HOUSES OF AUSTIN CANONS
21. THE ABBEY OF CREAKE (fn. 1)
In a meadow of forty acres, on the right of
the road leading from North Creake to Burnham Market, a house of Austin Canons was
founded in 1206, in honour of the Blessed
Virgin, by Alice, widow of Sir Robert de Nerford, governor of Dover Castle. At an earlier
date, in the reign of Henry II, Sir Robert and
Alice, his wife, had founded here a hospital,
dedicated to the honour of St. Bartholomew, for
a master, four chaplains, and thirteen poor
brethren. The first master, William de Geyst,
a secular priest, soon after its establishment, with
the consent of Lady Alice (Sir Robert having
died), became an Austin Canon and changed the
foundation into a priory of that order, becoming
himself the first prior of St. Mary de Pratis by
Creake. Geoffrey, bishop of Ely, nephew of
the patroness, consecrated the chapel of the
priory in 1221. A bull of Gregory IX (1227-41),
ordained that the rule of St. Augustine was
to be observed by the canons, and confirmed them
in the possession of the great meadow round the
monastery, the vills of 'Receresthorp' and Ilveston,
in Lincoln diocese; various houses, lands, mills,
woods, and rents in Norwich diocese; a messuage in the city of London; and bestowed on
them several privileges and immunities.
In 1231, Lady Alice having granted the
patronage of the priory to the king, Henry III
confirmed all its privileges, and sanctioned the
priory being changed into an abbey. (fn. 2)
In 1239 Bishop William de Raleigh confirmed
to the abbey the patronage and appropriation of
the church of St. Margaret, Habeton, and a
moiety of that of All Saints, Wreningham,
which had been bestowed during the vacancy of
the see, and in 1247 Bishop Walter of Norwich
sanctioned the appropriation to the abbey of the
church of St. Martin of Quarles. In 1257 a
bull of Pope Alexander authorized the appropriation of the church of Gateley, which was already
in the abbey's gift. This appropriation was confirmed by the bishop of Norwich in 1259, and
a vicarage formally ordained.
A deed of confirmation of the various appropriations held by the abbey, executed by the
archbishop of Canterbury in 1281, which is
now amongst the Christ's College muniments,
has on the back an extent of all the abbey lands,
rents, and services. It is therein stated that
there were sixteen acres within the precinct
walls of the house.
In 1286 a jury returned that the abbot of
Creake held four fairs at the abbey, namely at the
Annunciation, the Translation of St. Thomas,
and the festivals of Saints Bartholomew and
Nicholas; these had been granted by Henry III
in 1227. (fn. 3)
The taxation returns ot 1291 gave the annual
value of the temporalities of the abbey in Norwich diocese as £39 6s. 0¼d., and in Lincoln
diocese as £20 11s. 1d.; and this exclusive of
the great tithes of their several appropriated
churches.
Richard Roulf, who had long served the king,
and was incapacitated by age, was sent to the
abbey of Creake in 1325 to receive the same
maintenance that had been assigned to Adam de
Waltham, deceased, at the request of the late
king. (fn. 4)
In 1331 the abbey received a grant from
James de North Creake, chaplain, and William
Quarles of a messuage and forty acres of land in
South Creake and North Creake, to maintain a
chaplain to celebrate daily mass in the abbey for
the faithful departed. (fn. 5) In the following year
William Quarles, in conjunction with Laurence
Hemming and Walter de Melford, granted the
abbey further lands for a daily mass for their
three souls. (fn. 6)
Land was also held by the abbey in Gedney,
Lincolnshire, by the service of finding a canon
to celebrate daily in the chapel of St. Thomas
the Martyr, on the site of a messuage formerly
belonging to Thomas Dory, and supporting
there five paupers, giving them daily a loaf of
fifty shillings' weight, broth, and beer, and a portion of either meat or fish, and a cloth tunic
every other year. This service Margaret, widow
of John de Roos, alleged in 1341, had been discontinued for two years or more by the abbot. (fn. 7)
The accounts for the year of Abbot Brandon's
death (1360) show that the deceased abbot's
copes were converted into money; his quire
cope (capa chore) realized 3s. 4d. The extant
accounts for different years of this century prove
that the revenues of this comparatively small
house varied from £130 to £140, of which
about £90 were derived from rents of lands and
houses, and the residue from the sale of corn
and stock from their own demesnes, from the
four quarterly fairs, and from occasional legacies
and gifts. The accounts very rarely denote
anything that could be termed luxurious living.
