time of the taxation of 1291.
In November, 1302, licence was granted for
the alienation in mortmain by John de Warenne,
earl of Surrey, to the abbess and nuns of Marham,
of the advowson of the church of Dudlington, (fn. 5)
and the abbess and convent obtained leave in
1327 to appropriate the church of Hackford,
which was already in their patronage through
the gift of Sir Andrew Hengham. The church
was valued at £4 6s. 8d. (fn. 6) The advowson of
the church of Rockland St. Peter was confirmed
to the abbey in 1346 by Sir Constantine Mortimer,
and leave obtained by the bishop for its appropriation three years later. In the following year
they also received the appropriation of the church
of Rockland All Saints. (fn. 7)
In 1385 the abbess and nuns received grants
from Richard Holdyche and John Clenchewarton of the manor of ' Beleter,' in Marham,
and of 160 acres of land, forty of meadow, and
10s. in rent, of the yearly value of ten marks. (fn. 8)
The Valor of 1535 returned the gross annual
value of this small abbey as £42 4s. 7¾d. and
the clear value £39 0s. 1¾d.
A papal indult was granted in 1354 to Egidia
Howard, nun of St. Mary's, Marham, to choose
a confessor who should give her, being penitent,
plenary remission at the hour of death. (fn. 9)
The chartulary contains a mortuary list from
1401 to 1453, with sixteen names of lay persons
who died in their house or within its jurisdiction,
and who were probably buried there. The
mortuaries were chiefly gowns or mantles; thus
Sir Ralph Hersent, a gown of violet colour;
Isabel Cooper, a gown of cloth of gold; John
Dolman, his best russet gown; Cecil Narburgh,
a gown of blood colour furred with minever;
Matilda de Marham, a mantle furred with white;
Lady Eleanor, relict of Sir William Ingoldesthorpe, a mantle furred with grey. But the
mortuary of Thomas Rynstede was a sorrel horse
and that of Sir John Champeney, a priest who
had a chamber in the abbey precincts, a book,
which was sold for eight marks.
The abbess of Marham had the privilege of
proving the wills of those who died within the
precincts or jurisdiction of the house. In 1401
there was a dispute as to this privilege, but it
was confirmed to them by the bishop of
Norwich.
A return made to the crown of the appropriated churches of the diocese in 1416, names
the churches of Carleton St. Mary, Doddington,
Hackford, Marham, Rockland, and Stow Bedon
as appropriated to Marham Abbey. (fn. 10)
The scandalous comperta of Legh and Ap Rice,
drawn up in 1536, allege that the Abbess Barbara
Mason and four of her nuns had confessed to
grave incontinency. There seems to have been
some foundation for these charges in this particular case, for when the county commissioners
visited Marham later in the same year they reported that there were ' Religious persons of
slaunderous Reporte whereof iij of them doue
require ther Dispensacions, and the residue wyll
contynue in Religione.' They further reported
that there were twelve other persons having their
living there, namely one priest, three women
servants, and seven hinds; that the lead and the
bells were worth £4 4s.; that the house was
' in sore decaye'; that the goods were worth
£32 13s. 6d.; and that 110s. were owing to the
convent.
An inventory was taken of this house on
6 August, 1535. It is difficult to understand
why church ornaments should have found their
way to the dormitory; their presence there
points to much disorder. In the church there
were two altar cloths and another hanging, a
ferial vestment, a mass book and six other books,
a latten censer, a sacring bell, and five small
standards (candlesticks) of latten. In the dormitory, a cross plated with silver-gilt, a cope of green
satin of Bruges, various old altar cloths and vestments and hangings, two candlesticks of coppergilt, a silver-gilt chalice, 'a rounde bezall garnyshed with iiij fete of sylver and guylt,' and
another bezall similarly garnished. (fn. 11)
The goods and chattels of this house were sold,
according to the county commissioners' certificate of 16 February, 1537, for £26 19s. 8d.,
save the plate in Richard Southwell's custody,
which was valued at 61s. 8d.
A lease of the site of the abbey and its demesne
lands was granted in 1537 to Thomas Bukworth,
serjeant-at-arms. (fn. 12) On 3 July, 1546, this property was granted to Sir Nicholas Hare and
John Hare, citizens of London.
Abbesses Of Marham (fn. 13)
Mary, the first abbess
Mary, (fn. 14) occurs 1305
Sarah, (fn. 15) occurs 1310
Agatha Howard
Mary de Ingham, (fn. 16) elected 1365
Egidia Howard, occurs 1380
Eleanor Weyland, occurs 1384, 1419
Margery, occurs 1435
Joan Narburgh, occurs 1453, 1467
Joan Heigham, occurs 1486, 1501
Barbara Mason, occurs 1511-35