119. THE PRIORY OF LESSINGHAM (fn. 1)
The lordship of Lessingham, together with the
advowson of the rectory, was given in the time of
William Rufus by Gerard de Gurney to the great
abbey of Bec in Normandy. The small priory
of Lessingham became subject to Ogbourne
Priory, Wiltshire, which was the chief English
cell of Bec.
In 1286 the abbot of Bec was successful, by
pleading the confirmation charter of Henry III,
in resisting the claim for the hundred from the
manor of Lessingham. (fn. 2)
The taxation of 1291 gave the annual value
of the abbot of Bec's possessions at Lessingham
as £16 13s. 9¼d., whilst the church of Lessingham was entered at £6 13s. 4d.
It was dissolved with the other alien priories
in 1415, and remained for some time in the
hands of the crown. The possessions of the
priory were, however, settled by Edward IV on
King's College, Cambridge, in 1462. (fn. 3)
Footnotes
| 1 |
Blomefield, Hist. of Norf. ix, 328; Dugdale, Mon. vi, 1051; Taylor, Index Monasticus, 5. |
| 2 |
Plac. de Quo War. (Rec. Com.), 493. |
| 3 |
Pat. 1 Edw. IV, pt. iii, m. 23. |