One shilling was spent on wine and threepence
on apples in 1360, but even this was on the
occasion of the abbot's funeral, and was probably for guests. Occasionally they accepted presents in kind, but there always seems to have
been some return. In 1345-6 twopence and a
pair of gloves were given to one bringing capons
and mallards to the convent from Congham, and
two knives, value 1½d., were given to two girls
who brought apples to the abbot.
A sad disaster occurred at the beginning of
the year 1378, when a great part of the monastery was 'petuously burnt.' It was beyond the
power of the convent to re-edify, and there was
danger of the house failing into extreme desolation, and of divine service being withdrawn, or
much diminished, unless charitable remedy for
their relief could be devised. The abbot appealed to the king as patron of the house, and
Richard II, by letters dated 20 February,
'moved with pite,' gave the abbey by way of
alms towards the rebuilding the handsome sum
of £40 13s. 4d., to be paid out of the revenues
of the lordship of Fakenham, one half at Easter
and the remainder at Michaelmas. (fn. 8)
Robert Walsingham was appointed in 1491,
and whilst he was abbot extensive rebuildings
of the quire and presbytery of the conventual
church were in progress or contemplation. Sir
William Calthorp, of Burnham Thorpe, many of
whose ancestors were buried in a chapel of the
conventual church, by will dated 31 May,
1495, left £74 towards the building of the
quire and presbytery and general repairs of
Creake Abbey.
Giles Shevington, the last abbot of the house,
occurs in 1503. He is mentioned in that year
in the will of Walter Aslake, who gave to the
convent all the lands in Holm and Ringstead
that he purchased of Sir Roger Strange, on condition of his obit being duly observed. Walter
also left 5s. to each canon, and to the abbey a
complete vestment of white damask, and willed
that—
the north side of the quire in the said abbey be made
with tymber workmanship and nayles of my goods,
and mete and drink, and sand and lime, at the cost of
the abbot and convent.
Not long after this date 'an infectious or
epidemical disease' carried off the several canons
of this small house, Abbot Giles being the last
survivor. (fn. 9) The abbot himself died on 12 December, 1506; there was no convent left to elect a
successor. The house was, therefore, ipso facto
dissolved, and reverted to the crown. Through
the intervention of the king's mother, the Lady
Margaret, countess of Richmond, the lands and
revenues of the abbey were settled upon Christ's
College, Cambridge, which was of her foundation.
Priors Of Creake
William le Geyst, (fn. 10)
temp. Hen. II
Robert, occurs 1228
Abbots
Robert, (fn. 11) occurs 1230
Angerius, (fn. 12) occurs 1237
William, (fn. 13) occurs 1246
Godfrey, (fn. 14) elected 1262; resigned 1281 (fn. 15)
John Chevre, (fn. 16) elected 1281
Thomas Sutherck, (fn. 17) elected 1303
John de Harpole, (fn. 18) elected 1334
Robert de Dokking, (fn. 19) elected 1352
Thomas de Redham, (fn. 20) elected 1353
Thomas de Brandon, (fn. 21) elected 1357
John de Asshe, (fn. 22) elected 1360
John de Wighton, (fn. 23) elected 1393
Robert Felbrigg, (fn. 24) elected 1413
Thomas Crakyshyld, (fn. 25) died 1439
John Stanhow, (fn. 26) elected 1439
William Raume, (fn. 27)
alias Wyssyngset, elected
1465
John Churche, (fn. 28) elected 1466
John Debenham, (fn. 29) elected 1473
John Elvysh, (fn. 30) elected 1475
Robert Walsingham, (fn. 31) elected 1491
Giles Shevington, (fn. 32) occurs 1503, last abbot,
died 1506 (fn. 33)