60. THE DOMINICAN FRIARS OF THETFORD
The Friar Preachers were not established at
Thetford until the year 1335, an unusually late
date for the founding of a house of any of the
mendicant orders. The church of St. Marythe-Great of Thetford, on the Suffolk side of the
town, which was for a time the cathedral church
of East Anglia, had remained desolate, with its
unfinished Cluniac cloister, for two centuries,
when Henry earl of Lancaster gave the site of
the church and convent to the Dominicans.
The king confirmed this grant to the friars on
20 July, 1335. (fn. 1) Three years later the Earl of
Surrey gave them a plot of land 300 ft. by 30 ft.
to enlarge their homestead. (fn. 2) In 1347 Henry
earl of Lancaster, the son of the founder, granted
the site of the Domus Dei, which stood between
their cloister and the High Street, which they
were to maintain, and hence this friars' house was
often termed the priory of the Maison-Dieu or
God's House, or else the priory of the Old
House. (fn. 3)
By an exceptional arrangement the priors of
the Thetford Dominicans were always nominated
by the lords of Thetford; in 1359 the advowson
was definitely settled by fine thus to pass with
the domain. (fn. 4)
A plot of land 300 ft. by 16 ft. was given to
the friars by Thomas Franceys for the further
extension of their premises, and on his death in
1369 they were called to account for having
occupied it without licence; however, the royal
pardon for this irregularity was soon forthcoming. (fn. 5)
A fire in this house, in the year 1410,
destroyed the original deed of grant of Henry
earl of Lancaster, but the grant was renewed by
his grandson, Henry IV. (fn. 6)
On 6 November, 1386, Richard II granted
royal confirmation of the privilege that no other
order of mendicant friars should have houses
founded or built within 300 cannae (about a
third of a mile) of their house. (fn. 7) The reason of
the Dominicans moving in this matter was the
knowledge that John of Gaunt, their own patron,
was a great friend of the Austin Friars, and they
dreaded lest he should establish them near by and
thus interfere with the alms of passengers entering the town by the London road. (fn. 8) In the
following year the duke did introduce the
Augustinians, but placed them as far as possible
from the Dominicans on the opposite side of the
town.
Boniface IX, on 4 February, 1393, granted to
all devout visitors to the Friars Preachers of the
Holy Trinity, Thetford, on the principal feasts,
who assisted in its maintenance, an indulgence of
two years and two quarantines. (fn. 9)
In 1424 the friars granted to William Curteys,
prior of Bury St. Edmunds, and his brethren the
use of the best chamber of this house, called the
'common recreatory,' which was henceforth to
be termed St. Edmund's House; they were to
occupy it as they liked, but not to grant or
alienate it without the consent of the friars.
This must have been a great convenience to the
abbey of St. Edmunds, as it held the patronage
and was responsible for the lands of the adjacent
nunnery of St. George. (fn. 10)
Father Palmer gives a long list of bequests to
these Dominicans, and of those who found burial
within its church, extending from 1347 to
1553. (fn. 11)
This religious house was destroyed in 1538,
but the month and the day in the deed of
surrender are left blank. The surrender was
signed by Richard Cley, prior, and five other
friars. (fn. 12)
Priors Of The Dominican Friars Of
Thetford (fn. 13)
Robert de Berton, occurs 1371
John Wauney, occurs 1386
Peter Oldman, occurs 1475
Master Dryver, occurs 1505
Richard Cley, occurs 1535
61. THE AUSTIN FRIARS OF THETFORD
The Austin Friars were brought to Thetford
about 1387 by John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, who was a great patron of the order.
The founder built for them, on Castle Hill, at
the entrance to the town, a church with conventual buildings on the south side. In addition to
the site he gave them the old church or chapel
of St. John on the western side of the town,
which they repaired and used as a chapel for the
leper hospital there, under the rule of one of
their brethren. They also held, by the founder's
gift, thirty-six acres of land in Thetford and
Barsham, and the profit of the fair of St. John
Baptist. (fn. 14)
They had a small grant of lands and tenements in Hengham, Aldeby, and other Norfolk
townships, in 1389, from Sir Thomas de Morle
and other donors. In 1392 a tenement in
Thetford that paid 12d. a year to the gild of
St. Mary's was annexed to the friars. (fn. 15)
There was a house standing between their
priory and the street, and in 1408 they obtained
the crown licence to pull it down and enlarge
the site of their church and cloister, and to build
a hermitage at the west end of the church,
adjoining the street, where they received alms. (fn. 16)
In 1413 Henry V granted licence to hold in
mortmain a messuage chapel and hermitage,
with a fair on the west or St. John's side of
Thetford. (fn. 17)
Margaret, wife of Sir John Puddenham, was
buried in the church of the Austin Friars in 1411,
by the tomb of her daughter, Elizabeth Hengrave; she left 40s. to the priory.
John Potche was prior of this house, and
English provincial of the order in the time of
Edward IV. In 1469 he admitted Thomas
Hurton and his wife Margaret to be full partakers
of all the masses and other devotions of the order
throughout England, and that at their deaths the
same offices should be performed for them as for
their deceased brethren.
Martin enumerated several small bequests
made by will to the Austin Friars during the last
part of the sixteenth century.
On 26 September, 1538, Thetford was visited
by John Hilsey, the ex-Dominican friar whom
Henry VIII had made bishop of Rochester, and
in whom he found a ready tool for the suppression of the friars. In a letter to Cromwell from
Thetford on the following day he stated that he
had found 'the Austin friars so bare that there
was no earthly thing at all but trash and baggage.'
He therefore at once proceeded to discharge them
from their house and take their surrender. He
apologised to the Lord Privy Seal for meddling
with this house and that of the Dominicans
without express order, 'but they were so far
gone that if they had continued all had been
spoiled.' (fn. 18) The house was afterwards named in
a list of those friaries which had no lead on the
roofs, save the gutters. (fn. 19)
The surrender into the king's hand of their
house, church, hermitage, and chapel of St. John,
was signed by Nicholas Pratt, prior, and Thomas
Parmynter and Roger Shyrwodd, two of the
brethren. (fn. 20) This was always a small house, the
full complement of friars being only six.
The site of their house and their poor possessions were granted to Sir Richard Fulmerston. (fn. 21)