COLLEGES
109. THE COLLEGE OF ATTLEBOROUGH (fn. 1)
Sir Robert de Mortimer, who died in 1387,
directed by his will of that year that 2,000
marks should be appropriated to found and
endow a chapel in honour of the Holy Cross,
in the church of Attleborough, the chaplains
whereof were to celebrate for the souls of
Sir Robert and Margery, his wife, and for all
their ancestors. Sir Robert left to Simon, rector
of Scoulton, and eight other trustees, his manors
of Scoulton, Tottington, and Stanford in Norfolk,
and Burton and Foxton in Cambridgeshire, the
income to accumulate until there was the sum of
two thousand marks out of the profits. Eventually, in 1405, the royal licence was obtained
to erect the chantry, and to endow it with land
in Attleborough, and with the ' advowson and
appropriation of the church of Great Ellingham,
due provision being made for the poor and for
the vicar. (fn. 2)
The college was to consist of a warden or
master, and four chaplains or fellows. They
were to yield obedience to the master, and to
live in common in their college or mansionhouse. All five were to hold their benefices for
life, and if any were so old or infirm that they
could not serve, they were nevertheless to continue in their place and be maintained for life
by the college. The master's stipend was 60s.,
and that of each chaplain 40s., to be paid halfyearly, on St. John the Baptist's day and Christmas
day. The master and chaplains were each year
to have a new cloth suit, or ten shillings in lieu
thereof. The master was to be chosen by the
majority of the fellows and need not be a member
of the college; if they elected two, the choice
between them lay with the bishop. Two wax
tapers of two pounds each were to be lighted
yearly on the anniversaries of the founder and
his wife, and five poor people were each to be
given 13d. The master was to present an
annual statement of accounts to the fellows on
Michaelmas Day.
The college-house stood near the north-west
corner of the churchyard.
On 28 January, 1493, Archdeacon Goldwell,
as commissary for the bishop, visited the college
of Attleborough, on that occasion called priory.
John Newton, the prior, and three canons were
present, and there was nothing found worthy of
reformation.
At the visitation of 1514 Peter Foston was
master or warden. He was subjected to examination, as well as the two chaplains, but nothing
was found by Bishop Nicke worthy of reformation.
The visitation made by the suffragan bishop
of Chalcedon and his fellow commissaries, on
26 June, 1520, was more searching. John
Claydon, the master or provost, was absent, but
appeared by proxy in the person of William
Beynham; but as neither the master nor his
proxy satisfied the visitation mandate, the master
was pronounced contumacious and ordered to
appear on the morrow. The next morning
Beynham produced his sealed form of proxy and
other duly executed documents, and the visitation
proceeded.
John Whitlock said that the master did not
observe the statutes, he had retained his salary
for a year or more, and also detained a book of
accounts from the time of the death of his predecessor, Master Peter Foston, up to that time.
George Jekson also said that the master did not
observe the foundation statutes. The bishop
ordered Beynham to exhibit on 16 July, at
Holt, the foundation charter of the college,
together with a statement of accounts. (fn. 3)
Master John Claydon and two fellows,
William Brown and Robert Wittell, subscribed
to the king's supremacy on 25 August, 1534. (fn. 4)
The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 gave the
annual value of the rectory of Ellingham as
£10 7s. 8d., and of the college manor of
Attleborough as £15 18s. 8d., yielding a total of
£26 5s. 4d., but various outgoings reduced the
clear value to £21 16s. 3d.
Henry VIII subsequently granted licence for
the appropriation of the greater part of the
valuable rectory of Attleborough, but this was
never accomplished, the dissolution of the college
intervening. In 1541 the site of the college
and its possessions were granted to Robert earl
of Sussex, who shamelessly pulled down the quire
of the fine church (for the lead) oh the false
plea that it had been appropriated to the college.
Masters of Attleborough College (fn. 5)
John Rykedon, 1417
Thomas Cove, 1421
John Spyrling, 1441
Richard Fishere, 1442
Robert Popy
John Cralle, 1448
Thomas Draper
John Powlyn, 1477
John Newton, 1483
John Williamson, 1485
Peter Foston, 1486
John Claydon, 1519
There is a cast of an early fifteenth-century
seal in the British Museum, showing Our Lord
on the cross on a hatched field. Legend:—
+ SIGILLU . . . CATAR. SCE. CRUCIS. IN ATTELBURGH (fn. 6)